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A study finds that 45% of deaths dueto stroke, diabetes, and heart disease originate from dietary habits.

Your children might already be at risk if they love sweets,chips, fried potatoes, tacos, soda, and juice drinks. To keep your childhealthy, you have to develop healthy nutrition habits in them. And if you wantthem to count calories unassisted, math tutors from Brighterly will help children with numbers.

Keep reading to get six tips on a healthy diet forchildren and discover overlooked reasons for common pediatric conditions.

Top6 Healthy Eating Tipsfor Parents

You may have been tired from these healthy diet tips –less sugar, more veggies. It’s no secret children should avoid soda, energydrinks, junk food, and sweets. You know this. But this time, you will get sixinsights into a healthy diet for children you might not know about:

#1 Keep Your Child’s Thyroid Glands Intact

Countless amounts of saturated fat, sugar, and lack ofvitamins in processed foods mess up the human body and its endocrine system.Many of us imagine testosterone, estrogen, and insulin when it comes tohormones. But we often overlook thyroid hormones and the thyroid gland thatcontrols metabolism and growth.

Meanwhile, thyroid problems prevail in children of school age.Kids (and girls specifically) are at higher risk of developing hyperthyroidism(excess of hormones) and hypothyroidism (lack of hormones).

Make sure your child’s diet is rich in these minerals tokeep their thyroid gland healthy:

●       Selenium – tuna andseafood, brown rice, poultry, and Brazil nuts.

●       Iron – pork, redmeat, poultry, spinach, seafood, dried fruit, beans.

●       Zinc – oysters,dairy products, red meat, poultry, beans, nuts, crabs, and lobsters.

●       Iodine – seaweed,seafood – shrimps, oysters, dairy products, beef liver, eggs.

Foods to avoid in excess:

●       Cruciferousvegetables – broccoli, cauliflower, kale, and Brussel sprouts. These vegetablescontain chemicals that damage the thyroid gland.

●       Soy – its flavonoidscan cause hypothyroidism.

●       Onions – theirchemicals reduce thyroid function.

Also, check the thyroid function of your child at leastonce a year and consult your pediatrician.

#2 More Water is Good Even If Your Kid Doesn’tFeel Thirsty

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The human body consists of 60% water, while the brain is75% water. Getting enough water is vital to your body as insufficient watercontent leads to impaired thinking, fatigue, and kidney stones. 

Both adults and children need two liters of water everyday. If your kid likes to play outdoors, ride a bike, or engage in active play,they should drink more than two liters per day to avoid dehydration. 

Note that your body might not always alert you whendehydration happens – water consumption doesn’t go hand in hand with thirst.You might be dehydrated but not thirsty.

#3 Get Healthy Proteins

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Cutting back on pork, beef, and ham will reduce the riskof high cholesterol and resulting cardiovascular diseases. If you limit redmeat from a young age, your heart will run like a Swiss clock. You shouldn’tremove red meat from your child’s diet entirely, but you have to rely on:

●       Poultry.

●       Fish.

●       Seeds.

●       Nuts.

Avoid these protein sources:

●       Sausages – highsaturated fat and sodium content.

●       Hotdogs – the sameas sausages.

●       Candied nuts – highsugar content.

●       Protein bars – highsugar content, artificial flavorings, colorings, and preservatives.

●       Soy protein – highlevels of phytoestrogens that can mess up the hormonal system.

#4 Include These Foods for Your Child’s DentalHealth

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Bite problems affect from 20% to 100% of children and cause physical and psychological discomfort due to unaestheticappearance, braces, and more complex dental appliances.

Malocclusion occurs for several reasons, from thumbsucking, excessive pacifier use, and bottle feeding to jaw injuries. However,the nature of foods may also contribute to bite and teeth problems.

The western diet contains a lot of soft, processed foodthat doesn’t require much jaw muscle involvement. Researchers from the University of Kentstudied mouth and teeth development in different societies. They found thatpeople from hunter-gatherer societies have fewer jaw and teeth developmentissues.

The study attributes better dental health to hard,fibrous foods – meat, nuts, and hard vegetables. They cause a sufficient loadto your teeth, jawbone, and jaw muscles and form a natural, healthy bite.

Therefore, it’s better to include more hard foods intoyour child’s diet:

●       Hard raw vegetables– carrots, pumpkin, celery roots, beets, and others.

●       Hard fruits –apples.

●       Nuts.

●       Homegrown chickenand turkey. Natural physical activity helps birds develop strong, fibrousmuscles. These are harder to chew than cage-farmed chickens that spent theirshort lives sitting.

#5 Keep on a Vegetarian/Vegan Diet withCaution 

Evolutionarily, humans are omnivores. Inother words, the human body is designed to eat meat, nuts, seeds, and greens.Unlike herbivores, humans cannot follow a non-meat diet without developingadverse health effects.

If you’re a vegetarian/vegan, and your children followthis diet, you must ensureyour kids receive enough macro and micronutrients from non-animal products anddietary supplements.

It’s better if your children follow a meat diet untilthey are fully mature. Otherwise, an increased risk of nutrient deficiencycaused by the vegetarian diet may interfere with their growth and harm theirhealth permanently.

#6 The Diet Wouldn’t Work Without This Thing

Believe it or not, children follow your actions, notwords. It might not be the most pleasant thing to agree with, but your childwon’t follow a healthy diet if you don’t. To make your little darling avoidsweets and soda, you should never consume them. A healthy diet is a “do or die”thing, literally, and it’s a lifestyle. Follow it, and your children willfollow you.

TheBottom Line

In essence, healthy eating for children means less processed food,sugar, saturated fats, and more vitamins, minerals, and healthy proteins. Kidsshould consume more of what nature gives them and avoid processed foods andjunk food. Most importantly, follow a healthy diet yourself.

Photo by Ketut Subiyanto: https://www.pexels.com/photo/hungry-ethnic-child-eating-ripe-orange-in-studio-4546118/