Posted on July 9, 2007 in Uncategorized
Hot and fresh pizzas with mushrooms, cheeze and tomato slice! Really mouthwatering! Won’t your child love this delicious snack? Actually the kids prefer snacks more than meals because of the variety and the quantity. So parents have to be very careful in the planning and preparation of children snacks.
You have to identify what your child loves to snack and how you can make it more healthy and nutritious.
The growth chart
You can plan effectively when you first of all understand the need of snacks in the child’s growth.
- The growth of a child can be divided broadly into four stages. The division can be likewise: new born to four, four to eight, eight to twelve and thirteen and above till sixteen-seventeen.
- Even the Food Pyramid Guide has briefed the diet chart by dividing into age groups and the calorie needs.
- The age group between five and fifteen show different phases of growth. The growth is most from 8 to 14.
The actual need
- This is the particular period (mentioned above) when essential nutrients in optimum quantity are required by children for an all-round development. The growth of bones and muscles, internal tissues and proper functioning of brain, heart and other key organs largely depend on the diet.
- But kids at this stage create eating problems. Snacks give them breakups from heavy meals and on the other hand supplement the basic requirements.
- Snacks have to be planned according to the activity rate in the child’s performance. In scientific terms snacking has an inbuilt relation with the body’s metabolism.
Key nutrients
Chalk out the food categories and plan the items accordingly. Follow the Food Pyramid Guide in setting the five important groups keeping at par with the requirements of your child.
- Cereals, vegetables, fruits, meat and poultry, milk and calcium are the key food categories important for kids.
- Carbohydrates, the key energy givers are derived from the grains. Minerals and vitamin types are gained from fruits and vegetables. Fish, meat and poultry provide sufficient amount of proteins and milk and other milk products are the richest supply of calcium.
Snacks preparation
Give your kid the opportunity to select the food they would love to have as snacks. This will build up a good eating habit and then you can add the important nutrients in the course of snacks.
Salads and preferably the dry ones are best as snacks for children. Chop the raw vegetables like carrots, cucumbers, radish, lettuce, tomatoes into pieces and garnish with salt and pepper. Add the cut vegetables into plain yogurt and serve a bowl of it to your ten year old kid.
Mushrooms and muffin pizzas make a good combination. If you want to make it more riboflavin rich, include tomato slices in the pizza topping. A very favorite snack liked by kids of different age groups.
Potatoes can be baked up with cheese flakes and garnished with chili beans. Yummy and energetic! This is one of the most important snacks in the growing phase of your child.
Seasonal fruits are must. Children don’t prefer them raw. Prepare a tasty snack with seasonal fruits nicely topped with waffles.
Taste and health clubbed together make complete snacks for children precisely in these ways.
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