FOR six-year-old Denzel Ho, meal times are fun times, as he gets to taste a variety of food together with his sister, Hayley, three.
| Healthier Choices |
| At home, parents can cut down fat and sugar in their children’s diet as well as encourage them to eat more fruit, vegetables and wholegrains. â– To reduce fat and sugar, use less oil when cooking at home. Avoid deep-frying and use healthier cooking methods such as steaming, boiling or grilling. â– The choice of meat is also important. Use lean cuts of meat and poultry and remove visible fat and skin from them. â– If your kids love spreads such as jam, kaya and margarine, use them sparingly. â– To encourage the consumption of fruit and vegetables, serve breakfast cereal with diced apple or banana. â– Cut vegetables into interesting
shapes and sizes to make them more
appealing to children. â– Instead of ice cream, serve a colourful fresh fruit platter for dessert. â– It is recommended to eat at least two meals at home — breakfast and dinner. When eating out, parents can choose hawker stalls and dining outlets that offer healthier choices — food that is lower in fat, salt and sugar. â– Whenever possible, ask for the skin to be removed from poultry and choose plain rice over flavoured rice such as nasi lemak and chicken rice.
Source: Health Promotion Board |
Their favourite dish is homecooked cod fish steamed with garlic and broccoli with light seasoning. They are also fans of daddy’s steamed Japanese pumpkin with rice. This healthy choice of food is an effort to start them on good eating habits, says their mother, Ms June Wu, 34.
Once a week, she allows special treats such as Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. “Other times, when eating out, we usually order soupy dishes or grilled food to share. I will remove skin from meat to reduce the intake of fats,” says Ms Wu.
It’s never too early to start your kids on eating right, especially when the child is growing up rapidly. According to the Health Promotion Board (HPB), dietary habits are formed at an early age, even from below the age of five, and these habits become more difficult to change after the ages of 11 to 18.
Hence, it is good to nurture healthy dietary habits during a child’s formative years.
Ms Goh Hwee Koon, 33, does not believe in processed food and feeds her 10-month-old son only with homemade purees.
Breakfast is usually organic brown rice or multigrain cereal with breast milk and fruit.
Lunch is fish, baby spinach leaves and brown rice porridge. Dinner is chicken or pork, broccoli and brown rice porridge.
For brown rice, her mother-in-law puts the grains in the sun for two days and then grinds them into powder so that the porridge cooks better and has a smoother consistency. Brown rice is a great source of carbohydrates for the growing child.
If you have not included wholegrains in your children’s diet, HPB suggests incorporating them slowly in their meals.
For example, parents can replace one slice of white bread with wholemeal bread in sandwiches and replace half the white rice with brown rice.
Parents can also serve wholegrains with other food that their children enjoy eating. For example, oatmeal can be served with raisins, and wholegrain cereals with low-fat yogurt.
Take note that reduced-fat milk and other low-fat dairy products are not suitable for children below two.
Ms Suriah Abdul Rahman, 33, admits that it is a challenge to inculcate good eating habits in her three children aged one, four and six.
She says: “To encourage them to eat their greens, we use the consultative approach. We will give them three choices — broccoli, carrot or cabbage — for their vegetable dish for the meal, instead of forcing them to take one particular vegetable.
“We also tuck into the same vegetable dish with them and drink plain water to set good examples.” Primary school student Santhiya Ganesan, 12, agrees that good eating habits begin at home.
Her mother encourages her to choose food with less oil, eat less fried food and go for healthy options to quench her thirst instead of having soft drinks.
She says: “My domestic helper at home also cooks with less oil, less salt and more vegetables.
“I’m glad my parents are guiding me in the right direction. They always make sure that we have lots of veggies and fruits at home.”
This article was first published in The Sunday Times.
