Health and Nutrition

It is so important for children to get good nutrition and eating habits for each age group. Because if a child don’t have a well balanced meal for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, their day might not be a good one. Children have to learn good eaten habits by teaching your kids good eaten habits you will able to keep them at a healthy weight. Also good habits is best learned when a child is growing up and hopefully they will keep it as they get older. As parents we must guide our families on the right path when it comes down to eating healthy things. You can make a list of healthy things that you need to get from the grocery store and shop together as a family; this will help them make a healthy choice when it is time to eat. Make sure that they know not to stuff their mouth and to eat slowly. You can also plan snakes in between meals, so you can prepare snacks like apple slices, oranges, and bananas. Always eat breakfast it is one of the most important meals in the day. Not having breakfast can slow down your metabolism for a couple of hours, when eating breakfast try to stay away from pancakes, waffles, and other starchy foods. Make sure that you talk about all the food that you are in taken with the kids. Make sure when you are feeding them to make sure that they are drinking enough amounts of water and milk to keep the body quipster. Adults should maintain and help children to keep their eating habits. Two ways is to keep   up good eating habits is to eat five meals a day, drink plenty of water.  According to our text in Implication for Teacher says that nutrition education is important tool for the teachers to help the parents and children to understand their role in proper nutrition for good health and well being of our children. (Robertson , pg 323, 2009 4^th edi).

Three receipts that I would like to share that is a healthy meal that you can make with your preschoolers. The first one is homemade applesauce:

Three nutritious recipes that you can make with preschoolers: Ingredients:

       2 small red apples

       2 tbsp. lemon juice

       2 tsp. sugar

       2 pinches of cinnamon

Utensils:

       knife (you'll need help from your adult assistant)

       blender or food processor

       measuring spoons

       serving bowls

Directions:

1.    Peel the apples and cut them into small pieces. Throw out the core.

2.    Put the apple pieces and lemon juice into the blender or food processor. Blend until the mixture is very smooth.

3.    Pour the mixture into two small bowls and stir in the sugar and cinnamon.

4.    Enjoy your awesome applesauce!

Serves: 2

Serving size: 1 bowl (half the recipe)

Nutritional analysis (per serving):
84 calories
0 g protein
0 g fat
22 g carbohydrate
2 g fiber
0 mg cholesterol
3 mg sodium
14 mg calcium
0.3 mg iron

The second one: Chicken wraps

What you need:

       4 whole-wheat wraps (8 inches)

       2 cups store-bought rotisserie chicken, shredded

       ½ cup shredded carrots

       1 avocado, thinly sliced

       1 cup baby spinach leaves

       ¼ cup of your favorite fat-free/low-fat dressing (about 1 tablespoon per wrap)

What to do:

1.    Place wraps side by side on a flat surface. Divide chicken into four portions (about ½ cup each). Place a portion of chicken on each wrap.

2.    Top each wrap with carrots, avocado, and spinach. (Have an adult help with the chopping.)

3.    Drizzle dressing evenly over each wrap.

4.    Roll each wrap up tightly and cut on the diagonal.

5.    Serve immediately or wrap tightly in aluminum foil and refrigerate for lunch the next day.

Third one is: tasty tatter tots what you need:

       1½ pounds sweet potatoes

       ¾ cup chickpeas (also called garbanzo beans), undrained

       2 tablespoons vegetable oil

       ½ teaspoon salt

       ¼ teaspoon pepper

       ½ teaspoon onion powder

       ½ teaspoon cinnamon

Cooking spray What to do:

1.    Preheat oven to 400°F.

2.    Steam or boil sweet potatoes until barely tender, approximately 15 minutes. Let cool.

3.    Peel cooled potatoes. Shred them using a grater or food processor.

4.    Puree chickpeas, including liquid, until smooth.

5.    Combine shredded sweet potatoes and chickpeas in a large bowl.

6.    Add oil, salt, pepper, onion powder, and cinnamon. Mix well.

7.    Spray sheet pans with cooking spray.

8.    Scoop heaping tablespoons of the mixture and place 1 inch apart on prepared sheet pans.

9.    Bake in oven for approximately 10-12 minutes, until starting to brown.

All the receipts that I found is located on www.kidshealthy.org

Reference:

Robertson,2009 4^th edition