Healthy Diets Overview

Eating healthy is an important part of a healthy lifestyle and is something that should be taught to children at a young age. The following are some general guidelines for helping your child eat healthy. It is important to discuss your child's diet with your child's physician prior to making any dietary changes or placing your child on a diet.

• Eat three meals a day, with healthy snacks.
  
• Increase fiber in the diet and decrease the use of salt.
  
• Drink a lot of water.
  
• Children under the age of 2 need fats in their diet to help with the growth of their nervous system. Do not place these children on a low fat diet without talking with your child's physician.
  
• For growing children and adolescents, it is generally recommended to watch total fat consumption in the diet, rather than counting calories.
  
• Eat balanced meals.
  
• When cooking for your child, try to bake or broil instead of frying.
  
• Decrease your child's sugar intake.
  
• Eat fruit or vegetables for a snack.
  
• For children over 5, use low-fat dairy products.
  
• Decrease the use of butter and heavy gravies.
  
• Eat more chicken and fish.

Making healthy food choices:

The food guide pyramid is a good guideline to help you and your child eat a heart healthy diet. The Food Guide Pyramid can help you and your child eat a variety of foods while encouraging the right amount of calories and fat.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the US Department of Health and Human Services have prepared the following "food pyramids" to guide parents in selecting foods for children 2 to 6 years of age, and for children over age 6.

The pyramid below applies to anyone 6 years of age to adulthood. However, remember that a serving size for a 6-year-old is going to be much smaller than an adult serving size. Do not attempt to make small children eat adult-sized portions in order to comply with this pyramid. Also, when a range of serving numbers is given (such as 6 to 11 servings of bread, rice, or pasta), it is more appropriate to ensure a 6-year-old has the lesser of the two amounts (6 servings rather than 11).

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