Saltwood Healthy Eating
At Saltwood Play and Learning Centre we promote healthy eating. As families provide children's snacks and lunches we often remind families how to make good food choices. Please see the links below on some helpful advice and information from the NHS and BBC Bitesize.
Eating patterns established in early years influence our health and food choices for the rest of our lives. Encouraging good nutrition during children's earliest years is essential.
Making packed lunches can be a real chore, it's another meal to plan and make within an already busy schedule. There are so many ready made foods and snacks marketed for children to make parent's lives easier. Sadly all too often these foods contain far too much sugar and fat - the manufactures know how to make foods that children will enjoy eating! Ready made, processed foods set tastes to include the high levels of fat and sugar/sweeteners which may make it difficult to persuade children to eat more healthy foods which in comparison may taste blander.
Lunches don't have to be sandwiches. Couscous is cheap and easy to cook, pre cooked roasted veggies, salads with tuna or chicken or chick peas will add some protein. Quinoa and Bulgar wheat also make great salads. Falafels - there are so many different flavours, humus and veggies, pasta salad, fruit salads.....
Foods to avoid: Crisps, cakes, biscuits, nuts, chocolate.
Please see a link below to an interesting article on the diabetes.co.uk website about the amount of sugar contained in some fruit snacks. This may surprise you as these snacks are often in children's lunch boxes!