I chose this particular topic as a preface to tomorrow's first Family Friendly Recipe blog post. I want to begin to set the stage on what our meaning of "family friendly recipes" consists of. I will go more into this as time goes on, but for today's purposes we will begin with the fact that what makes a healthy diet in an adult is not the same thing as what makes a healthy diet for a growing child. There are several factors to determine "healthy" for each individual and I am not going into all of that, but I will dive into some very general nutritional guidelines for developing children.
Onto the fat! Basically children(and adults) NEED fat in their diets, but the types of fat and amounts of fat are very important to consider. Fat and cholesterol play very important roles in developing brains and nervous systems. It is recommended that children under 2 get between 30%-35% of their calories from fat. Children aged 3-12 should be eating a diet where between 25%-35% of their calories come from fat. Now these numbers are generalizations for healthy brain growth and you should ALWAYS talk to a medical professional before making any drastic changes in anyone's diet, but for most children this is what we should be aiming for. And this means that approx. 1/3 of all the food our kiddos eat should have fats in them. Adults often associate healthy eating with vegetables, fruits and very low fat foods, but it is important to remember that kiddos have different needs. Their little bodies and minds are still growing at a rapid pace and they need fuel to make sure they develop correctly.
So now that I have mentioned how much fat children need, let's talk about what kinds of fats they should be getting. There are literally hundreds of sources and site to help you figure out what fats are good and what kinds you should be eating. I will link to a couple of my favorites at the end of this post, but to sum up what they all say, people should be eating mostly unsaturated fats (this includes monosaturated polysaturated and omega- 3 fatty acids), few unsaturated fats, and hardly any trans-fats (this includes 'partially hydrogenated oils). Examples of unsaturated fats are soybeans, olive and peanut oils, fish, avocados and tree nuts. Most saturated fats are from animal products: cheese, milk (not including skim or non-fat), butter, ect. There also saturated fats in coconut and palm oils. Then there are trans-fats...it is recommended that less than 1% of your diet contain trans-fats. This includes margarine and fried foods.
So there is my little monologue on fat. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions (I tried not to make it too long and boring, and kept it general....). Here are some sites if you are interested!
http://kidshealth.org/parent/growth/feeding/fat.html#
http://www.healthychildren.org/English/healthy-living/nutrition/pages/What-About-Fat-And-Cholesterol.aspx?nfstatus=401&nftoken=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000&nfstatusdescription=ERROR%3a+No+local+token&nfs
Yay for fats! I think there is a misconception still that fat = bad. But, for kiddos and adults this just isn't true - you just need to be discriminate of the fats you eat!
ReplyDeleteFunny that you say that Chloe... I had that exact sentiment written right here, then cut it out because I was feeling a little long winded! I am glad you wrote it, so I didn't have to!! And it is oh so very true!
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