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A well-balanced diet adapted to a child's energy needs is essential for the child’s healthy development.
A well-balanced diet adapted to a child's energy needs is essential for the child’s healthy development. Therefore, include in it as wide and diverse a range of foods as possible. Fresh meals made from quality ingredients (organic production) prepared at home with a pleasant appearance, smell, and taste are the best choice for the child's future.
Carbohydrates are the main nutrient that provides the body with energy. In the child's diet, in addition to first-class fruits and vegetables, we include rice, corn, pasta, potatoes, various flakes, and bread. Between the second and fifth years of the child, we gradually introduce more dietary fiber into the child's diet, replacing "white" pasta with whole grains, husked rice with unhulled rice, we also introduce various purees (millet, buckwheat...), whole grain, rye and graham bread in the diet. Due to high energy needs, children should consume carbohydrate-rich foods in all daily meals.
Avoid sugar and sweets, salty snacks, and sweetened drinks. If they do not become a part of the child's daily life, children will not want them and will not become a person with a sweet tooth. Sweet foods cause tooth decay, lead to overweight and obesity, and cause indigestion.
Fruits and vegetables are important sources of carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals in the child's integral diet. Children should consume first-class fruits and vegetables both in cooked and fresh form. To ensure sufficient vitamins and minerals in the child's balanced daily diet, the diet should contain at least 3 to 5 portions of vegetables and 2 to 4 portions of fruit per day. If the child refuses vegetables in pieces, prepare them in the form of cream soup. For a child who is not a fan of fruit, familiarize the child with the flavor of natural juices without added sugar. But a warning will not be superfluous: 125 ml (half a glass) of juice is equivalent to a small apple, so we need to take care not to consume too much "empty" energy through excessive juice consumption.
Proteins supply the body with amino acids and other carbon compounds, which are necessary for the production of body's own proteins. The protein needs of a growing organism are determined by maintenance needs and growth needs. That's why we have to ensure in a balanced diet enough protein of both animal and vegetable origin: full-fat milk* (350 ml/day) and dairy products, meat (choose tender pieces and remove all visible fat, remove the skin from poultry), fish, eggs, cereals, and pulses (peas, soybeans, beans). It is important to distribute protein foods evenly among the daily meals.
Fats are an important source of energy, especially for young children and later for teenagers, because they cannot eat such amounts of other nutrients (carbohydrates) that would satisfactorily cover their increased energy needs. In a balanced diet, babies from 4 to 12 months need 35 to 45 percent of their daily energy needs in the form of fat, and toddlers from 4 years old need 30 to 35 percent. Fats are also components of the cell wall of each of our cells, they are absolutely necessary for the creation of bile salts, they carry fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K) and are the only source of two essential fatty acids (linoleic and alpha-linolenic), of which the body forms other essential fatty acids.
Already in early childhood, there are close connections between nutrition, blood fat, and the development of vascular changes. Therefore, after the second year of the child's age, we need to strive to gradually reduce the intake of saturated fats and "trans fats". In doing so, we limit fats of animal origin (pork fat, beef tallow, visible meat fat), offer the child egg yolks two to three times a week, and gradually switch to semi-skimmed milk and dairy products. That's why we include high-quality vegetable fats in the form of oil (olive, rapeseed, corn, soybean, and sunflower) or margarine with the addition of omega-3 fatty acids in the child's diet. Fatty marine fish (mackerel, salmon, tuna) are an extremely important source of dietary fat, as they are a rich source of essential fatty acids. With these measures, we will significantly contribute to the protection of the heart and blood vessels. Fats are always included in meals together with carbohydrates and protein foods.
Full-fat milk*: In 2004, the Extended Professional College of Pediatrics of Slovenia recommended that children drink full-fat milk and consume full-fat dairy products until they start school, but they can slowly switch to semi-skimmed milk and dairy products after the age of two.
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