I’ve been asked about my son’s nutrition for a long time, but to be honest, I didn’t really want to write about it. The “children’s” topic is quite delicate: as a rule, mothers of little children react sharply, and sometimes even aggressively, to any non-standard information. Still, questions keep coming, and I will still share a few nutritional guidelines for my XNUMX-year-old son. In general, these rules are simple and do not differ much from my own: more plants, a minimum of ready-made store products, a minimum of sugar, salt and flour, as well as exceptionally healthy cooking methods.
I think it is very important not to teach the child to salt and sugar. The fact is that we already get them in the required amount – from whole foods. Any dose of sugar or salt received by the body in addition does not bring any benefit, on the contrary, it contributes to the emergence and progression of various diseases. I have previously written about the dangers of sugar and salt. Anyone who is interested in this problem, I recommend reading a very intelligible and understandable description of the situation in the book by David Yan “Now I eat whatever I want.” Be sure to show the author’s arguments to grandmothers and nannies if they insist that “salty soup tastes better” and “sugar stimulates the brain”! Separately, I will publish information about the book and an interview with its author.
Naturally, I try to exclude or at least minimize industrially prepared foods such as fruit and vegetable purees, sweets, sauces, etc. As a rule, such food contains a huge amount of the same salt, sugar and other ingredients of little use.
I have already written several times that I am a categorical opponent of cow’s milk, as well as any dairy products based on it. More on this here or here. My personal opinion, based on a number of scientific studies, is that cow’s milk is one of the most unhealthy, moreover, dangerous products for humans, therefore, its use is prohibited in our family. For my son, I replace all these products with goat’s milk, as well as yogurt, cottage cheese and cheese – also made from goat’s milk. Until the child was one and a half years old, I even made yoghurts myself – from the milk of goats, which I knew personally знаком I also wrote about this before.
My son eats a lot of berries and a variety of fruits: I try to choose seasonal ones. He loves strawberries, raspberries, currants and gooseberries from his grandmother’s garden, apparently partly due to the fact that he picks berries himself. In the summer, he himself took dad to the forest in the morning for strawberries, which he collected with pleasure, and then, of course, ate.
As often as possible, I try to give my child raw vegetables. It can be a light snack with carrots, cucumbers, peppers. I also cook vegetable soups, for which I use not only classic potatoes, carrots and white cabbage, but also celery, spinach, asparagus, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, zucchini, my favorite Brussels sprouts, broccoli, leeks, peppers and other interesting products that you can find in the market or in the store.
Since 8 months, I have been giving my son an avocado, which he simply adored: he snatched it out of his hands and bit it with the peel, without waiting for me to clean it))) Now he treats the avocado more calmly, sometimes I can feed him almost a whole fruit with a spoon.
My child often eats buckwheat, quinoa, black wild rice. Like all children, he loves pasta: I try to give preference to those that are not made from wheat, but from corn flour, from quinoa, and, as an option, are dyed with vegetables.
I have very high demands on animal food: nothing processed and of the highest quality possible! I try to buy wild fish: salmon, sole, gilthead; meat – only farmed or organic: lamb, turkey, rabbit and veal. I add meat to soup or make cutlets with a lot of grated zucchini. Sometimes I cook scrambled eggs for my son.
In my opinion, a sole or a farm turkey in Moscow costs exorbitant money, but, on the other hand, this is not something to save on, and the portions for children are very small.
My child’s standard menu (if we are at home, not on a trip) looks like this:
Morning: oatmeal or buckwheat porridge with goat milk and water (50/50) or scrambled eggs. All without salt and sugar, of course.
Lunch: vegetable soup (always a different set of vegetables) with or without meat / fish.
Snack: goat yogurt (drinking or thick) and fruits / berries, fruit puree, or baked pumpkin or sweet potatoes (which, incidentally, can be added to oatmeal).
Dinner: baked fish / turkey / cutlets with buckwheat / rice / quinoa / pasta
Before bedtime: goat kefir or drinking yogurt
Drinks Alex apple juice, strongly diluted with water, or just water, freshly squeezed fruit and vegetable juices (the last love is pineapple), children’s chamomile tea. Recently, they began to actively use vegetable, fruit and berry smoothies. In the photo, he does not frown from smoothies – from the sun)))
Snack: nuts, fruits, raw vegetables, berries, coconut chips, cookies, which I try to replace with dried mango and other dried fruits.
And yes, of course, my child knows what bread and chocolate are. Once he bit a chocolate bar – and he liked it. But since then, whenever he asked him, I gave only dark chocolate, which not all adults like, let alone children. So son craving for chocolate, we can say, disappeared. In general, chocolate in moderation and of good quality is healthy.
We rarely have bread at home, and if it does, it is only for the husband or guests))) The son does not eat him at home, but in restaurants, when I need to distract him or save the restaurant and its guests from destruction, torment is usednoisy assortment of this place ?
Since our son is only two years old and he has not yet had time to taste everything, we are adding new dishes and products gradually. While he perceives changes in the diet without enthusiasm, he simply spits out what he did not like. But I am not discouraged and am working to make his menu varied and, of course, useful. And I really hope that he will equal me in his culinary preferences!
I also want to add that healthy food is necessary for children not only for physical health. According to many studies, children who eat fast food and a lot of sugar are moody and difficult and lag behind in school performance. You and I definitely don’t want such problems, right? ?
Mothers of little children, write about interesting recipes for children’s dishes and your experience of introducing healthy food into the diet of your children!