HEALTHY LIFESTYLE OF PRESCHOOL CHILD AND ITS PARENTS

Dear Parents, Your role is particularly important in preventing bad habits in your child’s life. It is parents who directly shape the child’s environment from an early age and indirectly influence behavior, habits and attitudes. The eating habits we introduce at home (e.g. eating meals together) shape the eating patterns of our children. As people responsible for the availability and variety of food at home, we also influence what our children eat.

If you want your child to be healthy, strong and full of energy – provide them with vegetables and fruits every day that are a source of vitamins, minerals and fiber. Vegetables and fruits are one of the basic elements of a properly balanced child’s diet and cannot be replaced by anything.

A well-composed menu will help strengthen our children’s immunity and avoid frequent and long-lasting infections. In winter, a child’s body primarily needs warm and warming meals and drinks.

How to support your child’s body during this period:

– Eat lots of raw fruit and vegetables. Serve more stewed and boiled,

– instead of citrus fruits – domestic fruits (apples, pears) – preferably stewed, boiled, made from compote

– instead of sweets – dried fruit, fresh and dried fruit,

– instead of white flour products (such as breakfast sandwiches) – more cooked cereals in the form of groats and cereal flakes

– instead of salt – more spices and warming herbs: fresh ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, thyme, fennel, basil, turmeric, rosemary

– instead of dairy products (except butter and eggs) – more plant-based milk products, vegetable and cereal pastes,

– instead of store-bought frozen products – fresh seasonal products

instead of cold drinks and juices: warm water, natural compotes, unsweetened fruit and vegetable juices, diluted with hot water, fruit teas without artificial flavors, milk, grain coffee, natural cocoa

    Dear Parent, here are some tips that will help you change your child’s current lifestyle:

– Be an example!

If you want to have a healthy baby, start exercising yourself. Take your family for a sled walk or bike ride, explaining to them that physical activity is a great way to take care of your health and is by no means a punishment or waste of time.

– Less time in front of the TV

The easiest way to encourage a child to be physically active is to limit the time he or she spends in front of the TV, computer or tablet. If your child can no longer tear himself away from the computer screen, encourage him to focus on video games that force him to move, e.g. dance games, console arcade games. Creative movement games develop not only the child’s physical fitness but also the mind, i.e. memory and concentration. A child who is allowed to exercise and play freely becomes healthier and less likely to be obese.

It is best to start nutritional education from an early age. Eating habits are formed in early childhood , such as a preference for sweet or salty taste .

A child is more likely to eat the main meal and try new flavors if he or she does not eat sweets between meals. Eating them between meals weakens your appetite for main , nutritious meals.

The best and easiest way is to include vegetables and fruit in every meal: lettuce leaves for a sandwich, a few slices of tomato and pepper pieces, a banana for yogurt, your favorite salad for lunch, fruit for pudding for an afternoon snack, a vegetable salad for dinner.

You may think that children don’t like vegetables and fruit… Nothing could be further from the truth. Prepared in the right form and nicely served, they taste good even to the pickiest eaters. A salad of your favorite fruit, a fruit and milk cocktail, fresh fruit and vegetable juice, a vegetable casserole or pumpkin cream can become one of your child’s favorite dishes.

 10 RULES FOR HEALTHY EATING FOR SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

– Eat different foods from each group in the pyramid every day.

– Be physically active every day – exercise has a positive effect on fitness and a proper figure.

– The source of energy in your diet should mainly come from products found at the base (bottom) of the pyramid.

– Consume at least 3-4 portions of milk or dairy products every day, such as yogurt, kefir, buttermilk, cheese.

– Eat 2 portions of products from the group every day – meat, fish, eggs. Also include legumes.

– Each meal should contain vegetables or fruit.

– Limit your intake of fats, especially animal fats .

– Limit your consumption of sugar, sweets and sweet drinks.

– Limit your consumption of salty products, put away the salt shaker.

– Drink adequate amounts of water every day.