Summer and holidays are a great time for children to participate in meal preparation, spark their curiosity and interest in cooking, and make it easier to include certain foods in their diet.
Mothers are particularly concerned about feeding their children; Diet plays a vital role in maintaining health and continuing development and growth. With the arrival of summer and holidays, mothers are wondering about the basics of good nutrition for children due to high temperatures.
In addition, free time brings many temptations for children, and to spend this summer vacation in health and peace, Al-Jazeera Net caught up with healthy eating behavior specialist and physical trainer Tatyana Doktovskaya, who is a ardent defender of physical and physical health. psychological health and a healthy lifestyle, to provide the most important tips for a healthy and stable life for adults and children together.
Give your child a healthy diet
Tatiana shows that in the summer it is important to focus especially on children’s nutrition, since high temperatures and increased physical activity require certain healthy meals and constant hydration. Children suffer from many diseases during this season, such as diarrhea, abdominal pain and high fever, and the reason is due to the multiplication of germs and their rapid growth due to high temperature and humidity. high, which affects the health of the child.
Proper nutrition is one of the best preventive measures a mother can take to maintain her child’s health during the summer. Thus, the nutritionist recommends to the mother, during the summer, to accustom her child to a healthy diet, and to encourage him to practice a sports activity to enjoy good health.
The child should also be encouraged to drink plenty of water (6-8 cups a day), to avoid dehydration and to maintain normal fluid levels in the body.
The child should be trained to wash their hands before and after a meal, and encouraged to eat a variety of meals rich in vegetables and fruit. A child between 3 and 6 years old needs at least 3 servings of vegetables and two servings of fruit per day.
It is important to encourage the child to eat fruits rich in vitamin C, which are found in oranges, guavas and mangoes.
The mother must prepare meals rich in mineral salts and carbohydrates to fill any deficiency in the child’s body, and encourage him to eat milk because it contains acidophilus, which regulates intestinal transit and helps to digest well.
The child should also be encouraged to drink natural juice every day, as long as it does not exceed one cup, as the juice is very high in sugar.
Healthy habits start with adults
Tatiana warns parents to take all these measures to encourage children to adopt a healthy diet in the summer, and considers that parents must lead by example when it comes to diet and physical activity. If kids see their parents eating healthy and exercising, they’ll accept that too.
Therefore, adults must first change their habits so that they can help their children to change and improve towards better eating, because the acquisition of healthy habits begins first with adults, and after them the children.
Fresh summer fruits
One of the best things about summer is the wide variety of fresh fruits that can be found in the markets. Most of these types are refreshing, sweet and moist, so they are ideal for children during this season.
Watermelon has a delicious taste because it contains a large proportion of water, which contributes to the hydration of the body and helps to rid it of toxins.
The specialist, Tatiana, also recommends making different kinds of ice cream, mastering them and involving children in their production with fresh fruit.
Sea drink and favorite game
The summer season is the season for games and fun, and the child often loses a lot of fluid through sweating and other vital processes, so you should pay attention to the rate of drinking water during the day.
The child should drink plenty of water, 6-8 cups a day, in hot and dry weather, especially outside the house in the sea and swimming pools.
The specialist notes that children are more susceptible to dehydration and that their thirst alarm system is not mature enough. Parents should therefore remind their children and ask them to drink more than they drink on normal days.
The favorite drink is water, with the need to stay away from processed juices and carbonated drinks. Tatiana recommends preparing cold water in the refrigerator with chopped lemon and mint leaves, and getting used to it. children to this drink, in addition to eating cold fruits, such as watermelon and grapes, which provide the body with natural fluids.
Participation of children in the preparation of meals
And because summer is vacation season, it’s a great time for kids to get involved in meal preparation, and encouraging them to participate will spark their curiosity and interest in cooking. matter of diet, and through the use of different fruits, various recipes and dishes can be easily prepared to facilitate the process of including them in their systems. Diet, according to Tatiana.
Children’s participation in food preparation helps them develop their senses of smell and taste, increases the variety and quality of their diets, and their willingness to try new foods in the future, which, in the end, is to enjoy together and develop their skills according to their age.
Restaurants and fast food
And it is possible to go out to eat at the restaurant, once every two weeks, like a good quality hamburger meal with a green salad and some chips, or a good pizza or a crispy fried food meal with a lot of salad without soft drinks, does not harm anyone.
It should be emphasized here that this should be limited, within a reasonable framework and not make it a habit, according to the advice of nutritionist Tatiana.
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