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HEALTH ADVICE
FOOD PYRAMID
The Food Guide Pyramid outlines daily food choices for a healthy heart, bones, and muscles. The food provides the nutrients to work together for growth and wellness. Variety, balance, and moderation are the key. For small children, avoid foods in a form that may cause choking, such as grapes, nuts, hot dog chunks, or carrot circles.
Provide food variety in amounts similar to the serving size recommended. Precise servings are not important. Limit use of fats, oils, and sweets to promote health and decrease disease risks such as dental caries, diabetes, and heart disease. However, some fat is needed daily for normal growth and health.
Children may "eat like a bird" sometimes, and "eat everything in sight" at other times. Kids usually balance their calorie intake to their needs. Use growth charts to track height/weight patterns. For children who are growing normally, don't worry about appetite ups and downs.
The shape of the Food Guide Pyramid shows proportions--more servings of breads and cereals are needed than other food groups. No one group is more important than another. Children need the same numbers of servings as adults. Except for milk, the suggested serving sizes for each food group are reduced by one-third.
Practice lifetime nutrition skills. Name foods and amounts to plan for a child's meal. Name food activities for preschoolers' experiences. Check: More than six choices from the "Use Sparingly" column is an alert. How can high fat/sugar foods be made low in fat or sugar?
During the first year of life, the baby's weight triples and length increases by 50 percent. From ages 2 through 5, the child grows about 2-1/2 inches in height and gains 4 to 5 pounds a year. Actual calorie needs vary with rates of growth and activity patterns. The energy intake for moderately active children during the preschool years ranges from 1000 to 2400 calories per day.
A. Daily choices from the Food Guide Pyramid with only 4 or 5 "Use
Sparingly" choices provides about 40 grams of fat or 30 percent calories as fat.
Diets with lower fat levels are not recommended during the first two years of life because
fat is needed daily for growth. Excessive restrictions can result in starvation, failure
to thrive, or delayed growth.
Nationwide food habit surveys report fat intakes greater than 30 percent calories as fat for children. Dietary guidelines recommend limiting fat in children as young as 2 years to reduce heart disease risks. This does not mean decreasing use of meats or dairy products, but switching from high-fat choices to lean meats and skim or low-fat milk. Always continue whole milk until 2 years of age.
A. Obesity in children and adolescents is incresing in the U.S. Weight-loss diets are not recommended for children. They should check that fats and sweets are used sparingly to slow their rate of weight gain as they grow into height. Promote a lifestyle that includes physical activity.
A. Choosing fresh foods from the Food Guide Pyramid provides safe levels of sodium. Processed foods (soups, canned vegetables, vending machine snacks) and brined/cured/salted foods (sauerkraut) are concentrated sources of sodium. Serve these salty foods less often. Read labels for the words sodium and salt. Limit the use of salt in cooking and at the table.
A. Young children usually know when they are full. Urging them to eat more can cause problems with overeating later in life. Plan Food Guide Pyramid foods at meal and snack times. Talk with all family members about choices and what happens when they eat less nutritious food (feel unwell, have dental problems, are tired). What activities can family members do together for nutrition, exercise and health?
Food choices from the Food Guide Pyramid provide nutrients without depending on supplements or on highly fortified foods. Supplements are given to children for a short time to help overcome problems. If you use vitamin supplements:
| Teach Children Food Choice Skills Using These Techniques | |
|---|---|
| Food Choices | Providing the right foods results in nutritious food choices by the child, even if the child is a picky eater. The trick is to provide a variety of nutritious choices from the Food Guide Pyramid. Do not have high fat/high sweet foods available to fill up the child or to reward for behaviors. |
| Modeling | Children eat what they see others eating at meals and snacks. If you drink milk, they drink milk. If you eat vegetables, they eat vegetables. If you fill up on junk food, the child fills up on junk food. Be the child's model. |
| Familiarity | Children eat what they experience--foods they learn to prepare and to eat, foods they see in the grocery store. |
| Reward/Punishment | Do not send children away from the table as punishment. Do not reward with sweets for "good" behaviors. "YUCKY" food (healthy food) is often eaten to obtain "YUMMY" food (rich treats). Foods used as rewards, celebrations, and treats are usually high in fat, sugar, and salt. Do an image check for YUMMY-YUCKY foods with children for meanings, hidden messages, and food choices. |
| Parenting Style | Permissive or Authoritative Caregiving styles do not matter. More important is consistency (not loving one minute and hating the next; one caregiver not dominating or contradicting the other) and appropriateness (not denying meals or rewarding with rich food choices; cheerleading ("you're wonderful"); or not saying "No" when the child's safety is at risk. |
| Interaction | PCI (Parent-Child Interaction) teaches the child to cope, figure things out, and make decisions--each telling ideas, asking questions, listening to others, and letting others know they are OK. To increase PCI, use the "What Do You Think?" game activities to talk about ideas. |