Boost your child’s health, simply | Columnists – Beatrice Daily Sun


Boost your child’s health, simply

{{featured_button_text}}

 It’s August, which means it’s Kids Eat Right Month.

This nationwide campaign emphasizes the importance of healthy eating and active lifestyles for youth of all ages.

What better time to take an honest look at your family’s eating and physical activity habits and make positive, healthy changes.

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommends the following:

Shop smart. To encourage a healthy lifestyle, get your children involved in selecting the food that will appear at the breakfast, lunch and dinner table.

While getting shopping input works well with older children, consider adapting this recommendation for younger children. 

In my house, I choose which food group I want my three-year-old to eat, and I give her a choice between two options within that food group. For example: Would you like yogurt or string cheese for your snack?

This encourages a balanced eating pattern, while giving my daughter a sense of control over her own food choices.

Cook and eat together. Involve your children in preparing meals. Just be sure to choose age-appropriate tasks to set everyone up for success, rather than stress.

For my preschooler, this looks like washing grapes, spreading peanut butter on bread, stirring ingredients or pushing buttons on the microwave.

Sit down as a family whenever possible to enjoy a meal together. This encourages bonding and good eating habits, even if only done a couple times a week.

Healthy habits. As the role model of your household, one of the best things you can do to help your children form healthy habits is set a good example.

Fill half your plate with fruits and vegetables, choose lower-sodium options and make at least half the grains your family eats whole grains. For beverages, choose water over drinks with added sugars most often.

Even though my daughter has recently become a picky eater, I have no doubt that watching her mom and dad enjoy a variety of healthy foods will lead her to try them—eventually.

Get moving. Aside from being a great way to spend time together, regular physical activity strengthens muscle and bones, promotes a healthy body weight, supports learning, develops social skills and builds self-esteem.

Preschool age children are encouraged to be active throughout the day, while older children and adolescents need at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity daily.

This doesn’t need to be accomplished in one shot, so encourage mini activity breaks to get that blood pumping throughout the day.

Have fun, eat well and be active together—you won’t regret it.

If you have any further questions, please contact Tara Dunker at 402-223-1384, tara.dunker@unl.edu, or visit the Gage County Extension website at www.gage.unl.edu.

View Comments

Related to this story

Most Popular

Celebrating the good things

I don’t need to tell you that we’re living in unprecedented times in a crazy world. In times like these, it’s always nice to hear some good ne…

Commentary: Firefighting foam is making us sick

In my role as an attorney for a law firm that handles personal injury cases related to toxic environmental exposures, I see the problem caused by polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, firsthand. The majority of my clients are former firefighters who have been diagnosed with kidney or testicular cancer as a consequence of long-term exposure to these chemicals through the use of firefighter foam. …

Good news

My 95-year-old mother calls me from the nursing home each day. “Tell me something good,” she says. “The news is terrible.”

No dessert event this year

Because of the unprecedented pandemic that is becoming our new normal, the Beatrice Humane Society Board of Directors has made the thoughtful …

Commentary: Dealing with the coronavirus isn't about making everything safe — it's about assessing risk

Commentary: Dealing with the coronavirus isn’t about making everything safe — it’s about assessing risk

We have been asking the wrong question as we consider dipping our toes into new activities during the coronavirus pandemic: Is it safe? We are looking for a yes or no – a binary answer that harks back to our pre-pandemic lives. Instead, we should evaluate our encounters objectively based on some simple factors that place exposure on a risk spectrum. If we do, we will consolidate our successes …