If You Give A Kid A Bran Muffin
by Stephanie Shank, aka "Fiberlady"
If you offer a bran muffin or a cup of lentil soup to a kid, you're likely
to get groans and sneers. Today's
children simply do not consume enough
fiber-rich foods. It's just as important to your child's health as it is
to yours to get enough fiber.
Foods that are high in fiber are smart and caring choices for your kids
because they're filling and discourage overeating - and
fiber itself has
no calories. The rate of obesity in children living in the United States
is glaring evidence that something must dramatically be altered in our
approach to healthy eating.
Consider changes in meals and snacks that will add high fiber to the diet
over a span of time. Offer a wide variety of high fiber food sources. If
you change slowly to more high fiber fruits and veggies, your kids' fiber
adaptation will be so much smoother (so will their bowel movements). Make
sure that you introduce fiber gradually to their daily diet with lots of
drinking water to move things easily along.
Fiber helps delay the absorption of sugars into the bloodstream,
regulating blood sugar levels which help kids learn and behave better. It
also reduces the risk for some cancers later in life.
An easy way to calculate how much fiber your kid should have every day is
by adding 5 to their age. For example, if you have a 6-year-old, he or she
should get about 11 grams of daily fiber. Adults and those older than 15
need 25 to 30 grams of fiber per day.
Kids tend to be most receptive to the fiber found in fruits, vegetables
and presweetened breakfast cereals. Apricots, figs and prunes make
wonderful high fiber snacks. They love to crack open nuts like peanuts and
pistachios. Choose pears, apples and berries; peas, nuts and beans; and
cereals and pancakes made with whole grain.
If bread is brown in color, it doesn't mean that it is whole grain. Check
the ingredient list to see if it reads "whole grain" or "whole" as in
whole wheat. Look for at least 4 grams of fiber per serving.
Get your kids to help make decisions about better eating, you might find
their attitudes more open to a healthier diet plan.
Don't just set the table at suppertime. Set a good example with a lifetime
of healthful eating habits.
Feel free
to use this article if you use the following tag:
Stephanie Shank aka "Fiberlady" has studied nutrition for many healthy years
which prompted her commitment to a high fiber lifestyle and the
development of her informative website
High Fiber Health.
© 2006: High Fiber Health, Inc. | High Fiber Foods | Foods High in Fiber
