DON’T Give Your Kids These 4 Kinds of Food!

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By Celine Villadares

Nutrition and diet are two important factors that parents consider when preparing a meal for their children. With the rampant growth of instant food industry which claim to deliver healthy, nutritious and easy-to-prepare meal, parents tend to just give in thinking they are giving the best option for their children’s diet. Whilst it is not bad to let kids have the following food once in a while, but make sure that there is balance in their diet. Here are the top foods to avoid giving your children:

Processed Meat

These are foods that have been modified in order to last long; best examples are your canned meat (hello Spam!), sausages, hot dogs, bacon, chicken nuggets and many more. In order to preserve these foods for a long period, they are packed with salt, fats and other preservatives. Processed meat is linked to risks in developing obesity, heart diseases, type 2 Diabetes and certain kinds of cancer. While it is not bad to let your kids have these once in a while, just be mindful on how much they consume.

Breakfast Cereal

Most of these breakfast cereals are attractive enough to encourage your children to eat their first meal. But don’t fall for that! Giving this is the same as giving nothing of nutritious to your kid but sugar! Most breakfast cereal is filled with sugar and empty calories which brings no energy to your kids. So, before you buy any product, it is better to search well of which among your options would contain less sugar and higher calories. You might be surprised that some cereal products have what you are looking for!

Noodles

Of course, kids love it! And moms know well that how too much of noodles can be such a bad thing to children’s health. Just like the processed meat, noodles are made to last longer and are highly processed. This means that it is added with fats, calories and sodium; but contains not much of nutritive value. Moreover, regular consumption of noodles are said to risk your child’s health to liver damage (noodles are coated with wax!), obesity and other damage to organs such as heart and kidneys.

Fish: Tuna/Sardines

Fish is indeed healthy and contains a lot of beneficial nutrients that your children need such as Vitamin D, omega-3 fatty acid and is high protein source. However, some became concern on the level of mercury that can be ingested through eating high level of mercury which can hurt your children’s development. Whilst this can be true, parents are encouraged not to totally remove fish on their children’s diet. The benefits are quite great than the risks, so parents just be mindful of the servings and how often these foods are served; check the FDA’s recommendation as well. Everything in moderation is of course encouraged.

Microwave Popcorn

It must be that lovely smell whenever you make popcorn out from the microwave that makes your children excited. However, there’s a chemical that is used in the microwave popcorn that risks your child to certain kinds of diseases such as cancer, thyroid problem, and postponed puberty. One way to make sure they are healthy and enjoy their popcorn is just to make it pop out from the pan.

 

In this fast paced society we live in, instant foods that easily gratify help parents to serve the needs of their child. However, it is good to be inquisitive when it comes to your children’s food intake. Better spend a little more time than be sorry at all.

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