Annabel's Top Tips
Iron deficiency
this is the commonest nutritional deficiency and will leave your child tired and run down so try to ensure that your child eats meat at least twice a week or that they have some green vegetables, wholegrains, pulses or dried fruit like apricots combined with some vitamin C.
Omega 3
Most children do not eat enough omega 3 fats. Ideally it would be good to serve oily fish like salmon or sardines twice a week. Including oily fish in the diet can help to improve the concentration in children who have attention deficit disorder or who are dyspraxic.
Fruit Juice
When buying fruit juice, choose pure fruit juice and not a juice drink which may well contain no more than 8% juice
After school
this is a great time to get your child to eat something healthy as they generally come home starving. The trouble is most children dive into the biscuit tin or grab a chocolate bar after school. Have something ready prepared on the table. Cut up fruit on a plate is much more tempting than fruit in a fruit bowl and children like raw veg with a tasty dip. It’s quick and easy to make delicious wraps, pitta pockets or pasta salads and it’s a good idea to have a low shelf in the fridge where children can help themselves to tasty healthy snacks.
Salt
The liking for salt and salty foods is a learned preference and most children eat twice as much salt as they should. Too much salt causes high blood pressure which increases our risk of developing heart disease and strokes. Diets high in salt have also been linked to asthma, brittle bones and fluid retention. Processed foods tend to contain a lot of salt.
Maximum daily recommendation of salt for children is:-
- 1 – 3 year olds 2g salt
- 4 -6 year olds 3 g salt
- 7 – 10 year olds 5 g salt
Whilst some foods are labelled with the salt content pre serving, others may give the amount of sodium in grams per 100g of food. If you want to know what the salt content is you need to multiply the sodium figure by 2.5 ie 1g of sodium per 100g =2.5g salt
For more advice about child nutrition, please visit my website www.annabelkarmel.com
