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Essential snacks

Children need small frequent meals

SNACK ATTACK Fruit juice is not an ideal snack for children

The popularity of snacking in between meals may be one reason for the spurt in childhood obesity.

To combat snacking, parents often make the mistake of forbidding all foods in between meals. This doesn't work because a child needs snacks. One reason why the kid always has his hand in the proverbial cookie jar is that his stomach is too small to get by on three square meals. Children need frequent meals, and healthful snacks are essential for ensuring growth and preventing obesity.

Choose snacks that are low in saturated fat and rich in nutrients. Low fat milk, fruit, nuts and whole grain carbohydrates are good examples. Milk and cookies are a popular snack for a very good reason. Try to instil the notion of vegetables as snacks.

Fruit juice may not be a good idea as a snack. This might come as a surprise to all those parents snatching colas out of their kids' hands and replacing them with fruit juices. Fruit may be a great snack, but juice is not. Like soft drinks, it is rich in sugars that corrode teeth all day. Fruit juices also prevent children from developing an appetite for more substantial foods. Current guidelines recommend no more than 360 ml of fruit juice over two servings.

In the West, the Popeye cartoons created a boom in children's demand for spinach. That may be the only example of television being a parent's friend when it comes to child nutrition.

Advertisements for snacks very rarely plug anything healthful, and they encourage children to choose soft drinks and junk food. Limiting television time and being a role model when it comes to healthy food choices are the two best options available to a parent. Children respond to presentation as much as to taste, so dress up your snacks if you have the time and energy. Introduce variety. Some foods can be dangerous for kids under the age of three as they can cause choking. Nuts, grapes, bread and dried fruit are the most common culprits.

RAJIV. M

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