Kids Food Tips: Kids’ food plate should look like this, say Harvard experts | – Times of India

Children are constantly growing and developing, and they need a wide range of nutrients to support this process. Proper nutrition provides the essential building blocks, such as proteins, vitamins, and minerals, that are necessary for the development of healthy bones, muscles, organs, and tissues. Children are typically more active than adults, and they need energy to fuel their physical activities and play.A balanced diet provides carbohydrates, fats, and proteins that supply the necessary energy for daily activities, sports, and learning.
Experts at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, elucidate what the food plate of kids should look like.

As a part of the Kid’s Healthy Eating Plate, which provides a blueprint to help make the best eating choices, the experts suggest that each food should have a unique mix of nutrients.
“Along with filling half of our plate with colorful vegetables and fruits (and choosing them as snacks), split the other half between whole grains and healthy protein,” as per the report available on the website.

The more the veggies, the better it is

The experts recommend having a variety of types and colors of vegetables to provide the body with the right kind of supplement. They recommend eating more non-starchy vegetables and keeping a big portion of green leafy vegetables. On fruits, which kids usually are reluctant to eat, the experts suggest including more colors of fruit to the diet. “Choose whole fruits or sliced fruits (rather than fruit juices; limit fruit juice to one small glass per day),” the experts suggest.

The less processed the grains, the better

They recommend filling close to 30% of the food plate with whole grains like whole wheat, brown rice, and quinoa, and foods made with them, such as whole-grain pasta and 100% whole-wheat bread instead of foods that have processed grains like white rice, bread, pizza crust, and pasta.

Both and plant proteins are essential

The expert stresses healthy protein, derived from both animal and plant sources like peas, nuts, seeds, fish, eggs, and poultry. They recommend against the consumption of red meat and processed meats.

Why is this important to know?

Nutrition decides whether a child will be healthy or not. Feeding kids on empty calories or not feeding them with foods that have vitamins and minerals crucial to their growth puts them at risk of developing chronic diseases from an early age. As per the data released by the World Health Organisation (WHO), 39 million children under the age of 5 were overweight or obese in 2020. “The prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents aged 5-19 has risen dramatically from just 4% in 1975 to just over 18% in 2016. The rise has occurred similarly among both boys and girls: in 2016 18% of girls and 19% of boys were overweight,” the WHO says and blames intake of energy-dense foods that are high in fat and sugars and lack of physical activity as the two primary reasons.
Increased consumption of fruits and vegetables, engaging in physical activity for 60 minutes in a day can help children stay fit and not get obese.