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CHILDHOOD OBESITY
Healthy Eating for Children
Nutrition Guidelines
Healthy Food - Packed Lunches and Snacks
Tired Children Gain
Weight
5 A Day Fruit
and Vegetables
Healthy
Breakfast
Pack a Healthy
Lunch
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Children's Portion Sizes
School Dinners
Diet Tips
Diet Success Stories
Kickstart Cereal Diet
Summer Shorts Diet Plan
Dieting and Metabolism
Healthy Eating Plan Basics
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Weight Loss Tips
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BMI Calculator
Healthy Weight Chart
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Healthy Diet for Kids
WLR's dietitian gives practical advice on healthy diet
for children - to help make sure they don't gain too much
weight, or to lose weight if they need to.
Diet Advice for Kids
By WLR Dietitian
- Don’t force younger children to eat everything on
their plate – kids quickly get tired of the same
taste, which is why they often only eat half of their
main course but still want a pudding – they’ve simply
got bored with the taste of the main course.
- Avoid using food as a reward – it simply becomes
more desirable. But that’s not all – other foods become
less desirable, too. In other words, telling children
they can have some sweets if they eat their veg simply
makes the sweets more alluring and the veg less
appealing!
- Get children involved at mealtimes – younger
children in particular are far more likely to eat
something they’ve made themselves so let them help you
cook healthy meals such as fishcakes, homemade burgers,
fruit muffins, wholemeal scones, smoothies and
sandwiches. Meanwhile, encourage teenagers to eat with
the family.
- Encourage children to eat regularly, especially
breakfast – studies show that breakfast eaters tend to
be slimmer than people who skip this meal.
- Don’t make your child’s weight and size an ‘issue’.
To help your child lose weight focus on good nutrition, avoid using the ‘diet’
word, don’t weigh your child regularly and lead by
example – if you eat sensibly and exercise frequently,
your child will be more likely to do the same.
- Talk to your child about the benefits of eating well
and looking after their body. Health is generally not a
priority for children so focus on other issues that are
important to them.
For example, for teenage girls explain that a healthy
diet will give them glowing skin, shiny hair and strong
nails, give them more energy to go shopping with their
friends and help them concentrate so they’ll perform
better in their favourite subjects at school.
For boys, explain that eating well will help to build
and tone muscles, give them great skin and help them do
well in their favourite sports.
- Find out what’s on the menu for
school dinners and
discuss with your child whether they’d prefer packed
lunches.
If they want school dinners, talk to them about
the healthier options they could choose, for example, a
jacket potato with cheese and salad rather than a hot
dog and chips. If they’d prefer packed lunches, follow
the tips for healthy packed lunches.
- Encourage the whole family to be more active and
include plenty of fun activities, for example, playing
football in the park, going ten pin bowling or going for
a cycle.
Use sports activities as an opportunity to
spend some quality time with your children, too. For
example, mums and daughters could go to dance or
aerobics classes together, while dads and sons have a
game of squash.
- Take a look at what the whole family are eating –
kids rarely have bad eating habits on their own so
if your child is gaining too much weight, it’s unlikely
the rest of the family is having a healthy
diet. If this is the case, encourage a healthy,
balanced diet for everyone. This means…
-
Cutting down on sweets, cakes, biscuits and fizzy drink
-
Eating fewer fatty foods such as chips, burgers and fried food
-
Eating regularly, especially breakfast
- Basing meals on starchy
foods and choosing wholegrain varieties, when possible
- Eating
more fruit and vegetables
- If you’re concerned about your
child’s weight see your GP for advice before starting any sort
of diet. Bear in mind that the standard
Body Mass Index (BMI)
chart is unsuitable for growing children and so shouldn’t be
used to assess a child’s weight.
Diet Makeover for Kids
Meal
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Instead of this…
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Give them this…
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Breakfast
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Large bowl of sugary cereal with semi-skimmed milk
and a glass of sweetened fruit drink
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Medium bowl of wholegrain cereal with semi-skimmed
milk, a banana and a glass of fresh orange juice
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Morning break
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Fizzy drink and a bar of chocolate
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Bottle of unsweetened fruit smoothie and small box
of raisins
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Lunch
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Hot Dog with fried onions, ketchup and chips and a
fizzy drink
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Jacket potato with cheese and salad, an apple and
a bottle of water
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After school
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Large packet of crisps
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Small packet of reduced-fat crisps and a glass of
semi-skimmed milk
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Dinner
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Spaghetti Bolognese with white pasta and a slice
of apple pie with 2 scoops ice cream
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Spaghetti Bolognese (made without oil, less meat and
more veg) with wholewheat pasta and salad. Plus canned
fruit in juice with 1 scoop ice cream
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Evening
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Cheese and pickle sandwich made with 2 slices of
white bread and butter
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1 slice wholemeal toast with peanut butter
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Nutrition lowdown
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3,420 calories
151g fat
9.1g salt
1
portion of fruit and veg
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2,150 calories
73g fat
4.9g salt
7–8 portions of fruit and veg
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Related Articles
Childhood Obesity
Nutrition Guidelines for Children
Healthy Eating Tips for Children
Healthy Food Ideas
More Info
The Activaters
- an interactive programme for kids aged
7-9 to teach them about healthy diet and physical
activity.
Raising Kids - Advice on healthy diet for very
young children.
Parents can use the tools, diaries and databases in WLR
to keep track of their diet and calorie intake.
Try it free for 24 hours
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The Diet Plate® for Children

Portion Control Plate for Kids
Healthy Food for Children

Diet guidelines for children aged 5-16
Parents can use the diaries, databases and weight loss tools in
WLR to check calorie intake and see how balanced their diet is,
try it free for 24 hours.
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