Guidelines For your child learns to love good food.

Nutrition can be an anxious subject for some parents. You may worry about whether your child is eating enough good food. Or you may wonder whether they are overeating or becoming unhealthy. The following guidelines and tools may help ease your anxiety.

Appetite

Children go through growth and activity sports so sometimes they are really hungry and sometimes they eat like a bird. As long as you offer nutritious food, you can trust your child's appetite to get the balance right. Forcing children to eat (even strong encouragement to eat more) can often backfire. It helps to remember that sweets, chips and biscuits can interfere with their natural appetite for nutritious food. Let his appetite be the guide

MyPyramid for Kids helps to promote the 3 basic rules for a healthy diet:

Variety Balance Moderation

Variety means that you must include many different foods from each level of the Food Pyramid because no single food can supply all of the nutrients that your growing body needs on a daily basis. This can help to expand your food choices. It is best to eat foods of all colors. The more colors and textures in your daily meals, the better range of nutrients you'll get.

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Balance means that you must eat the right amounts of foods from all levels of the Food Pyramid each day. This way you will get all the calories and nutrients you need for proper growth and development.

Moderation means that you are careful not to eat too much of any one type of food.

Let's take a closer look at the Food Pyramid to see how it can help you to plan good meals.

To make the most out of the Food Pyramid, we'll need to figure out what counts as a serving. Let me help explain this. Next to each section of the Pyramid below you will see how many servings of each food it suggests that you have each day.

The size of each serving depends on your size. That is why there is a children's menu at restaurants, so you don't get stuck with an adult sized meal!

The right amounts of servings from each of the food groups depends on your age, sex, body size and activity level, but the table below will give you an idea of where you fit in:

	Preschool children	Most children and Teenage girls	Teenage boys
Bread, Cereal, Rice, Pasta	6 servings	9 servings	11 servings
Fruits	2 servings	3 servings	4 servings
Vegetables	3 servings	4 servings	5 servings
Milk, Yogurt, Cheese	2-3 servings	2-3 servings	2-3 servings
Meats, Fish	5 ounces	6 ounces	7 ounces

MyPyramid for Kids reminds you to be physically active every day, or most days, and to make healthy food choices. Every part of the pyramid symbol has a message. Click on the different food groups in the picture below to get a closer look at the common foods that make up each group.

Foods to avoid

It is fine to offer dessert at the end of a meal and sliced fruit is the healthiest option. If you want to serve something special, go for vanilla ice cream or banana bread. Save the seriously sweet stuff, like chocolate, for special occasions such as birthdays.

1. Children's systems can't handle foods high in salt, sugar or caffeine (found in cola drinks). Soft drinks and fruit juice are expensive, high in sugar and bad for teeth. If you want to offer juice, mix it half and half with water.
2. Fast fix foods. These foods are low in fibre and nutrients and high in sugar and/or fat. They include hot chips, potato chips, donuts, biscuits and cookies, cakes, chocolate and sugary sweets. The fat in most of these foods is the less healthy type, including 'trans fat'. Just say no and, instead, let them get hooked on good snacks, like grated or thinly sliced carrot and sweet baby peas served frozen in a cup.

How you can help them learn to love good food

Children watch what you are eating. So you can help them adopt good eating habits by eating well yourself. Now is a good time to try giving up at least one or two items of junk food. If you can keep packaged biscuits and chips out of your house, it could make a very big difference for your child.

Sometimes children need to be offered a new food six to 10 times before they taste it and, eventually, eat it. It helps if they see you eating it too! If you still have no luck, try again in three to six months.

Too much or not enough?

Knowing the way your tummy 'talks to' your brain can help you deal with concerns about undereating or overeating.

1. Delayed reaction. Our brains only realise we are full about 20 minutes after the food hits our stomachs.
2. Tummy clock. Feeling hungry is partly determined by your child's 'stomach clock' - how much she ate yesterday at the same time. Big meals at regular times actually encourage a big appetite next dinner time, so you can use that to your advantage either way. You can encourage children who undereat at mealtimes to eat more, by limiting 'grazing' (or random snacking). On the other hand, regular healthy snacks might be a great way to reduce overeating at mealtimes.

Overeating?
If you are concerned that your child has a tendency to overeat, you can try slowing it down by: (a) offering half a normal portion of food and then, if she has finished it, offer the second half of her meal 10 minutes later (sometimes this will give her brain a chance to catch up with her stomach); or (b) offering the most nutritious stuff (lean protein and vegetables) first ('food sequencing'). She doesn't need to eat everything on her plate but only offer her a normal portion of starchy carbohydrates (like pasta, bread or potatoes) after she has finished the more nutritious foods. (If given the choice, children tend to go for the bread and pasta first and that can fill them up before they get to the more nutritious foods.)

Undereating?You feel that your child is consistently not eating enough at mealtimes. If he tends to sit happily for about five minutes and then starts fidgeting and loses his appetite, try: (a) food sequencing (see above) to get the good stuff into him first (during that precious window of opportunity) and (b) let him wolf down the food as fast as he wants (to let his stomach outrun his brain so he'll fill up a bit more). His stomach clock can help too. If you can make mealtimes at the same time every day, he is more likely to be hungry at that time of day.

7 tips for happy mealtimes

1. Be relaxed about it, even if they are not eating.
2. Mix it up a bit. Sitting at the same table for every meal can be hard going. Try a picnic in the backyard or take dinner down to the beach or park occasionally.
3. Try not to give in to whingeing for alternatives to the meal you have prepared.
4. Offer nothing until the next scheduled mealtime or regular snack time (they’ll get the hang of it).
5. Schedule snacking to leave a good space before meal times (at least 1/2 to one hour).
6. At dinner, try offering the protein and colourful vegies first, when they are most hungry.
7. Be calm, firm and consistent. 

Exercise for children

Walking, running, jumping, throwing, climbing and playing give your child strong bones and muscles, a healthy heart, lungs and arteries, and improved coordination, balance, posture and flexibility. It also increases overall metabolism all day long. This reduces their risk of getting overweight or obese, and of developing heart disease, cancer and diabetes down the track. Playgrounds are a great place to burn off some steam and play with others.