Making sure a child is eating healthily is both a priority and a challenge for caregivers, and fussy eating can be stressful to deal with.
There are many reasons why children may be refusing food, but it’s important not to give up, as a healthy and varied diet will ensure that your child receives all the nutrients they need to grow, learn, and defend themselves from illness.
Below, Tea4Kidz partner dietitian Mbali Mapholi shares some helpful tips for reading food labels to ensure children enjoy a nutritional diet.
“There is no doubt that the right nutritional balance is a key component of children’s growth and development, but it can be difficult for parents and caregivers to find this balance when they’re not always sure what’s in the food they’re serving,” said Mapholi.
“While children’s nutritional requirements will change as they grow, many of the fundamentals stay the same and it’s vital that they’re getting the right quantity of vitamins, minerals, healthy fats, and macronutrients to maintain energy levels and ensure optimum health while keeping added sugars and sodium as low as possible,” she added.
Other names for sugars, fats and sodium
Look out for sugar, fat, and sodium listed in the first five ingredients on food labels which means they are the main ingredients in that particular item. However, they’re not always listed as such, so it’s important to look out for the following:
- Salt might be listed as baking powder, booster, celery salt, garlic salt, sodium, meat or yeast extract, onion salt, MSG, rock salt, sea salt, sodium bicarbonate, sodium metabisulphite, sodium nitrate, nitrate, or stock cubes.
- Fat might be listed as beef fat, butter, shortening, coconut, palm oil, copha, cream, dripping, lard, mayonnaise, sour cream, vegetable oils and fats, hydrogenated oils, full cream milk powder, egg or mono or di or triglycerides.
Check serving size (and take into account actual portion size)
When checking nutritional tables, always use the column that states the number of sugars, fats, etc per serving size – and also try to determine whether the serving size is practical portion size.
If you think the portion size will be bigger or smaller than the stated serving size for your kids, take this into account when determining how much sugar, sodium, and fat will be contained in a single serving for them.
Not all fats are created equal
Kids need fats to grow, but too many saturated fats can negatively impact heart health. Foods with 1g or less of saturated fats per serving are considered low in saturated fat.
It’s also best to avoid trans fats as far as possible, for healthy arteries and better health overall. Avoid foods with hydrogenated oils or fats which are the main source of trans fats in foods.
Read the latest issue of IOL Health digital magazine here.
