Carbohydrates, Sugar, and Your Child

Carbohydrates are the body's most important and readily available source of energy. Even though they've gotten a bad rap lately and are sometimes blamed for the obesity  epidemic in America, carbs are a necessary part of a healthy diet for both kids and adults.

The two major forms of carbs are:
   1. Simple sugars (simple carbohydrates), such as fructose, glucose, and lactose, which also are found in nutritious whole fruits
   2. Starches (complex carbohydrates), found in foods such as starchy vegetables, grains, rice, and breads and cereals

Calcium and your child

Milk and other calcium-rich foods have always been a must-have in kids' diets. After all, calcium is a key building block for strong, healthy bones. But most kids ages 9 to 18 don't get the recommended 1,300 milligrams of calcium per day.

That's not surprising when you consider that many kids now drink more soda than milk, which is one of the best sources of calcium. And teens who smoke or drink soda, caffeinated beverages, or alcohol may get even less calcium because those substances interfere with the way the body absorbs and uses calcium.

Why Read to My Baby?

You may wonder about the benefits of reading to your baby. An infant won't understand everything you're doing or why. But you wouldn't wait until your child could understand what you were saying before you started speaking to him or her, right? And you wouldn't bypass lullabies until your baby could carry a tune or wait until he or she could shake a rattle before you offered any toys.

Reading aloud to your baby is a wonderful shared activity you can continue for years to come — and it's an important form of stimulation.

Reading aloud:
    * Teaches a baby about communication
    * Introduces concepts such as stories, numbers, letters, colors, and shapes in a fun way
    * Builds listening, memory, and vocabulary skills
    * Gives babies information about the world around them

Grab a Healthy Snack

As a growing kid, you need healthy snacks to get you through the day. Regular and nutritious snacks help keep your mind alert and your energy levels up.

When you get hungry between meals, nutritious snacks give you the extra energy and nutrients you need.

Healthy Kids Activities

Think a vegetable can’t teach you anything? Well think again! Try these cool experiments and activities and see what you learn!
 

Colourful celery experiment
Place a celery stalk in a clear container. Fill it up three-quarters full with brightly coloured water (just add some food colouring). Look at what happens over the next few days. You should see the celery drinking the water.

Try the experiment with other plants – maybe one with a white flower. What do you predict will happen?

Plants draw the water up their stem and send it on to their leaves and petals. Carefully cut the stem. Can you see the coloured water inside?

4 Simple Tips for Raising Healthy Kids

In a land of go-gurts, happy meals, lunchables, and clever junk food marketing geared toward kids, raising a healthy child is becoming increasingly difficult. We are never more than five feet away from a food message and 90% of those messages are not about health food. So what’s a parent to do? KISS (Keep it Super Simple) those problems away! Here are four super simple tips to keep your child healthy while maintaining your sanity.

5 Tips for Choosing a Children’s Multivitamin

These days, a walk down the vitamin aisle is enough to give you a headache – luckily, there’s a vitamin for that. The same goes for children’s multivitamins, as there are many brands vying for attention on the shelf.  If parents choose to implement a multivitamin in their child’s diet, Ilyse Schapiro, MS, RD, CDN has five tips to make the multivitamin options a little less confusing. As always, a talk with your child’s pediatrician is advised before starting any new regimen.

1) Get a supplement that says multivitamin and mineral to get the best key nutrients. Our Mary Hartley, RD suggested, “Don’t forget about minerals! Look at the zinc and iron content. For instance, Flintstones Complete has 12 mg of zinc whereas Centrum Junior Complete has only 3 mg.”