Encourage your kids to eat a diet rich in fiber

Planting the seed for good health maintenance begins with fiber. My doctor once told me that fiber is like a broom for the GI tract, sweeping its way through the intestines. Sources of fiber are abundant, including fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and seeds. A typical American diet contains only five to ten grams of dietary fiber a day, much lower than the recommended twenty to thirty-five grams a day. High-fiber diets reduce constipation, straining with bowel movements, rectal fissures, hemorrhoids, and di-verticular disease as your kids become older adults. Furthermore, high-fiber diets may help to reduce the incidence of certain gastrointestinal cancers.
Many snack foods are made from refined flour and sugar, so just remember to include some snacks that have fiber in them when planning your kid's menu. For example, one apple has about three grams of fiber, one slice of wholewheat bread has two grams of fiber, and one carrot has two grams of fiber. If one food doesn't appeal, try another. If you can't get your little ones to eat bran baked goods, peel an orange for them. Air-popped popcorn as a snack is also a good source of fiber, or get your kids to eat a salad with their
meals.
Some kids may have bloating, cramping, and increased gas as the amount of fiber in their diet is increased. For this reason, it is important to encourage your child to drink a lot of liquid when adding fiber to her diet and to make these changes gradually over time.

Teach your children the new food pyramid guidelines and incorporate these guidelines into your dietary planning.

As complicated as the new food pyramid might seem (food pyramid site info), adhering to the guidelines is not rocket science. With a little planning and a smidgen of self-discipline, you can teach your children a systematic approach to eating healthy that will last their whole lives. The food pyramid guidelines for older children and adults are slightly different from the guidelines for young children between the ages of two and six, for whom the U.S. Department of Agriculture created modified recommendations endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatricians:
• Six daily servings from the grain and cereal group
• Three daily servings of vegetables
• Two daily servings from the fruit group
• Two daily servings of meat and two of milk and dairy
   The main difference between these recommendations for little kids and those for the rest of the family is that the quantity of the servings is different for big people and little people. For everyone, variety is key.
    Here's a helpful tip I got from a colleague. She calls it the Five-Plus Rule. She recommends that families strive to eat a minimum of five servings of fruit and vegetables, but you don't have to stop there. Up to ten servings a day is okay
   Another great new way of t mid that is gaining steam younger children about ue foods. Everyday foods ate base of the food pyramid and sheufil time foods, like ice cream, coekies,;g the very top and should be eaten for instance, or as a once-a-week understand the distinction, they'll pro! which is which and take respons

Not all fat is bad.

So what's the skinny on fat? Many misconceptions about fat are perpetuated by fad-dieting, as well as a frenzy of information about the risks and benefits of high-fat diets. What is clear is that a prudent diet for children includes moderate consumption of saturated fat and cholesterol. Indeed, an adequate amount of fat is necessary since fats and cholesterol serve not only as a source of energy but as important building blocks for cells and hormones. Healthy eating patterns with moderate fat consumption in childhood are linked to a reduction in heart disease, diabetes, and obesity in adulthood. So an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!
All that being said, it's important to remember that not all fats are equal. Saturated fats are the worst kind. Choose cooking oils that contain polyunsaturated and monounsat-urated fats, like olive oil. A good rule of thumb is that un-saturated fats are liquids at room temperature and are generally derived from plants, while saturated fats are solids at room temperature and are typically derived from animals.
When shopping for snacks for your kids, you should also avoid partially hydrogenated fats, like those found in many store-bought cookies, crackers, and baked goods. Keep in mind that soft margarine is generally better for you and your children than stick margarine because it has fewer trans-fatty acids. Trans-fatty acids are associated with an increased risk of heart disease because they lead to an increase in the bad type of cholesterol.

Incorporate nonmeat sources of protein into your child's diet.

Giving your child a combination of protein sources is the optimal way to raise a healthy eater. Your children need to consume 10% to 15% of their daily calories from protein sources to ensure adequate growth and tissue repair, but the typical child's diet provides twice the amount of protein needed. Regardless if your child eats too many calories from protein, carbohydrate, or fat, extra calories are stored as fat by his body. The key to healthy eating is understanding that protein is available from sources other than meat, which, in addition to being high in protein, is often high in fat.
So what's the difference between animal-derived protein and plant-derived protein? Both are made up of the same set of twenty amino acids. Animal-derived proteins are called complete because they contain all of the needed amino acids in each bite. Plant-derived proteins are incomplete because they do not. However, by combining plant protein sources, such as rice and beans, you are providing your child with all of the needed amino acids!
As parents struggle to lower cholesterol and improve their families' cardiovascular health, they are faced with the challenge of meeting their children's protein needs while at the same time reducing saturated fat and cholesterol in their diets. Natural and convenient alternatives are readily available in the form of beans and soy protein. The American Heart Association has proclaimed that dietary soy protein can lower LDL, or so-called "bad" cholesterol. Not only are beans affordable and great sources of protein, but they also contain needed B Vitamins, iron, and calcium. Furthermore they are rich in fiber and cholesterol-free

Feed your kids healthy, well rounded diet centered on the principles of variety and moderation and obtain the benefits from both meat and nonmeat sources of proteins.

Carbohydrates should be the foundation of your children's healthy diets.

Despite the popularity of recent high-protein diets that vilify dietary carbohydrates, carbohydrates are the foundation of a sustainable, healthy diet for you and your kids. Although it is true that excessive carbohydrates are converted to fat, the same can be said of dietary protein and fat. High-protein diets work in the short run because dieters are taking in fewer calories than they are burning. The high-protein foods that are the staple of fad diets are often high in fat, and the long-term effects of high cholesterol on dieters' cardiac health are still unknown. Furthermore, much of the weight loss credited to a high-protein diet over the short run is lost water weight. Walking around partially dehydrated is not good for anyone, especially children!
When I give advice to my patients and their parents, I ask myself what I would tell my brothers and sisters about feeding my nephews and nieces, and I think about what I recommend for my own daughter. In sum, I never recommend fad diets to my own family. Small children should certainly not be on nutrient-restrictive diets unless they are followed closely by a pediatrician and dietitian. Teens too should not start dabbling with fad diets, which can begin the lifelong process of yo-yoing—repeated weight loss and weight gain—that plagues so many. Like so many things in life, carbohydrates are good in moderation. That said, whole-wheat bread, brown rice, and wheat pasta are better choices than their white or processed counterparts for the whole family.