Recently, many parents asked me backstage about what the National Health Commission's newly released "Guidelines for Food and Nutrition of Children and Adolescents with Growth Retardation (2023 Edition)" actually say, especially the sentence in it that "more than 12 types of food should be eaten every day and more than 25 types of food every week." It seems daunting, but will it be particularly cumbersome to actually operate it?
In fact, I did my research carefully, and this guide is not meant to teach you to fill every meal with a complete set of dishes, but to teach you a smarter way to match three meals a day.
Today, we will analyze the extremely important information in this guide, especially for parents with children aged 2 to 17 years old, to help you figure out how to eat and what to eat, so that your children can grow taller and stronger.
How to easily gather 12 kinds of food every day
When many people hear that they need to eat twelve kinds of food every day, their first reaction is "This is too much trouble."
In fact, if you think about it carefully, you will understand that for breakfast, you have a multigrain porridge that contains rice, millet and oats, plus an egg and a small dish of mixed spinach, so there are already four kinds of food.
Chinese dishes are made in the usual way, such as stir-frying green peppers and meat slices, and stir-frying tomatoes and tofu. In addition, there is a bowl of rice cooked as raw material. Here, there are five ingredients: green peppers, pork, tomatoes, soy products, and rice made from rice.
In the afternoon, feed your child a cup of yogurt and let them eat a few strawberries. Make a steamed fish dish for dinner, and then cook a portion of fried broccoli and pair it with sweet potatoes. In this way, you have three more foods: fish, broccoli, and sweet potatoes.
Easily more than 12 in one day.
The key point is that every meal should have staple food as much as possible, including meat, eggs and beans, as well as vegetables. Don't always just eat a single meal of white rice and fried meat slices.
Different age groups have different eating methods and amounts.
The guide divides children and adolescents into two age groups to give advice.
Children between the ages of 2 and 5 have small stomach capacities and are very active. In addition to three main meals a day, they also need to arrange two additional snacks.
When snacking, don’t give non-nutritious foods such as potato chips and candies. Replace them with milk, fruit, eggs, and a handful of walnuts, and pair them with some steamed buns or whole-wheat bread.
People in this age group need to drink 350 to 500 ml of milk every day, which is roughly one cup in the morning and one in the evening. In addition, they also need to drink 600 to 800 ml of water.
For children aged 6 to 17, it is extremely important to have a good breakfast. Many students in middle school hurriedly take a bite of bread and leave in the morning, which is not enough.
For breakfast, it is best to have staple food, meat and eggs, and dairy products, such as meat buns, a boiled egg, and a glass of milk.
The daily milk volume should be no less than 300 ml, which can be replaced by yogurt or cheese.
Eat in different ways, don’t let your children get tired of it
stunted growth Many times it’s not because you eat less, but because you eat too monotonously.
There are some families where the only common foods available throughout the year are the three old food categories of pork, rice and cabbage. As a result, children, as children, are naturally very susceptible to nutritional deficiencies.
The guide specifically mentions a very practical method called "like-for-like exchange."
For example, don't just eat white rice as the main food. You can choose to eat porridge made from millet today, steam sweet potatoes to eat tomorrow, and make a corn cake the day after tomorrow.
It is easy to replace meat. Choose pork today, change it to chicken tomorrow, choose fish or shrimp the day after tomorrow, and then eat beef or duck.
Eggs are not just boiled eggs, you can steam custard, scrambled eggs, and make egg drop soup.
Vegetables especially need to change colors frequently, including green broccoli, orange carrots, purple eggplants, and red tomatoes. Vegetables of different colors contain different nutrients. It is best to try to have two or three colors in each meal.
What supplements should be focused on for children whose growth is delayed?
If the child is indeed much shorter than his peers, or his growth rate is significantly slower, then on the basis of maintaining a balanced diet, several key types of foods need to be deliberately added.
One is high-quality protein, such as lean pork, which is one, chicken, which is also one, fish, which is also one, shrimp, which is also one, eggs, which is one, tofu, which is also one, and soy milk, which are also one, and they need to be eaten every day.
The second category is High calcium foods , milk and dairy products are the mainstay, ensure sufficient amounts every day.
At the same time, don’t forget to supplement vitamin D, because it can help the absorption of calcium. You can eat some egg yolks and sea fish in normal times. When the weather is pleasant, take your children to do outdoor activities to bask in the sun.
The third category is food for iron supplementation. Iron deficiency will have an impact on appetite and growth and development. Eat animal liver or animal blood, such as pig liver, chicken liver, duck blood, etc., once or twice a week, and pair it with vegetables rich in vitamin C such as tomatoes or green peppers. The absorption rate will be higher.
Eat enough fresh vegetables and fruits every day, don’t use juice instead.
The way you cook is more important than you think
The same ingredients but prepared in different ways will result in a huge difference in the nutrients that children eat.
The cooking methods recommended in the guide are steaming, boiling, stewing, and simmering. This method can retain the original taste and nutrients of the food to the maximum extent, and is less likely to cause internal heat.
For example, for pork ribs, it is much healthier to stew them than to fry them; as for fish, you can choose to steam them instead of braise them; chickens can be used to stew soup or be cut into pieces.
Try to reduce the use of frying, grilling, and pickling. Foods such as fried chicken legs, grilled sausages, and pickles are okay to eat once in a while to satisfy your cravings, but they must not be treated as regular dishes.
In addition, the food you feed your children must be fresh and hygienic. Don’t make a lot of food at once just to save trouble. Dishes that have been heated repeatedly will lose nutrients seriously and taste bad.
It can be seen from this guide that making children eat well does not require expensive supplements or complicated recipes. The core of it is to match the three meals a day in a more balanced manner, change a few foods every day, pay attention to the cooking method, and then adjust the portions and snacks according to different age groups.
Slow growth cannot be caused in one day, and it will take some time to make a change. As a parent, there is no need to worry. Try to adjust the recipes at home from now on. Take your time, and your child's body will give you a positive response.
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