Food Information For Adolescents
Will diet sodas help my child maintain his weight?
Diet sodas can definitely help your child maintain their weight, but only because there are no calories involved in diet sodas. A concern that you might have, though, is calcium. When it comes to sodas we're finding that milk is being removed from a child's diet, and therefore they're not getting the same amount of calcium because now they're just drinking Diet Coke. Diet Coke doesn't have anything in it other than some bubbles and some flavoring. Milk, even though there are more calories in it, actually has greater health benefits.
Are there any healthy fast food options for children?
When it comes to fast foods, there are more healthy options becoming available. Fast food restaurants are very dangerous. Basically, this is the amount of fat in a Big Mac (refer to video). This is the amount of fat in a hamburger (refer to video). It's a little less, but still a lot. Then, we're also going to have some french fries with it, right? So, if you had your Big Mac and your french fries, here's the amount of fat (refer to video). All this fat is going into your blood system. A healthier option instead of a Big Mac would be a grilled chicken sandwich. It has a lot less fat and it will have a lot less cholesterol. You can also pair it with a side salad or fruit. these foods are becoming much more accessible to us in fast food restaurants. Instead of sodas, ordermilk. Instead of fried chicken, get the grilled chicken.
Are low-fat frozen dinners healthy for my child?
Low fat frozen dinners for the most part can be part of a healthy diet. However, at the same time you might want to enhance that meal by adding in additional vegetables or maybe having a salad with it. Definitely having some milk, either cows milk or soy milk would provide a healthier diet. There are different steps you can do to make a low-fat frozen dinner into a more healthy option. When it comes to frozen dinners, you definitely need to be aware of the sodium content. These dinners usually have a ton of sodium, and they may even have the 100% of what our body needs in sodium for the entire day.
What can I do to help my child's diet if he loves snacking on junk food?
There are various approaches with regard to the problem of snacking on junk food. One solution is to select baked chips instead of the real chips and watching the portion size. If you get a bag of chips put one portion into little baggies and that way your child can just go to the cupboard and grab a bag. You don't want to completely avoid all in healthy foods because that's not what it's about. It's finding that balance.
How can I encourage my child to eat more fruits and vegetables?
You can encourage your child to eat more fruits and vegetables by slicing fruit and vegetables in different shapes, calling them fun names. Have your child go with you to the grocery store and pick out a fresh fruit or vegetable that they're willing to try. When they have a relationship with that fruit or vegetable, they're a little more intrigued with it. If you're introducing a brand new fruit or vegetable, put it with something, a food, that the child is familiar with so it's not so shocking. You can also puree vegetables; make a soup out of them. You can get the party trays with everything's already and cut up, and it allows them easy access to fruit and vegetables. Offering vegetables as snacks or fruits as snacks, as opposed to part of the meal also can help.
Are organic foods better for my child?
Organic foods are not necessarily better for your child. In the big picture if your child is not eating vegetables whether it is organic or not isn't going to make a difference. And if your budget allows you to choose organic vegetables and you are very compassion about that or passionate about that by all means that‘s fine. If you feel that you cannot buy vegetables because you want to buy only organic may be your budget is not allowing it then that's where organic vegetables are not better because it's prohibiting you from purchasing and if you eat vegetables.
How much juice should my child consume?
A toddler should consume only four to six ounces of juice per day - no more. Your best bet is to actually give your child fresh fruit as this will give your child much fewer calories, along with more fibre and water, and great satiety. They'll feel full for a longer period of time if you give your child fruit as opposed to juice.
Is juice a healthy alternative to soda?
Fruit juices are not a healthier alternative to soda. To me they're pretty much the same. Fruit juices just have added vitamins, and maybe a little extra fiber. For the most part, fruit juice drinks all have calories, and it's these liquid calories that comes to weight management at the end of the day. Did our calories in meet or calories out? If we're drinking a ton of juice or drinking a ton of soda, we are most likely consuming more calories than our body needs and because of that we gain weight, become overweight, or even obese.
What are healthy beverages for my child?
Water is definitely a healthy beverage, an alternative to juice and soda. I like to recommend spa water as a healthy beverage, where you take a pitcher of water and put a slice of apple or a little slice of orange in it. And it will give your water a fruit flavour without all the calories and all the sugar. You can also find fruit waters. You can find sparkling waters that have some fruit flavour in them that are calorie free, very healthy beverages. There's a ton out there right now.
Are low fat or fat free cookies good for my child?
Low fat or fat free cookies, if used properly, can be good for your kids. The way you use low fat or fat free cookies properly is to look at the nutrition label and see what a serving size is, and only give your child one serving. What happens is, a lot of times, people become a little more free with the quantity of foods when it's fat free or low fat, because they think that they can eat more because there's no fat, when in reality, these low fat or fat free cookies may actually have more calories than the real one. So, again, it comes back to portion size.
