The annual May 20th is not just a day to express love, it also has a very crucial and important identity, that is, Chinese Student Nutrition Day. Just yesterday, the Chinese Nutrition Society released a new version of the "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese School-Age Children". This guideline is specially formulated for minors aged 6 to under 18 years old. Children at this specific stage grow and develop particularly rapidly. If their nutrition cannot keep up, it is very likely to have a direct impact on their intellectual and physical development. The thing that bothers many parents is that they clearly know that diet is extremely important for their children, but when it comes to the specific implementation of three meals a day, how should they be matched? Can snacks be eaten? Can the beverage be consumed? How much exercise is appropriate? This new version of the guide explains all these issues clearly.
School-age children and adults eat differently, quantity is the key
A new version of the Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents was released not long ago. This time, school-age children aged 6 to 18 are specifically separated, indicating that the nutritional needs of children are indeed different from those of adults. Ma Guansheng, a professor at the School of Public Health of Peking University, clearly pointed out that adults pay more attention to the prevention of chronic diseases. However, children are in a critical period of growth. In addition to comprehensive nutrition, they must also pay special attention to the control of "quantity". Just like the same three meals a day, children have more diverse requirements for food types. It is best to eat 12 kinds of food every day, and breakfast needs to have 3 to 4 kinds, including staple foods, such as steamed buns, bread, noodles, and animal foods, such as eggs, lean meat, and combinations of thick and thin foods. Color matching must also be taken into consideration. It is best to have half of the vegetables be dark green vegetables and the other half be red vegetables. If you are an adult, these details are unlikely to have such strict regulatory requirements. However, for children, these details will directly affect growth and development.
Eat a good breakfast, choose the right snacks, and be careful with your drinks
The new guide provides five core principles, the first of which involves allowing children to actively participate in food selection and preparation to improve nutritional literacy. To put it simply, it is not just parents who need to worry, children themselves should also know some nutritional knowledge. The second article is very practical: Eat a good breakfast and choose snacks reasonably. Due to time constraints, many children take a few bites of bread and go to school in the morning. By the third period, they are so hungry that they feel dizzy. A qualified breakfast must include staple food, protein, vegetables or fruits. Snacks are not absolutely inedible, but you need to make the right choices - yogurt, fruits, and nuts are OK, but potato chips, spicy sticks, and sweet cookies should be avoided as much as possible. The third rule is more direct: drink milk every day, drink enough water, don't drink sugary drinks, and absolutely prohibit alcohol. Dairy products are the best source of calcium, and about 300 ml per day is appropriate. Sugary drinks are one of the main causes of obesity, so it’s best not to drink them at all.
Exercise outdoors for 60 minutes a day and watch less screens
Just keeping your mouth shut is not enough, exercise is also extremely important. Article 4 of the guidelines clearly states the requirement: a total of at least 60 minutes of moderate to high-intensity physical activity should be performed every day, such as playing ball, running, and skipping. The most critical point is to reduce screen time. Nowadays, many children are taking online classes at home. Once they sit down for most of the day, their eyes will feel tired, their bodies will become stiff, and their weight will increase. Experts suggest that parents should take advantage of recess and lunch breaks to drive their children out to move around. Even if they just run a few laps in the community and jump on a jump rope, it is much better than staying on the sofa all the time. Article 5 talks about regular monitoring of physical development to maintain appropriate weight gain. Don’t think it’s cute if your child is fat. As we will talk about later, the dangers of obesity are much greater than imagined.
Childhood obesity has become a popular trend, stop saying "chubby and cute"
Many people think that children are lucky if they are fat, and they will naturally become thinner when they grow up. However, the reality is cruel: the "Report on Nutrition and Chronic Disease Status of Chinese Residents (2020)" shows that among children aged 6 to 17 in my country, the overweight and obesity rate has reached 19%, and 10.4% of children under 6 years old have become epidemic. Obesity is a medical condition and is a risk factor for many chronic diseases. One study used tracking methods and found that if a child who has become obese at the age of 7 successfully loses weight before the age of 13, the risk of developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease in adulthood is no different from that of a person of normal weight; but if the child delays losing weight until the age of 17, the risk will increase by 47%. Therefore, early intervention is critical.
Losing weight is not the same as dieting. You should take your children to see a professional nutritionist
For many parents, once they hear that they need to control their weight, their first reaction is to ask their children to reduce their food intake. However, this is exactly where the huge misunderstanding lies. After all, children are in the stage of physical growth and development. If they diet blindly, their height and organ development will be affected. Wang Xiaoyan, director of the Child Nutrition Research Center of the Capital Institute of Pediatrics, suggested that parents should take their children to the hospital to find a doctor or nutritionist to develop a personalized dietary prescription. The core point of this prescription is to limit the total energy intake, but to ensure that the ratio between protein, fat, and carbohydrate is reasonable and appropriate. At the same time, various nutrients such as calcium, iron, zinc, and vitamins are also indispensable. In other words, it is necessary to make children feel full but not overeat, and have sufficient nutrition but not exceed the standard amount. Paired with at least 60 minutes of moderate-intensity or high-intensity exercise every day, whether it is basketball, running, swimming or skipping, if you continue to do so for several months, the results will be extremely significant.
The following is the rewritten content: To summarize, for school-age children, a healthy diet is not that complicated. They must have twelve kinds of food every day, eat a good breakfast, choose appropriate snacks, avoid drinking sweet drinks, drink more milk and boiled water, and exercise for an hour every day. If your child is already obese, don't mess with it on your own. Take him to a nutrition department and let professionals give him a plan. Remember, the theme of this year’s Chinese Student Nutrition Day is “Informed Nutrition Association, Exercise, Prevent Obesity and Promote Health”. From now on, properly arranging your children’s three meals and exercise is more effective than any supplement.
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