Holiday Foods for Children and Kids

Holiday times, Thanksgiving Day, Super Bowl Sunday, Christmas times and new year times are times for cakes, pies, cookies, candies, sweets, snacks and other treats. The average American, specially children put on 2-3 kg of additional weight in just 2 months at the end of the year, each year! These foods are rich in calories that tend to be stored as fat in their bodies. Besides, their high sugar content can cause spikes in their blood glucose levels. This puts them at the risk for obesity and Type 2 diabetes.

Holiday Rules For Children & You

1. Make sweets less available. Convince your child to buy a toy or a book in place of a candy when you go for shopping.
2. Manage the intake of sugar containing foods like sweets and candies. For example, if you eat a candy containing 15 g of sugar, then you should eat 15 g of less carbohydrate at your next meals. As the blood sugar levels tend to spike sharply in the evening, an afternoon mini-treat can be tolerated.
3. At family gatherings, serve healthy foods such as fruits, dry fruits or low fat - low sugar foods.
4. Set an example for your children: When your children are young, they depend on you for guidance for foods. You can stop them becoming overweight. Your child observe you and follow you and that becomes his habit. If your child is overweight, it is you who are responsible. Set an example for your children. You should be physically active. You should be eating a healthy diet.
5. Form healthy eating habits: If you look at the fat, sugar, and energy contents of the foods your family eat, you will know why your family members are overweight. You can always train your children to eat healthy foods.
6. Play games with your children after meals to burn-off the calories.
7. Learn to swap healthy foods for junk foods.
   Read also Support for overweight/obese children.