With the bombardment of health messages, food products and ‘experts’ in the health industry it is not surprising that many of us wonder what there is to eat. We are often told by the media what not to eat, but then what are we meant to eat? There are approximately six opportunities each day to feed your body, and your child’s, the fuel and nutrition it needs. How do we know if we are getting it right for us, let alone for our children? Many will be familiar with the food pyramid, which is based on the Australian Dietary Guidelines for Healthy Eating. A balanced food intake for adults and children over five years old should contain approximately 20% protein, 30% fat, and 50% carbohydrates – however, what does this mean in terms of real food and meals? In real terms this means each day we need to have
- six serves or more of whole grain cereals, rice pasta etc
- two serves of fruit and five serves of vegetables
- between two and three serves of dairy foods
- one to two serves of meat or protein alternatives
We need some fat as it carries fat soluble vitamins, and provides valuable energy, however many of today’s preprepared foods already have fat in it, so we don’t need to be as conscientious in including it.
This would mean, provided you eat a variety from within each food group, you would usually be getting all the calcium, iron, protein, fat, carbohydrate, vitamins and minerals we need, without having to read little labels or calculate grams of this and that.
For children over five years the same guidelines apply, however the serving sizes are just smaller than those for adults.
Children under five years need a diet higher in fat and lower in fibre than older children and adults, but gradually their needs change to become more in line with everyone else. In real terms it means that five serves of vegetables per day is not necessary, the more energy dense foods such as meat and protein are of a higher priority. It also means that low fat dairy products are not necessary, and are not appropriate for children under two. Younger children do not need nearly as much fibre as adults do, so providing a range of breads and cereals is recommended, but avoid giving large serves of legumes such as beans and lentils as too much of these may be a bit aggressive for little bowels.
It is not realistic or necessary for parents to be preparing different meals for the different age groups within a household. Following the pyramid as a guideline means that all family members can eat the same meals, just with an adjustment of the serve sizes for children.
About the author
Robyn graduated as a Dietitian from Monash University in Melbourne in 2004. She also holds a Graduate Certificate of Paediatric Nutrition and Dietetics. Prior to this she worked and trained in hospitality, feeding her passion for good food, and catering her way through university.
Robyn has previously worked as a Dietitian in London, America, Melbourne and Sydney, both in paediatric nutrition, as well as over the past four years Robyn has also specialised in treating children, adolescents and adults with eating disorders.
She is expecting her first baby this month and is looking forward to the challenges and changes this will bring.
Robyn enjoys working with children and their families to provide a healthy happy relationship with food, her aim being to help each child reach their potential through a healthy lifestyle.
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i have a 2 year old boy who plainly refuses to eat. he has only just started eating bananas and yogurt again after months of refusing. he is still breast fed, but only has about 3-4 feeds a day. there is no way that he is meeting any of the requirements in this artical, should i be worried? this has been going on for a while now, when he was younger he was happy to eat a variety of healthy food, i have no idea where to go from here…
Posted by Tia on September 13, 2010 at 2:12 pm
Dear Tia,
Its hard to give an accuarate response without knowing your little boy. I would take him to get it checked out further, to try to work out why he is refusing and therefore hopefully save you a lot of trial and error. My advice will be a bit watered down, as i havent met him. At what age was he introduced to solids? I would go to a paediatrician, and consider a speech therapist, who could assess his swallow. I would like to know how long this has been going on for, and is he still growing, both in height and weight along the percentile growth curve he started on. If he is following the percentile chart, then the action you take is less urgent. If it is a phase, and has only been going on a short time, and is not affecting his growth, then continue to offer foods, some familiar paired with one new food each time. Add kilojoules where you can by adding margerine or butter to everything. This adds energy without adding bulk.
As an aside, good on you for breastfeeding for two years. This will still most likely be providing him with most of his requirements.
Posted by Robyn Dery on September 15, 2010 at 4:45 pm
Robyn
thanx for the reply. he started solids when he was about 6 months, he started to sneak vegies off my plate!! the pickyness started at about 12 months…. he use to eat everything, vegies, little bit of meat, fruit… its just gotten real bad over the last 6 months. i have had him to the speach therapist, everything there seems normal. his growth and energy are fine… which is hard to believe (some days all i can get him to eat is watermellon and a banana smoothie!!) i always offer him everything that we eat at meals, sometimes he will eat a mouthful and i get excited at that!! LOL
sometimes i think that the breastfeeding is the only thing keeping him going!! hopefuly ill find out some more from the paediatrician… thanx for your help
Posted by Tia on September 19, 2010 at 9:15 pm