Healthy Eating for Children

Eating well makes it easier to maintain a healthy weight, increases your child’s chance of doing well at school, and improves concentration and behaviour. Learning good table manners also helps improve social skills, too.

Follow these 10 steps to encourage a healthy diet for your child:

• Work fruit and vegetable into the daily routine, aiming for at least five portions a day.
• Make it easy for your child to choose healthy snacks by keeping fruit and vegetables on hand and ready to eat. Other good snacks include yogurt, rice cakes and carrot sticks, or wholegrain biscuits and a small portion of cheese.
• Serve regular portions of lean meats and other good sources of protein, such as eggs and nuts.
• Choose wholegrain breads and cereals so that your child gets more fibre.
• Limit fat intake by avoiding deep-fried foods and choosing healthier cooking methods, such as grilling, roasting and steaming.
• Cut down on fast food, such as chips and sweets. But don't completely ban their favourite snacks from your home. Instead, make them occasional foods, so that your child doesn't feel deprived.
• Make sure your child eats only a moderate amount of foods containing sugar.
• Cut the amount of salt you use and watch for hidden salt content in food – some processed meals and breakfast cereals are high in salt so double check labels.
• Encourage your child to choose water or diluted fruit juice instead of fizzy drinks.
• Don’t let your child skip breakfast. Around 10 per cent of children don’t eat breakfast, meaning their diets contain less calcium, iron, fibre and vitamins. Skipping breakfast becomes more common as children get older, so instil good habits early.

How your children eat can be as important as what they eat. There are several strategies that can help your child learn good eating habits:

• Have regular family meals.
• Serve a variety of healthy foods and snacks.
• Be a role model by eating a good diet yourself.
• Avoid battles over food.

Remember though, that low fat diets are not appropriate for infants and young children under two years of age. A diet lower in fat, especially saturated fat, is ok for older teenagers.

Visit the NHS Direct or the Food Standards Agency for more information on healthy eating for kids.