Daily Nutrition Products

Daily Nutrition for Kids

Life is too fast today. Children and families have busy schedules and it’s really hard to prepare or sit down to homemade meals everyday for all working parents. So, in this scenario, any kid’s diet involves a lot of packaged and takeout food. More often than not, these foods will be laden with unnecessary ingredients like preservatives, unhealthy saturated fats, trans-fat and refined flours. When consumed regularly, they can have a negative effect on your child’s health, and some problem can continue into adulthood too. So, it is important to feed nutrition food for kids from the early years itself. This not only keeps the present active but also ensures a dependable and disease-free future. Nutritious diet has many benefits for children: improves mental health, stabilises energy, builds immunity and prepare body against diseases. You can easily develop healthy eating habits in your children from their childhood. This can be a best gift you can give them for their better tomorrow.

For ideal nutrition intake the child should be served variety of healthy food preferably in the format he or she loves to eat. It is not only liberating but also time saving for the parents to share the same meal with the child as he/she is eating. It is observed that it's not the healthy food that makes a child fussy but the food format. If a child is given healthy food in his/her favourite format in their early years, then they learn to eventually pick up and enjoy those vegetables, fruits and nuts without much fuss. For example, if a child loves fries, then baking sweet potato or carrot fries with favourite seasoning is a no brainer. Kids nutrition food should look and taste good and familiar.

Kids do as their parents do. They copy! Sharing and eating appealing, tasty healthy food with the child, makes the whole process of feeding not only simple but also pleasant. Food preferences are formed early in life. The onus is on the parent as to what options does he/she serve to the child. Serving child-friendly food will most likely make the child habitual to less spice, easy to chew, limited food options. These habit forming preferences only becomes firmer with age resulting in either higher consumption of processed food (like cookie, fries etc) or a separate meal preparation at home (which can get frustrating eventually).

The sooner the transition from baby food to daily nutrition food for kids happens, it not only makes life of the parent much easier but also prepares the child to try varied textures and tastes. Early introduction of kids nutrition food is necessary for growth. Nutrient deficiency can directly impact digestion, bones and brain development of the child. The impact of these are carried on forever. Hence, every bite the child takes should be loaded with goodness (and taste!).

Kids are busy growing and crossing new milestones. Along with their body, their observation, mind and admiration is also increasing. They are trying and accepting new food flavours and textures. As a parent, it is imperative to present daily nutrition food for kids which are not detrimental to the child’s growth, mainly bones, digestion and brain. A study states that kids in India (and worldwide) tend to consume double the recommend limit of sodium in their diet. When sodium intake becomes too high, the body gets rid of sodium via the urine, taking calcium with it, which depletes calcium stores in the body resulting in weaker bones. Every bite matters and should be chosen wisely!

Starting from as early as toddlers to beyond, kids go through a lot of developmental changes. It can often get challenging for parents to feed and manage daily nutrition food for kids. There aren’t any strict rights or wrongs however there can be certain choices that can make the meal time pleasant for both the child and the parent, while keeping it nutritious too.

Kids love to eat some form of roti/ paratha/ wrap/ bread everyday. Daily Nutrition spreads mentioned below can help in making the meal nutritious and flavourful.

• Chocolate Nut & Seeds Spread: Source of antioxidant (what are antioxidants?), cocoa can add flavour to any nut or seed daily nutrition spread. A study showed that eating cocoa for five days improved blood flow to the brain boostIng memory and attention. This healthy spread can be made with hazelnut, almond, cashew, pista, peanut or mix of these along with honey or jaggery.

•  Plain Nut butter spread: Flavourful nut and seeds daily nutrition spread can work magically on any bread or wrap, adding loads of Vitamin E and fibre. 1 tablespoon of this seed mix provides 5g of protein (Want more easy protein?). A healthy spread like this can easily blend with any daily nutrition food for kids.

• Herb & Seed Spread: Adding herb to the seeds spread will enhance kids nutrition food further. Basil has been used traditionally to treat stomach ailments. Pine nuts are a source of good fat (what is a good fat?)and can mix well with Basil to make a delectable and healthy daily nutrition spread.

• Cottage Cheese Spread: Freshly prepared cottage cheese can be blended to prepare a spread for bread and wraps. This daily nutrition spread is high in protein along with other nutrients like calcium, Vitamin B12 and good bacterias. Just half a bowl of this can provide 14g of protein. (How much protein do i need?)

• Cucumber & Yogurt Spread: Not only does this daily nutrition spread have high calcium and protein from yogurt, but also good bacterias for the gut (what do bacterias do?) from its fermentation process. Cucumber further adds high amounts of Vitamin K (30% of daily requirement is met in just 1 cucumber) which is required for bones and healthy menstrual blood flow. This extremely low calorie kids nutrition food should be best consumed with the peel to include the fibre.

• Hummus Spread: One of the most accommodating daily nutrition spreads, this chickpea blend is a great source of good fat and dietary fibre. When mixed with beetroot, it can offer additional nutrition of Vitamin B9 for brain and exceptionally high amounts of antioxidants too. Avocado chickpea spread offers loads of good fats and Omega-3 for brain and Vitamin K for stronger bones (what food can damage bones?)and healthy menstrual blood flow. This can easily become a part of kids nutrition foods.

• Fruit Spread: Berries or citrus fruits like orange, mandarin, dragonfruit can be cooked along with chia seed, honey and vinegar for a tasty tangy healthy spread. This formula is super nutritious and is a great daily nutrition food for kids. Loaded with antioxidants, fibre and extremely good for balancing hormones (what other food can help with hormones?).