Kitabı oku: «Happy Mealtimes for Kids: A Guide To Making Healthy Meals That Children Love»
Contents
COVER
TITLE PAGE
INTRODUCTION: WHY HAPPY MEALTIMES?
ONE: WHAT IS A BAD DIET FOR KIDS?
Diet and behaviour
Sugar
Caffeine
Food additives
TWO: WHAT IS A GOOD DIET FOR KIDS?
Calories
Ideal weight
Protein
Carbohydrates
Fibre
Fat
Vitamins and minerals
Fluid
THREE: MEALS AND EATING
The importance of mealtimes
Establishing good mealtimes
Food fussiness and refusal to eat
FOUR: BREAKFAST
Breakfast routine
Breakfast food
Drinks for breakfast
Quick breakfast ideas that kids love
Cereal
Toast
Bread rolls
Bagels
English muffins
Croissants
Fruit
Yoghurts
Smoothies
Cooked breakfasts
Full English breakfast
Omelette
Boiled egg with soldiers
Egg/sausage/tomatoes/baked beans/cheese/mushrooms on toast
Eggy bread
Welsh rarebit
Toasted sandwiches
Pancakes
Leftovers
School breakfast
Breakfast for adults
FIVE: LUNCH
School dinner
Packed lunch
Drinks for a packed lunch
Bread, wraps and rolls
Fillings
Pots
Little extra pots
Main meal pots
Other savouries for a lunch box
Packed lunch desserts
Lunch at home
Jacket potatoes
Kids’ hash
Egg in a nest
Stuffed pepper
Quick cauliflower cheese
Sausage and rice pan casserole
Soups
Potato and carrot soup
Lentil soup
Cream of mushroom soup
Pasta lunch
Cheesy pasta
Macaroni cheese
Tomato pasta
Pasta bake
Spaghetti
Tagliatelle
‘Toast lunch’
Toasted sandwiches
Kids’ kebabs
Bubble and squeak
All-day breakfast
Lunchtime desserts
Fruit
Smoothies
Yoghurt
Other lunch dessert ideas
Drinks at home
Convenience food for lunch
SIX: DINNER
Easy and popular main meals
Spaghetti bolognese
Cottage pie
Lasagne
Toad in the hole
Onion gravy
Curry
Plain naan
Casseroles and hot pots
Meat and vegetable casserole
Vegetable casserole
Hot pot
Fish and sweetcorn pie
Stir-fries
Simple stir-fry
Simple stir-fry sauce
Beef and baby sweetcorn stir-fry
Honeyed chicken and noodle stir-fry
Other stir-fry ideas
Meat and two veg
Roasting meat
Braising meat
Stewing meat
Grilling meat
Frying meat
Puddings
Apple crumble
Bread and butter pudding
Fruit pie
Rice pudding
Bread pudding
Sponge pudding
Cake in custard
Banana and honey whip
Cheesecake
Trifle
Convenience food for dinner
SEVEN: HAPPY SNACKS
CONCLUSION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CATHY GLASS
COPYRIGHT
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER
Introduction: Why happy mealtimes?
I am a foster carer, and as well as bringing up three children of my own, I have looked after other people’s children for over twenty-five years. Some of those children stayed with me for a few days, while others stayed for years. The reasons why children come into care vary – from a single parent having to go into hospital for a night, to a child being badly neglected and abused. While some of the children I’ve fostered had received adequate diets at home, the vast majority – over 95 per cent – had not, resulting in the children being under- or overweight, short in stature, with dull skin and hair, lacking energy, and often having difficulties in concentrating and therefore being behind with their learning.
One of the first changes I have to make when a child comes to live with me is to their diet, and they are often resistant to change. When the children have been used to snacking on whatever was to hand – usually crisps and biscuits – not only do I have to wean them on to ‘proper’ food but also I have to introduce them to mealtimes rather than having snacks in front of the television. Highly processed food – usually the only food they have known – is often visually attractive and easy to eat (requiring hardly any chewing), but it has few nutrients and addictive amounts of salt and sugar. I have to win the children over to a healthier way of eating as well as providing meals that the whole family enjoys, and like most busy parents I don’t have much time. I have therefore become adept at producing simple nutritious meals that are easy to make and which kids of all ages will love. In this book I share my recipes, together with some important food facts. I hope you find it useful. Bon appétit.
CHAPTER ONE
What is a bad diet for kids?
No food is actually ‘bad’ for a child, unless it is poisonous or the child is allergic to it, or is on a restrictive diet, but some foods become ‘bad’ because of the quantity in which they are eaten. A poor diet is usually high in sugar and fat, low in protein, and lacking in vitamins and minerals. So, for example, a packet of crisps in a lunch box alongside a sandwich containing protein (such as meat, fish or eggs) and a piece of fruit is fine, but four packets of crisps a day are not, especially when they replace a meal. Likewise a piece of chocolate or a cup cake in addition to a main meal is acceptable, but chocolate and cake regularly eaten in large quantities are not. Crisps, chocolate and most heavily processed snack foods are high in calories, salt, sugar and fat, and low in nutrients, so must be eaten in moderation.
You may find it incredible that a child could ever be given chocolate or crisps instead of a meal, but many of the children I have fostered had been used to substituting this type of food for meals before they came into care. Breakfast, often bought from the corner shop and eaten on the way to school, would be a chocolate bar, or a bag of crisps and a can of fizzy drink, while the evening meal would be whatever the child could find in the cupboard, and very likely sugar-laden cereal and a packet of biscuits. Often the only ‘proper’ meal a child had, therefore, was the free school dinner from Monday to Friday. While this type of eating applies to the minority, many children from good homes are overweight and lack essential vitamins and minerals simply because their diets are too high in processed foods. These are attractively packaged and sold to us through advertising on the television. How many of us as parents have given in to our child’s pestering in the supermarket and bought a ridiculously expensive, attractively packaged (sugar-laden) cereal because our child had seen it advertised? I’ll admit I have.
Many governments across the world are now so concerned about the poor quality of children’s diets that they are funding initiatives to try to change the eating habits of a generation. Not only does a bad diet stunt a child’s growth and development, and cause obesity and lethargy; it can also produce behavioural problems. I mentioned this in my book Happy Kids (a guide to raising well-behaved and contented children) and received hundreds of emails from parents who, after reading my book, suddenly connected some foods with their child’s bad behaviour. More of that later, but first let’s look at the foods that should be limited in a child’s diet:
You will probably think of others. Generally speaking, if food is heavily processed and not fresh it is likely to be high in calories, sugar, fat, salt and artificial additives and should be limited. Fortunately ingredients now have to be listed on the food packaging, so check if you are unsure. And remember the ingredients are listed in descending order of the amount included – with the highest first – so if the first ingredient listed is sugar, as with most sweets, then sugar is what that food contains most of. But also remember that a good diet for kids is about limiting these foods, not banning them completely.
Diet and behaviour
‘We are what we eat’ is a well-known phrase, meaning the food that goes into our mouths is absorbed by our bodies and therefore becomes part of us. This is especially true for children, who are still growing and use a larger proportion of their food for growth, as well as cell repair and general health, than adults do. But it isn’t only the child’s body and physical health that are at the mercy of what the child consumes, but also the child’s brain and central nervous system. A finely tuned endocrine and hormone system is responsible for mood, behaviour and mental health, and this relies on a well-balanced diet to function efficiently. There is now a wealth of scientific information – from studies and research – that shows that children’s (and adult’s behaviour) is greatly affected by diet. A healthy diet is therefore essential for both children’s physical development and their emotional and mental well-being.
Sugar
Apart from obvious sugar-laden foods – sweets, biscuits, cakes and puddings, etc. – sugar is added to many other processed foods: for example, baked beans, soups and even some bread. As a result our children have become a nation of ‘sweet tooths’. As well as having detrimental long-term physical effects – tooth decay, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc. – too much sugar can have an immediate effect on mood and behaviour. Most parents have observed the ‘high’ that too many sweet foods or sugary drinks can have on their child – even the average child without a hyperactivity disorder. The reason for this is that as sugar enters the bloodstream it gives a surge of energy, so the child rushes around on a high; but after the ‘sugar rush’ comes a low as the body dispenses insulin to stabilize itself. The child then becomes tired, irritable and even aggressive, with a craving for something sweet. So begins a pattern of sugar-related highs and lows, and if the child is prone to mood swings or hyperactivity, refined sugar will fuel it. Sugar intake should therefore be moderated and ideally from a natural source, for example, fruit or honey.
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