Outsmart Junk to Joy: Minimising Undesirable Foods From Your Child’s Diet

By Nutritionist kahkashan - Updated: March 8, 2019

In this Article

Few Ways To Help Your Child To Select His Food
Following are The Options Which Can Help
Transforming Junk to Joy

Any food with poor nutritional worth i.e low in minerals, vitamins and other essential nutrients and high on harmful ingredients is termed JUNK FOOD.

It is made appetizing by use of additives, flavour enhancers, high sugar and lots of fat.
We cannot strictly ban such foods as it would only increase its appeal to the child. Instead we should help children to limit its consumption and be selective about it.

Few Ways To Help Your Child To Select His Food

1. Spin a Tale

I always observe that it is attention grabbing names that add to their appeal. Cool names if given to dishes can attract and get your child to eat more of the good stuff.
Ex: Tasty treetops (brocolli)
Power punch (spinach)
20/20 vision ( carrots) and many more names of your choice.

2. Eating Out

Dining out with your kids can be quiet demanding as it gets difficult to balance the nutrients. To overcome this problem, even if the restaurant has kids menu do not go for it as it has higher fat content combined with low quantity of healthy nutrients.

Following are The Options Which Can Help

1. Tandoori Meal

This kind of MEAL is healthier than one with deep fried foods as long as you avoid burnt portions.
Request the chef to skip basting with oil after cooking.
Opt for plain roti or missi roti rather than naam,rumali or sheermal.
Tandoori sweet potato,pineapple,beetroot,mushrooms or potatoes are great starters.

2. Italian Meal

Go for whole wheat grain pasta and be mindful about the sauces and dressing.
The healthier italian salad dressings are those with balsamic vinegar,basil,pepper,lemon juice and olive oil. Go for these.

3. Chinese/Japanese Meal

Avoid popular starters and go for steamed dumplings.
Good choices would be clear soups like sweet corn,mix veggie,carrot bean etc..
Opt for steamed rice rather than fried rice.
Try whole wheat noodles instead of regular ones.
If going for non veg make sure you add lots of veggies to your MEAL.

4. Thai Meal

Raw papaya salad is a great choice to start a THAI MEAL.
Dishes that are labelled crispy or crunchy indicate that they are deep fried, skip them.

Transforming Junk to Joy

1. Pizza

Make the base at home with wholegrains. Go for extra tomato sauce and lots of veggies for topping. While ordering always order a thin crust whole wheat pizza which doesn’t seem to be lot of greasy.

2. Burger

Make the party with mixed beans and instead of mayonnaise use yoghurt dressing and lots of lettuce leaves and other readily available veggies. Make sure you cook the parties in a non stick pan.

3. Pasta

A tomato or bean paste is ideal for pasta. To it add lots of steamed veggies or shredded meat.

4. French Fries

Try grilled garlic potato wedges instead and combine with bean salad for good nutrition.

5. Sandwich

Go for a whole wheat or whole grain bread with almond or peanut butter. 2tbsp of nut butter provides as much as protein as that of 30g lean protein.

6. Sauces

Use healthy sauce like mustard sauce which contains 3% of IRON requirement in just few tsps. Alternatively fresh salsa made with tomato,garlic and green chillies is also great for kids.

I hope this article would help most of the moms in eradicating JUNK FOOD from your child’s plate.

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