By Sarah Hanratty – Registered Nutritional Therapy Practitioner
Eating Healthy Day falls on the first Wednesday of November each year. Marking this day gives us the chance to reflect on the food we eat and focus on how best to support our health with good nutrition.
For parents, the timing of Eating Healthy Day offers an opportunity to refocus. It occurs shortly after Halloween when treats and sweets tend to be flowing more liberally. Eating Healthy Day allows us to shift the balance back towards a nutritious diet.
At Norfolk House Nursery many of our children have the majority of their daily meals with us. We take this responsibility seriously and want to ensure that their meals are of the best quality and nutritious. We also wanted to avoid contributing to their sugar and salt intake.
We know that sugar contributes to tooth decay and weight gain in children. It disrupts glucose levels in the blood leading to cravings for more sugar and using key nutrients, like zinc, to bring this back under control. We are proud to say that we don’t use any added sugar or salt in our meals.
Children in the under 5 age group generally get less iron, zinc and vitamin C from their diets. We know that vitamin C helps keep our immune systems healthy but it is also needed to help with the absorption of iron. This is particularly important for absorbing iron in plant-based foods. Iron deficiency is highest amongst children under three years old. Children that were born prematurely are particularly at risk as they have lower stores at birth and are often playing catch up to get equal iron stores to their peers.
We were keen to ensure that key nutrients for growth and cognition were present in our menus. This meant including foods containing essential fats, folate, B vitamins, calcium, magnesium as well as iron and zinc. We looked for creative ways to add lentils, beans, seeds, fish, eggs, berries, avocado and green leafy vegetables.
We also provide at least 5 different fruit and vegetables for the children each day. We know the best way to encourage healthy eating in children is to help them to develop a taste for a variety of vegetables. Eating a variety of plant foods helps children (and adults!) develop a more diverse gut flora. This is associated with many positive health outcomes and less diverse flora has been associated with asthma and inflammatory bowel disease in children. Our gut flora may also influence neurodevelopment.
Eating a variety of plant foods helps to feed a diverse microbiome but research reveals that over half of families in the UK simply rotate the same six meals. Perhaps a different approach for Eating Healthy day would be to diversify your food intake. Try different types of vegetables, fruits, seeds, legumes, and grains that you wouldn’t usually eat. Eating Healthy Day should be about exploring and finding new healthy meals that you enjoy.
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