It is important to realize that a healthy, balanced diet in childhood will go a long way in ensuring your child stays healthy later on in life.
Modernity brings with it improvement, or so we think. Along with technological advances, the conveniences offered by modern amenities practically remove all need to move around and exert ourselves in any manner whatsoever, and those worst affected by this are kids.
There used to be a time when children would spend all their evenings out in the park, playing with their friends, and would return home after dark, have their dinner and fall fast asleep at bedtime. Nowadays children spend most of their free time at home, either doing their homework or sitting in front of the television.
According to a survey conducted by the BBC, the diet of present day children is far poorer than the diet of children a few decades ago. In fact, even the diet of children in 1950 was better than the present diet.
A recent test conducted in the United States shows that the blood pressure of American children is shockingly on the rise, and with Indian middle- and upper-class dietary habits going the same way as the west, it seems that it will not be long before Indian children follow in the footsteps of their western counterparts.
It is important to realize that a healthy, balanced diet in childhood will go a long way in ensuring your child stays healthy later on in life. However, a poor diet earlier on is likely to lead to health problems like diabetes later on.
The main causes for problems like high blood pressure are:
Poor Diet
Lack of exercise
What should your child eat? Your child should have foods rich in fibre. For breakfast, your child can have two toasted slices of wheat bread or brown bread with mayonnaise or any other topping your child prefers, along with a glass of milk. Try and use fresh ingredients always. Use homemade mayonnaise so you can make sure you use good quality ingredients.
You could also substitute milk with a glass of lassi in the summer. Curd is better than milk, unless you are sure of the quality of the milk you are giving your child.
Avoid ordering food from out or feeding your child fast food. You can naturally do so once in a while, but not as a habit. Often parents tend to order out every time the maid is on leave. Food in restaurants in India is not of top quality. You cannot eat out everyday and expect not to develop a tummy bug. In addition, your cholesterol levels will shoot up because of the often poor quality of vegetables, oils and lack of fibre, and fast food is even lower on fibre.
If you must order out, try and order a tiffin. There are people who supply homemade, wholesome food to almost every area in the metros. Get the number of a person who can supply you a tiffin, and try it out. The food is always tasty, it will be a change from your daily diet, and still you will be eating homemade, healthy food. And last of all, encourage your child to take up a sport so she gets her regular doze of exercise.
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