Have you been looking for the top 10 foods for a healthy kid?
Parents know hands down that healthy foods are essential for their children’s optimal growth and development. Bear in mind that helping your child practice healthy eating in his/her early childhood years can greatly impact the child’s adolescence through adolescence and adulthood. Furthermore, eating healthy foods is no doubt the most effective means of avoiding chronic diseases such as high cholesterol, obesity, diabetes, and cancers. For other parenting tips you can go to our expert blog for parents.
Top 10 Foods for a Healthy Kid
However, making kids eat healthy foods has always been easier said than done. To help you kickstart and maintain a healthy diet for your kid, here’s our list of top 10 healthy foods:
Yogurt
Yogurts are delicious and packed with nutrition. Yogurt is rich in probiotics and is a good source of protein, vitamins, calcium, fat, and calories. It can be eaten regularly and offers protection for bones and teeth while promoting digestive health. Yogurts can be your child’s tasty breakfast, a supplement for lunch, snack on the fly, or gentle dinner. This food is good for all ages from babies to the young at heart.
Beans
Beans are a fiber rich food and work in helping children avoid constipation while promoting a healthy bowel movement. Beans are also an excellent source of protein which is essential for a child’s growth and muscle development. Some of the healthiest beans to eat for children are chickpeas, lentils, and kidney beans. Your child can also get iron, folate, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, and zinc from eating beans.
Eggs
Eggs are a staple food. They are inexpensive, easy to cook, and can be used in a wide variety of recipes. But most importantly, the egg is a powerhouse of vitamins and minerals. Eggs are a protein rich food. One large egg approximately has about 6 grams of protein. It is also rich in vitamins A, B12, D, E, and Choline. With eggs, your child’s bone health and immunity are enhanced while improving liver function, metabolism, and fetal brain development. In short, eggs make children strong and smart!
Avocado – Top 10 Foods for a Healthy Kid
This yummy fruit is everyone’s food for the heart. It is rich in healthy monounsaturated fats, fiber, and potassium which help promote good heart health. The avocado is a common first food for babies and improves brain and eye health. It’s a delicious source of the five essential nutrients for children and these are Vitamin C, Vitamin K, magnesium, fiber, and folate.
Sweet Potato
The sweet potato is a great choice for a kid’s mid day snack or for breakfast to be paired with scrambled eggs and milk. This humble but naturally sweet vegetable is also a tasty first food for babies and a rich source of Vitamin A for healthy eyes and Vitamins C and B6 for your child’s brain and nervous system. The sweet potato is also a potassium and magnesium rich food that takes good care of the heart.
Milk
Everyone knows that milk is one of the best foods to improve bone and muscle development because it is rich in high quality protein and calcium. But this dairy food is much more than that. Milk is also a good source of potassium that aids in maintaining healthy blood pressure. Drinking milk yields high levels of energy so that your child can keep up in various day to day activities and enjoy fun engagements all day long. On top of that, milk supplies your child’s nutritional requirement on Zinc, Vitamins A, B6, B2, and B12, Iodin, and Niacin.
Nuts and Seeds – Top 10 Foods for a Healthy Kid
Nuts and seeds are a rich source of antioxidants which battle free radicals that can cause cell damage and eventually lead to severe diseases such as cancer, atherosclerosis, and other heart ailments. Nuts and seeds are also packed with healthy fats for your child’s optimum brain and nervous system development. These foods also provide a good amount of fibre, protein, and a variety of vitamins and minerals.
Whole Grains
The main role of whole grains in the diet of children is that they provide energy for a stable growth and development. Whole grains are also fibre rich foods promoting higher nutrient intake while avoiding chronic ailments like diabetes and obesity. Whole grain foods like brown rice, barley, buckwheat, and oatmeal are also rich sources of B vitamins, magnesium, potassium, folate, iron, and selenium.
Berries – Top 10 Foods for a Healthy Kid
Berries are a topnotcher in the list of superfoods preferred and encouraged by doctors and nutritionists. Berries are rich in Vitamin C and potassium. These tasty superfoods act as anti-inflammatory and can help prevent cancer and heart disease. Apart from being a healthy food for kids, berries are also recommended for adults 50 and up because of the food’s ability to reduce oxidative stress and in significantly lowering blood pressure and cholesterol.
Vegetables (Of course!)
Vegetables are non-negotiable both on the table and in this article. They are hands down an essential in your kid’s diet. Vegetables are excellent sources of a myriad of vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Like fruits, vegetables offer a rich supply of Vitamin C and folic. Great vegetable choices for your child to eat everyday are spinach, carrots, broccoli, brussel sprouts, mushroom, and asparagus. Eating vegetables help prevent heart disease and cancers.
Top 10 Foods for a Healthy Kid is a feature post – you might also like my post on apps to improve mealtimes
