A nutritious diet full of vitamins and minerals is the cornerstone of your child’s health. The health of each cell depends on the ongoing influx of available nutrients from dietary sources. Due to a number of unfortunate environmental factors, our food supply is not as robust as it once was. Research shows that the nutrient density of foods in declining due to a diminishing number of soil nutrients available when growing food.
Our meats are pumped full of antibiotics and hormones to help produce larger amounts. The result is that we are bioaccumulating a number of harmful substances. It is estimated that the average human living anywhere on earth has a minimum of 200 chemicals residues in their cells. A great number of those toxic exposures come from the food that we eat every day.
The best diet and nutrition strategy for your child is a diet of organic foods, free range antibiotic free meats and whole grains. Easy, right? Well, a whole food diet can be a huge challenge in this day and age when processed foods full of yummy sugar and artificial flavours is right at our finger tips. Kids are subject to peer pressure when it comes to tasty treats that, in large numbers, put them at risk for a number of health concerns including childhood obesity and diabetes.
Here are some great diet goals to set for your family:
- Eat green leafy vegetables daily – be creative and hide them is soups, sauces or smoothies
- Have fibre daily in the form of ground flax seeds or chia seeds
- Drink half your body weight in water – ex. a 40 lb child needs 20 oz of water daiy
- Eat a good quality protein with every meal and snack
- Incorporate fresh garlic and onions into your weekly cooking regime
- Fresh berries are an excellent source of nutrients especially if they are organic and have a lower pesticide level
- 1 tsp of sugar lowers immune function for up to 5 hours
- Limit the amount of juice your child drinks and eliminate pop
- Food additives like tartrazine can aggravate the nervous system and cause hyperactivity – they have also been linked to asthma, skin rashes and migraines and is banned in Norway and Austria