Let’s celebrate Kids Eat Right Month™

ENSURING CHILDREN GET THE RIGHT NUTRITION to promote good health and proper growth is a concern all parents share. With August being designated Kids Eat Right Month™, there’s no time like the present to discuss some simple, practical ways to encourage good eating habits in kids.

Kids Eat Right Month is the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ opportunity to shine a spotlight on the fight for our children’s healthy future. This month-long celebration highlights the importance of smart shopping, healthy eating, and active lifestyles for kids of all ages—infants to teens.

With so many potential topics related to kids’ nutrition to talk about, it’s hard to choose just one, so let’s explore my Top Three Topics for Kids Nutrition:

Smart snacking essentials

Kids need to get enough calories to fuel an active lifestyle. Those who are very active may need over 2,000 calories per day to keep them going. To get all these calories, kids need snacks—typically three snacks in addition to their three daily meals. But when a snack attack strikes, it’s important that they refuel with nutritious foods, not cookies and chips.

Here are just a few easy, delicious, and healthy options that might please your child’s palate:

1. Peel a banana, dip it in yogurt, roll it in crushed cereal, and freeze.

2. Spread celery sticks with peanut butter or low-fat cream cheese, and top with raisins for “ants on a log.”

3. Stuff a whole-grain pita with ricotta cheese and granny smith apple slices, and add a dash of cinnamon.

4. Mix together in a snack bag cereal, dried fruit, and nuts for an on-the-go snack.

• Spread mustard on a tortilla, add a slice of ham and a slice of low-fat cheese, and roll up.

Maintaining proper hydration

We tend to think only of food when we discuss nutrition, but water is one of the body’s most essential nutrients as well. In fact, water accounts for 60 percent of body weight and is the cornerstone of all body functions. Water helps with temperature control, helps transport nutrients and oxygen to all the cells, and carries away waste products.

So how much water do kids actually need? The appropriate daily amount depends on a variety of factors, including age, weight, gender, activity level, temperature, humidity, and overall health, but here’s a general guide based on age to help parents determine whether their kids are on track to proper hydration:

• 4 to 6 years—7 cups per day

• 9 to 13 years—9 cups per day for girls, 10 cups per day for boys

• 14 to 18 years—10 cups per day for girls, 14 cups per day for boys

This may seem like a lot for kids to drink, but remember that total water can come from milk, juice, and other beverages.

Building your child’s bone bank

You may not think much about your child’s bones or how nutrition impacts bone growth and strength, but bone health is a major health issue for kids. The reason is, by the time kids are 18 to 20 years old, they have already built their “bone bank.”

What do I mean by “bone bank”? Think of bone health as a savings account. Bone is actually a living tissue that turns over constantly with regular deposits and withdrawals. During childhood and adolescence, bones are primed to make large deposits. Later in life, the rate of deposits drops while withdrawals increase.

To ensure enough is being deposited in the bone bank, it’s important for kids to get adequate amounts of certain key bone-building nutrients, including calcium, phosphorus, vitamin D, magnesium, and Vitamin K. Calcium-rich foods should be part of each meal. The richest sources are milk and cheese, but there are several non-dairy sources as well, such as almonds, broccoli, kale, greens, figs, and tofu prepared with calcium. Also, some foods and beverages are fortified with calcium.

Vitamin D production is triggered in the body naturally by sun exposure; however, natural production can vary significantly depending on skin pigment, the season, and geography. Therefore, food sources of vitamin D are a must for those of us who live in northern regions. Natural sources are egg yolks, mushrooms, and fatty fish like salmon.

Good sources of magnesium include almonds, spinach, black beans, oats, peanut butter, avocado, and potato. To get adequate vitamin K, choose leafy greens like kale, greens, cabbage, spinach, and broccoli.

Of course, this would not be an Eating Well column without mentioning exercise—yes, physical activity is essential to good bone growth. The best activities for padding that bone-bank account are weight-bearing exercises, such running, hiking, dancing, tennis, basketball, and soccer. While swimming and bicycling are great for health, they are not weight-bearing, so be sure to incorporate a variety of activities into your exercise regimen.

It’s also important for parents to be aware that kids’ bone growth can be compromised during these critical years through unhealthy activities such as smoking, drinking alcohol, undereating, and extreme dieting. On the other hand, children and adolescents who combine proper nutrition, physical exercise, and a healthy lifestyle can maximize their bone-saving potential.

Getting kids to eat enough—let alone the right types of foods—can be a challenge in and of itself. Parents and caretakers, who are the gatekeepers for good nutrition, need to be aware that children often learn from and mimic the eating habits and patterns they observe at home. So, it’s important to maintain a positive attitude about food and food choices. Also, try to eat as many sit-down family dinners as you can to establish positive relationships and healthy eating. When it comes to packing school lunches later this month, think of these healthy suggestions.

Thanks for reading another column of Eating Well!

Laurie Syring, RD/LD, is Clinical Nutrition Manager at ProMedica Flower Hospital.