The Link Between Your Child’s Nutrition and Better Health
The Huffington Post once ran an article regarding how American children can have better health. In this article, they cited information from the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.
Children and adolescents both consume more calories and fewer nutrients for the remainder of the day after eating a fast food meal.
Kristin Kirkpatrick R.D., Fast Food’s Immediate Damage to Your Health, The Huffington Post
Younger children should be taught from the beginning to eat organically and to make healthier food choices. But, when you have things like toys that come with kids meals and playgrounds attached to fast food restaurants, unhealthy food is that much more enticing to a child. Still, some of the most popular fast food chains have now made it a point to include healthier food options. For example, a kids meal could now come with a side of apples instead of french fries. They can also get juice instead of soda.
Starting a Trend
This is a shift into a positive direction, and I applaud the fast-food chains that are doing this. This helps children to realize the difference between foods that can ultimately harm their bodies in the long run, and ones that will help them to grow into stronger, healthier adults later on in life. It can even help avert the early onset of asthma and other lung problems.
It’s also important that parents stress to their children the importance of physical exercise. Many kids today will sit on a computer, smartphone, or tablet all day long, and hardly ever engage in any physical activity.
Make it a Game
One way that you can get your kids to get into the habit of getting more physical exercise these days is to simply make it fun again to go outside and play. Grab a football and toss it around with your kids in the yard. Grab a frisbee and go to the beach. One of my favorite games to play when I was a kid was kickball, and recently me and a few of the other adults in the neighborhood actually got together, went to the park, and played a long game of it. All of their kids couldn’t wait to come out and play, because all of those parents were making this physical activity look like so much fun…and it was!
