The ideal food for children

A healthy and balanced diet is essential for the optimal growth of children. Their eating habits not only influence the weight and size of children according to their age, they also directly influence their health status through their cholesterol or triglyceride counts.

The nutritionist Lucía Bultó, the author of the book Nutrinanny's Advice, the solutions that work for the feeding of children, offers us in this interview the best tips to develop an ideal diet for children.

Tips for children to eat everything

What is the ideal food for children? What are the goals of good infant feeding?

Good nutrition for children is one that is varied, sufficient and balanced. The goal of good child feeding is for the child to eat well so that their growth is complete and adequate. We must give you the material you need to reach the size and weight of your age in a healthy way.

How can we get children to eat everything and in the right amount?

The child is an apprentice and we have to teach him just as he is taught math or geography. The child has to teach him to eat and there has to be a point of authority in that learning, through the parents, the school, the grandparents ... The child has to eat everything in quantity not very large because sometimes we sin Want the child to eat too much. You have to eat depending on your age, your size and also your appetite because your appetite is a symptom of the child's needs.

What should be changed from crushed to solid food for the baby?

As any change has to be gradual, the key is to maintain the fruit and vegetable taste throughout this transition. We will change the texture, going from a liquid texture much easier to swallow and swallow, to a texture with a little more grain, bigger. And the child has to be able to puncture, to see different colors, to try other textures ... The children have to go towards the solid food, but not from one day to another nor from one month to another, we need a time for the child Is capable of admitting that flavor in crushed texture and in solid, in pieces.

Do children eat too much meat? What are the consequences of excess protein?

Proteins are overvalued nutrients erroneously. Most people think that the main nutrient is protein, and that's a mistake because there are 6 nutrients and 6 are just as important. An excess of protein, in 99 percent of cases, is linked to an excess of fat. In the meat, there are proteins, the same as in the egg, in the ham but there is also fat and cholesterol. An excess of protein is usually linked to excess fat, cholesterol, and saturated fats. That can favor obesity and an excess of fats in the blood.

What happens when children take too many carbohydrates?

When children take too much of something, they have an excess and it always becomes fat, because the body does not eliminate all that is left over. It's not like water; I drink a lot and go to the bathroom more. With the subject of caloric nutrients is not this way, the body in anticipation of times of famine, when it does not find energetic substrate to maintain the life, has a great predisposition to reserve. An excess of carbohydrates or proteins, the body reserves it in the form of fat, favoring obesity.

What is the balanced amount of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and vitamins that children should take?

There are amounts set by the health authorities of WHO (World Health Organization). They are a guide to take a starting point: half of the calories, that is, 50 percent should come from carbohydrates, between 12 and 15 percent in the form of protein and between 25-35 percent In the form of fat. In each case, it will be the pediatrician and the nutritionist who will refine the percentages.

What should we put on the children's plate?
In principle, we should fill half the plate with foods rich in carbohydrates: bread, pasta, potato, rice. A 12-15 percent should be reserved for protein foods: meats, fish, eggs, ham, legumes, lentils, beans and chickpeas. And the rest would correspond to the fat, which is already linked to the meat (the fat of the meat), the oil with which we season or prepare the dish or the nuts that are very rich in fat.