GET RID OF JUNK!
Weekends are supposed to be fun, but there lies no fun if the food is not good? Probably junk food is the answer, isn’t it? We go to nearby malls, shops and eat whatever we can catch a hold of. Somehow, every tasty dish is a junk food. On a fine beautiful evening at Select City Walk, New Delhi, ‘Parentune’, a website which works towards combating parenting issues, along with Ishi Khosla, organized a workshop to guide parents on what ‘Healthy Options’ they should offer their children to have.
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Ishi Khosla is a practicing clinical nutritionist, consultant, writer, columnist, researcher, author and an entrepreneur. She is associated with the Centre for Dietary Counseling in Delhi, where she deals with nutrition related health problems like diabetes, hypertension, obesity, allergies etc. Having two decades of experience, Ishi has always been concerned about the food which is being offered to kids.
She also runs a health and food company called ‘Whole Food’ which supplies to more than eighteen cafes and various hospitals as well. By understanding what food can do, she was always passionate about being a nutritionist. She began the workshop by letting out a fact that in every second family, one percent of people do suffer from the Celia disease, where the person is sensitive to wheat and gluten. The disease damages the intestines and the food is not absorbed. If not treated, then the situation can get worse, one can even get even cancer. In such cases a mutant wheat-diet can help.
Ishi began with a teaching for every parent that every child gets addicted to junk food just because the parents bring that to home. Once they stop buying and storing junk food which includes aerated drinks, the children would stop having any of it. Further, Ishi guided the parents to ways by which they could stop their children from consuming junk food.
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Introduce Variety: It is very important to introduce a variety of food products from all groups. Even if not every day, try to serve it every alternate day. Include all the fruits, vegetables, oils etc. in the child’s diet, so that they can recognize them and start love having them. If you offer the same sort of food everyday then your children would become a lazy and bored eater.
If you have helpers, then train your staff to introduce variety on weekends. Make sure you dedicate time and have a look at what your staff is doing and serving. Your concern would make others concern too.
According to studies by Dr. David Katz (renowned nutritionist and founder of Prevention Research centre, Yale University), younger generation will have a shorter life-span as compared to their parents due to their lifestyle, environment, relationships, food quality and most importantly the lack of physical exercise. So, much researches and medicines have been suggested and also many transplants are conducted, but sadly, the way we are living has changed everything.
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Genetics do play an important role and they don’t change for thousands of years, 95% of the genes are responsible to create what we are. In today’s scenario, the calorie consumption and energy requirement rate has gone up. We are taking more food which consists of toxins, preservatives etc. whereas, the body needs detoxifications/ higher level of nutrients to fight toxic which comes through various healthy food products. But unfortunately, we are only having more and more of junk food which is making us suffer and will continue doing so.
We are always talking about low fat food, but have never thought that the carbohydrates are also going up. Everything that we take in awe of low fats is laced with sugar, for example: Cornflakes, Nutrition bar etc. Studies have shown that sugar has been inched to drugs; they have the same effect on our brain as of drugs. Consumption of carbohydrates gives us pleasure but is also harmful which we are well aware, but are unable to restrict ourselves.
Feed the right food: You can train your palette and that would happen only when you give variety to your food. Once in school children cannot be given the right food, all the time. A mother cannot be present in school at all times, and then there is peer pressure also which the child is subject too. So, staying away from junk food is not easy in such a situation. Though, by expressing and providing them the right information may serve the purpose as they are most malleable when they are young.
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Discard food which is not good for them, but as we know a child’s mentality is such that if you say NO they would do that so, you have to find positive ways to keep them away from unhealthy food.
Children follow their parents, if you tell them not to eat junk and you yourself would be eating then they would neglect your orders so, try not eating junk in front of them. Basically, practice what you preach.
Always remember to include veggies and fruits in your meals. Engage them with activities where they can learn to cook. Cut veggies with them and shop at groceries. Discuss with them about the food advertisements they watch on the television and tell them that what to eat and what not to with reasons.
Do not insist if children are not comfortable with milk. Unhealthy food can also affect their concentration and grades. Learn to cook creatively. It is not so hard, all that you have to do is to understand your child and plan and think accordingly. Remember, never put a child on any weight-loss diet. It is always better to inculcate healthy eating habits in them rather than cutting out on the intake.
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Sanitize the environment; you have to look after what you shop and what you put in your kitchen-shelves. Joint families might have some problem in managing what they have to eat but nuclear families can plan out.
Many might say that they get junk food for the guests’ not for their children, but the point is ‘what is wrong in offering healthy food to your guests as well?’
It is a healthy practice which must be inculcated in all and sundry.
Longer the belt line, shorter the life-line: Hyper-tension, obesity, cancer, diabetes etc. happens due to a particular lifestyle. Excessive weight gain during pregnancy can also be a major concern.
If a pregnant woman does not take good care of her diet and eats anything and everything, she might put the child at an early risk. Plan family meals and let the child explore everything. A curriculum does teach them about various healthy eating habits but, they only eat specific things so, use these specific food as a reward for completing a small portion of other foods.
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Till you are frying at home, it’s all fine to have fried vegetables, fitters and other snacks but not all the time. Eat fruits rather than having juices and also avoid eating food watching the television of while lying down. Avoid snacks before any meal. Invite friends over for lunch or take the child out in the garden and make her/him eat, to get them out of the habit of eating in front of television.
If you have any member who is suffering from celiac you would see that other members also get mentally affected. They would also be uncomfortable with wheat. Such members can have cereals, rice, pasta, porridge, pulses, fruits and vegetables, dairy products, non-vegetarian food and other fats like nuts, seeds, oils etc.
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