Diet and Energy Levels
As more children are spending their free time in front of a computer screen or television, on average, kids are expending too little energy. Coupled with dwindling physical education programs and on-the-go dietary choices, it is no wonder that more children than ever are facing problems with their weight. In many ways, it is a vicious cycle; improper nutrition creates a lack of energy reserves which makes it more difficult to exercise and failure to get adequate exercise only exacerbates the problem. Just as with adults, children need a proper balance of nutrition and physical activity to maintain a healthy weight.

Caution! Monitoring Your Child’s Diet for Hazards
Before starting your child on a strict diet, which should only take place under the supervision of a doctor, there are some things you can do to positively affect your child’s eating habits. Limiting certain foods, while encouraging more healthy choices is a great way to promote a nutritional diet that does not seem completely restrictive. The following tips can help you to establish a healthy view towards food and weight in your child.

Keep Sugar Moderate. While most kids love candy, cookies and other sweets, too much sugar can play havoc with their energy levels. Additionally, refined sugars add little nutritional value to your child’s diet. Try replacing processed sweets with naturally sweet foods like fruits.

Watch Out for Caffeine. Many adults are addicted to the caffeine rush that comes with drinking coffee, but what parents do not realize is that soda can have the same effect on children. There is nothing wrong with giving your child soda on special occasions, but it is better to stick to milk, juice or water on a regular basis. Aside from the caffeine overload, soda has no nutritional content and adds empty calories to your child’s diet.

Implement Non food Rewards. Instead of treating your kids to ice cream when they get good grades, try rewarding them with a desired CD or other non-food item. Psychologically seeing junk food as a reward can lead to poor food decisions on the part of your child.

Make sure your child starts with easy postures, and be patient with your child’s progress. Some beginner children can often be more flexible than advanced adult Yoga practitioners, but they don’t know their own limitations.

Discover your child’s real passions. When your child wants to go to Yoga class, it is much better than what you want for your child. This is not to say that you should avoid guidance. However, it is not advisable to push a child into a Yoga class, if your child doesn’t enjoy it — no matter how popular Yoga may be. All children are different, and what is good for one of your children, may not agree with another.

Encourage your child to see the deeper benefits of Yoga: Learning to live within the moment, and appreciating the present situation, instead of focusing on desires, these are built-in mental assets of Yoga practice. Enhanced concentration skills are another benefit that will result in improved academic performance.

Look for a qualified Yoga instructor, who has experience in teaching children. Make sure the child’s Yoga instructor has adequate experience.

Watch your child practice, with his or her, Yoga teacher, and make sure you are comfortable with the environment, policies, and safety guidelines. Rules and discipline policies are usually in place so that each child can learn Yoga and get the most out of their experience.

For your child’s safety at home: Parents who are not familiar with Yoga, should not let their “beginner Yoga children” practice anything beyond beginner techniques, without a competent Yoga instructor’s approval. Once your child’s Yoga instructor gives approval of home practice, you are fine. This one safety factor should encourage parents to learn Yoga, practice with their children, and live a healthy life.

A smaller kids Yoga class is actually better than a larger one. This insures that your child’s Yoga instructor can pay close attention to each student during practice session.

Price should not be the top factor in choosing your child’s Yoga teacher.
Would you choose the cheapest dentist, clothes, or car? Very often, “you get what you pay for.”

To combat these trends, there are a number of activities and routines that parents can encourage their children to take part in, and can use to increase the activity levels and fitness of their children.

The most important thing to remember with kids is that you will want to make the fitness routine fun. Trying to use guilt or shame to get over weight kids to be more active is likely to back fire and bring their confidence levels down even lower. The other point to remember is that the kids need not even realise that they are being encouraged to exercise more and you can simply slip the activities into their lives without them even noticing.

One easy way is to get the kids walking more. You may live close enough to their school to walk, or even cycle. This is a very easy way to sneak a little activity into their lives without them even noticing. You can also walk to other places like shops. Another very good idea for younger children is to buy a dog. While this will not be possible for everyone, it is an excellent excuse to have to take a walk every day and it also makes the task a little bit more fun and less mundane.

You can also plan fun activities for the weekend like roller blading, swimming, cycling, hill walking or ice skating. These activities are great fun and can be used to basically bribe kids into excercising. It is also a good idea to let the kids bring their friends to these activities as once they are involved in something with their friends, and they get a routine, they are much more likely to encourage each other and keep it up for longer.

Learning about groceries

You might be surprised to learn that children will usually pick nutritious foods when given the choice. But it’s up to parents to give them those choices, and spicing up your trips to the grocery store is a great place to start. “Getting kids involved in the grocery shopping teaches them how to pick out produce and other ingredients,” said Kristen Bardon, R.D., L.D., senior clinical dietitian in the Department of Clinical Nutrition at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. “It also helps them learn how to prepare healthy meals.”

Have your kids help put together the shopping list, and be sure to suggest lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. That way you can talk about healthy choices before ever getting to the store. Photo: ApplesChildren will be more interested in food that’s good for them when they have a chance to make some of the decisions. And you’ll learn more about what they like and don’t like.

Once at the store, take the children on a scavenger hunt for healthy foods, Ms. Bardon suggests. This will make shopping exciting and helps them look beyond the junk food aisles. Try these tips for a successful scavenger hunt:

* Show your kids a picture of a fruit or vegetable and ask them to find it.
* Have them describe the shape, color, and size of fruits and vegetables they see.
* Photo: Baby carrotsHave them count fruits and vegetables.
* Encourage them to find fruits and vegetables that they haven’t eaten before.

Benefits of a healthy diet

By being a good role model for healthy eating, you also can set children on a lifelong path of making the right food choices.

“It’s important for kids to start eating healthy early in life,” Ms. Bardon said. “Healthy eating can help prevent many problems as they get older, including obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers.”

Photo: TomatoesNot only can eating well help prevent problems down the road, it’s important for growing kids to take in the nutrients provided by fruits, vegetables, and other healthy foods. But these nutrients are even more important for children who have cancer or another major illness.

“These children need a healthy, well-balanced diet sufficient in protein and calories,” Ms. Bardon said. “Protein helps the body heal, and calories produce energy and help kids keep up their weight.”

It generally comes from improper food habits. The consumption of soft drinks often leads to childhood obesity and hence fat kids. Regular intake junk food has replaced healthy food habits. Childrens’ food habits are also affected by family meals types. Avoiding nutritious foods entirely results in weight gain. Children who tend to skip breakfast often suffer from impending weight gain. Eating out regularly may also cause child weight gain. Physically inactive children suffer from a bigger danger of obesity. A bulk of children does not exercise as they spend a lot of their time in watching TV or playing Video games. It has been observed that households having meagre income may influence a child’s inclination to put on weight.

Certain biological factors may lead to fat kids. Genetic factors also play a crucial role behind childhood obesity. In contrast some researches have hinted that parental obesity does not always pass down to the offspring. Cushings syndrome which is a hormonal syndrome may affect childhood flabbiness as well. Childhood fatness can also be related to several behavioural factors. Behavioural patterns, like depression, boredom, stress or anxiety take a toll on a child’s health. Stress adversely affects a child’s food habits. This proof may indicate a correlation between stress and eating. Antidepressants, however, do not have much effect on childhood obesity. Often parental negligence or lack of proper health knowledge leads to child obesity. A bulk of parents does not regard their kids overweight. They perceive being overweight as a sign of robust health. This is a matter of concern.

Those who are physically inactive in childhood also become sloth in adulthood. Fat kids are usually fat adults. Staying idle often results in unutilised energy getting stored in the body, mostly as fat. If continued unabated, childhood obesity may bring severe conditions like heart ailments, high blood pressure, diabetes, sleep disorders, and even cancers. Obese kids are often humiliated by their peers and some even face harassment in their family. They become the butt of ridicule of their friends. Even though obesity affect girls more than boys, it is quite obvious in boys who gather fat in the abdomen part, the back and torso.

(source:encyclocentral.com)

Dieting to Lose Weight

All foods and many drinks contains calories, a kind of energy. When someone diets to lose weight, the person is trying to eat fewer calories than the body uses. By doing this, the person may lose body fat and decrease his or her weight. Likewise, if a person eats more calories than the body uses, the person may gain weight.

Kids usually do not need to diet in this way. Unlike adults, kids are still growing and developing. During this time, kids need a variety of healthy foods to keep their bodies growing properly. Some kids are overweight, but even overweight kids often can improve their health simply by eating nutritious foods and being more active. Being overweight can cause health problems, but kids may hurt their health even more by doing something drastic, like skipping meals or deciding to eat only lettuce.

Who Needs to Diet?

Though some people may feel they weigh too much or too little, there is no perfect body shape. Some people have larger frames (bigger bones) and will always look bigger and heavier than people with smaller frames.

Talk to your doctor if you have questions about your weight. Your doctor can examine you and check your body mass index (BMI). That’s a way of estimating how much body fat you have. If the doctor is concerned about your weight, he or she can recommend a couple of goals:

• for you to gain weight at a slower pace
• for you to maintain your current weight

For some kids, the doctor may recommend losing some weight, but this should be done with the doctor’s help. Kids who need to lose weight may visit with a dietitian who can explain how to reduce calories safely while still getting all the necessary nutrients.

Dangerous Diets

Diets that don’t include a variety of nutritious foods, or have too few calories, can be dangerous for kids. Some type of dangerous diets are called “fad diets,” because a fad means something that’s popular for a short while. Fad diets usually promise quick weight loss and require the person to follow a strict set of guidelines.

Some dangerous diets cut out entire categories of foods or require the person to eat just one thing, such as cabbage soup — yuck! The truth is there is no quick fix when it comes to weight loss. So pills, special drinks, all-liquid diets, and other gimmicks are poor choices, especially for kids. If someone offers you a diet pill or suggests you start having a magic milkshake that can make you thinner, tell them no! These diets can make people sick. They also usually end with the person regaining any weight that was lost.

Someone who is willing to take extreme steps to be thinner could have an eating disorder. These include anorexia nervosa (starving oneself) or bulimia nervosa (eating and then deliberately throwing up). They are serious conditions that need a doctor’s attention.

Help for a Dangerous Dieter

If you know a friend or sibling who’s following a dangerous diet, you need to tell an adult. You could turn to a parent, a teacher, or another adult you trust. You could also tell the person yourself that their eating habits are unhealthy, but you probably will need to get an adult involved, too.

It’s not unusual for kids — or adults — to wish they were taller, or thinner, or that they could change something about their appearance. If you feel this way, talk to a parent or an adult you trust. You may need someone to help you understand these feelings and get a handle on whether your weight is a health concern.

The body changes that happen to kids during puberty include weight gain. This is normal, but it’s a good idea to talk with your doctor about it if you or your parents have questions.

What Kids Can Do

So if kids don’t need to diet, how can they stay a healthy weight? All kids can benefit from eating a balanced diet and getting plenty of physical activity.

Kids have a lot of choices when it comes to activity and exercise. Some like to play on sports teams or dance in troupes. Others may prefer to be more casual, riding their bikes or shooting hoops at the park. Just helping your parents rake leaves or clean the house is a kind of physical activity, though not as much fun as something like swimming! And it’s a good idea to cut down on pastimes that aren’t very active — such as watching TV or playing computer games.

Kids can also try to eat a variety of healthy foods. A balanced diet means that you don’t eat the same thing every day and that you eat a mix of foods from different food groups. These include:

• fruits and vegetables
• milk and dairy products
• meat, nuts, and other protein-rich foods
• grains, especially whole-grain foods, such as whole-grain breads and cereals

This kind of diet helps your body by giving it the right nutrients. For instance, protein helps build your muscles and other body structures. Calcium helps your growing bones. And you need vitamins and other nutrients to keep your body working as it should. Fiber prevents constipation and carbohydrates give you energy, just to name a few.

Now that you understand more about diets, you can tell people you’re on a very special one — a balanced, healthy diet just right for a kid!

2 Baby Carrots Pack these beta-carotene-rich vegetables in sealed plastic bags to take along to school or soccer practice. For babies and young toddlers, steam carrots until soft, then cut into small pieces.

3 Baked Potato Serve this potassium-loaded, fiber-rich vegetable instead of greasy fries. It’s lower in fat and a great base for nutritious toppings like chili, beans, or steamed broccoli.

4 Breakfast Cereal Fortified cereal is a top source of numerous vitamins and minerals, including iron and the B-vitamin folate, which builds blood cells. If your kids won’t eat cereal that’s not sugary, combine a sweet brand with a less sugary variety.

5 Broccoli Children get calcium and vitamins C and A in every bite. Many kids like it raw or lightly steamed so the vegetable stays bright green. Make pizza faces with broccoli, plant “trees” in mashed potatoes, or let kids dunk it in pasta sauce.

6 Cantaloupe One of the few fruits with both beta-carotene and vitamin C, it’s a great alternative for kids who aren’t big vegetable eaters.

7 Chocolate Milk In an ideal world, children would gulp down plain milk without complaint. But sometimes a little flavoring can make milk more appealing. And contrary to popular belief, the chocolate does not significantly hinder calcium absorption.

8 Eggs One scrambled egg is packed with protein, which builds and repairs muscles, and vitamin D, which helps the body absorb calcium.

9 Frozen Mixed Vegetables Peas supply protein and folate, a B vitamin, while green beans provide potassium. Toss them into soup as it heats, or cook and stir into leftover rice.

10 Ground Beef A top source of protein, iron, and zinc. Choose beef that’s at least 90 percent lean to keep fat in check. Mix into chili, toss with pasta or noodles, or make burgers.

11 Ketchup You may think it’s gross when your child douses everything in sight with ketchup, but this tomato-y condiment contains a natural cancer-fighting compound called lycopene.

12 Kiwifruit Bite for bite, the kiwi has more vitamin C than an orange. It supplies fiber and antioxidants that help protect the body’s cells from day-to-day damage.

13 Orange Juice Of all the 100 percent juices, O.J. is the most naturally nutritious–it’s got lots of vitamin C, folate, and potassium. The calcium-fortified kind is a great option for kids who don’t or can’t drink milk.

14 Parmesan Cheese Each tablespoon of grated cheese supplies close to 10 percent of the daily requirement for calcium; sprinkle it on top of pasta, vegetables, salad, and eggs.

15 Peanut Butter Ever-popular among kids, peanut butter is protein-rich and a good source of fiber. Spread on bread or thin with water to make a yummy dip for celery sticks, apple slices, or banana chunks.

16 Pizza This popular item dishes up three food groups at once: grains, dairy, and vegetable (the tomato sauce counts as a serving). Make minipizzas for your children with English muffins, pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, and chopped veggies.

17 Sweet Potato A toddler-size quarter-cup serving supplies all the vitamin A kids need daily. Slice it into strips, spray lightly with oil, and bake into healthy fries (cut into small chunks for toddlers).

18 Tortillas Versatile and low-fat: Roll them up with turkey or ham, and slice into wheels; cut them into wedges, and then bake to make low-fat chips; or top with chopped veggies and melted cheese.

19 Whole-wheat Bread Fiber rich! Start your children on wheat bread when they become toddlers so they get used to the taste of whole-grain foods. Others to try: brown rice, whole-wheat English muffins, and whole-wheat pasta.

20 Yogurt Yogurt supplies lots of calcium–275 to 450 milligrams per 8-ounce container. Look for brands that have “live and active cultures.” These beneficial bacteria may boost the health of your child’s intestines. Flavored yogurt can be highly sweetened, so try brands with less sugar or mix in plain yogurt.

The Food Guide Pyramid is one way for people to understand how to eat healthy. A rainbow of colored, vertical stripes represents the five food groups plus fats and oils. Here’s what the colors stand for:

• orange — grains
• green — vegetables
• red — fruits
• yellow — fats and oils
• blue — milk and dairy products
• purple — meat, beans, fish, and nuts

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) changed the pyramid in 2005 because they wanted to do a better job of telling Americans how to be healthy. The agency later released a special version for kids. Notice the girl climbing the staircase up the side of the pyramid? That’s a way of showing kids how important it is to exercise and be active every day. In other words, play a lot! The steps are also a way of saying that you can make changes little by little to be healthier. One step at a time, get it?

The Pyramid Speaks

Let’s look at some of the other messages this new symbol is trying to send:

Eat a variety of foods. A balanced diet is one that includes all the food groups. In other words, have foods from every color, every day.

Eat less of some foods, and more of others. You can see that the bands for meat and protein (purple) and oils (yellow) are skinnier than the others. That’s because you need less of those kinds of foods than you do of fruits, vegetables, grains, and dairy foods.

You also can see the bands start out wider and get thinner as they approach the top. That’s designed to show you that not all foods are created equal, even within a healthy food group like fruit. For instance, apple pie would be in that thin part of the fruit band because it has a lot of added sugar and fat. A whole apple — crunch! — would be down in the wide part because you can eat more of those within a healthy diet.

Make it personal. Through the USDA’s MyPyramid website, people can get personalized recommendations about the mix of foods they need to eat and how much they should be eating. There is a kids’ version of the website available too.

How Much Do I Need to Eat?

Everyone wants to know how much they should eat to stay healthy. It’s a tricky question, though. It depends on your age, whether you’re a girl or a boy, and how active you are. Kids who are more active burn more calories, so they need more calories. But we can give you some estimates for how much you need of each food group.

Grains

Grains are measured out in ounce equivalents. What the heck are they? Ounce equivalents are just another way of showing a serving size.

Here are ounce equivalents for common grain foods. An ounce equivalent equals:

• 1 slice of bread
• ½ cup of cooked cereal, like oatmeal
• ½ cup of rice or pasta
• 1 cup of cold cereal

* 4- to 8-year-olds need 4–5 ounce equivalents each day.
* 9- to 13-year-old girls need 5 ounce equivalents each day.
* 9- to 13-year-old boys need 6 ounce equivalents each day.

And one last thing about grains: Try make at least half of your grain servings whole grains, such as 100% whole-wheat bread, brown rice, and oatmeal.

Vegetables

Of course, you need your vegetables, especially those dark green and orange ones. But how much is enough? Vegetable servings are measured in cups.

* 4- to 8-year-olds need 1½ cups of veggies each day.
* 9- to 13-year-old girls need 2 cups of veggies each day.
* 9- to 13-year-old boys need 2½ cups of veggies each day.

Fruits

Sweet, juicy fruit is definitely part of a healthy diet. Here’s how much you need:

* 4- to 8-year-olds need 1–1½ cups of fruit each day.
* 9- to 13-year-olds need 1½ cups of fruit each day.

Milk and Other Calcium-Rich Foods

Calcium builds strong bones to last a lifetime, so you need these foods in your diet.

* 4- to 8-year-olds need 2 cups of milk (or another calcium-rich food) each day.
* 9- to 13-year-olds need 3 cups of milk (or another calcium-rich food) each day.

If you want something other than milk, you can substitute yogurt, cheese, or calcium-fortified orange juice — just to name a few.

Meats, Beans, Fish, and Nuts

These foods contain iron and lots of other important nutrients. Like grains, these foods are measured in ounce equivalents.

An ounce equivalent of this group would be:

• 1 ounce of meat, poultry, or fish
• ¼ cup cooked dry beans
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon of peanut butter
• ½ ounce (about a small handful) of nuts or seeds

* 4- to 8-year-olds need 3–4 ounce equivalents each day.
* 9- to 13-year-olds need 5 ounce equivalents each day.

Whoa! That’s a lot to swallow. The good news is that your mom, dad, and the other grown-ups in your life will help you eat what you need to stay healthy. There’s more good news — you don’t have to become a perfect eater overnight. Just remember those stairs climbing up the side of the new pyramid and take it one step at a time.

Most importantly, make sure he or she eats breakfast. Eating breakfast helps your child focus, solve problems, and have better hand-eye coordination (good for gym class and recess).

People who eat breakfast are also more likely to:

• Develop life-long healthy eating habits
• Miss less school
• Score higher on tests
• Get better grades
• Avoid bad moods
• Maintain a healthy weight

Your child’s breakfast should have whole grains (in cereal or in whole wheat toast), low-fat protein (like yogurt or eggs), and fruit (either fresh fruit or juice). This combination of foods will keep him or her feeling full until lunch time. And their energy level won’t crash right mid-morning, like it can when you start the day with sugary foods and caffeine.

What else can you do? Encourage your child to eat lots of fruits and veggies plus whole grains, beans, low-fat dairy, and other lean proteins. And the following tips will help students excel at exam time:

Avoid energy bars. An energy bar can be a good source of energy before a test, but watch out. Many are high in fat and sugar—they’re essentially candy bars.

Stay cool. Don’t wear too many layers on test day; studies show that people perform better on tests at slightly cooler temperatures.

Stay calm. Don’t cram right before the test—instead, use the time to relax and clear your mind.

Sleep tight. Try to get eight to nine hours of sleep a night. The last couple hours are especially important, since that’s when your brain converts short-term memory to long-term.

Hydrate. Have some water before test-time, but don’t over-do it. Too much water can actually have an adverse effect on brain function.

Eat smart at breakfast. Don’t have a big breakfast; ideally, you should get about 25 percent of your daily calories at breakfast. Digesting too heavy a breakfast will make you tired and use up all your energy.

Be carb savvy. If you’ve got the pre-test jitters, carbs can help you relax physically and mentally. Just go for the good kind: carbs from whole grains or veggies.

Skip the energy drinks. Most energy drinks are not only overly caffeinated, but they also contain large amounts of glucose, which converts into energy faster than most sugars. So you’ll not only be jittery, but could even hit a post-sugar slump before the end of your exam.

Skip the donuts. Some studies suggest that eating foods with trans fats can deteriorate cognitive function—that’s just one more reason to steer clear of donuts in the morning.

Rev up! Nothing relieves stress and clears your mind like exercise. So an hour or two before the test, put down your books and stretch or go for a jog.

Around half of all children take their lunch to school – that’s 5.5 billion packed lunches every year. Unfortunately, many of them are unhealthy! According to a Food Standard’s Agency study, nine out of 10 packed lunches contain foods high in sugar, salt and saturates and fewer than half contain fruit. Here’s how to pack a nutritious lunch for your kids…

* Use wholegrain or wholemeal bread, rolls and pitta and try ciabatta, mini baguettes, bagels and raisin or sun dried tomato bread for variety

* Pack pasta or rice salads instead of sandwiches from time to time

* Cut fat by using less butter, spread or mayo in sandwiches and choose low-fat fillings like lean ham, turkey, chicken, tuna in water, cottage cheese, Edam or banana

* Add two portions of fruit – don’t just stick to apples and pears, though. For variety, add grapes, fruit salad, a slice of melon, a small box of raisins or a can of fruit in juice

* Include cherry tomatoes, carrot and pepper sticks and add salad to sarnies

* In the winter, fill a flask with vegetable, tomato or carrot soup – or even a casserole or stew.

* Replace cakes, biscuits and chocolate with scones, fruit bread or low-sugar cereal bars (check the labels)

* Swap fizzy drinks for water, unsweetened fruit juice, fruit smoothies, cartons of semi-skimmed milk or unsweetened yogurt drinks.

Healthy Snacks for Children and Teenagers

* Fresh fruit – chop it into bite-sized pieces for young children to make it easier to eat or buy packs of ready-prepared fresh fruit slices or chunks

* Mini boxes of dried fruit such as raisins or small packs of apricots or mixed fruit

* Small packs of chocolate-covered raisins or nuts (avoid giving nuts to young children because of the risk of choking)

* Chopped up vegetables such as carrot, celery and pepper sticks and cherry tomatoes with a favourite dip (look for those low in salt and fat if you’re buying ready-made dips)

* Fresh popcorn made without salt or sugar

* Wholemeal toast with peanut butter and banana or low-fat soft cheese and tomato

* Fruit smoothie

* Unsweetened yogurt drinks or a pot of low-fat fruit yogurt or fromage frais

* High-fibre cereal with semi-skimmed milk

* Wholemeal sandwiches filled with lean meat, chicken, tuna in water, cheese or egg and salad.

* Small packets of unsalted nuts and seeds – try mixing with dried fruit