Good Diets for Children

Exponential growth and development take place during childhood. To support children's bodies during this transition period, children need plenty of all the right nutrients and from all the right sources. Although there is a sea of advice available regarding good diets for children, several key ideas need to be taken into account when establishing such a diet.

Fats

• Fats are an important food in a child's diet. As the nonprofit Weston A. Price Foundation has pointed out, fats -- especially demonized saturated animals fats and cholesterol -- are crucial to brain and body development in growing children. In fact, these fats are so crucial in the diets of young human beings that the calories in human breast milk are more than 50 percent from fat. The best sources of fat for children are butter, dairy cream, full-fat milk, lard, tallow, coconut products and meat fats, with avocados and olive oil following not too far behind. The Price Foundation contends that vegetable fats (such as canola and soybean oil), as well as hydrogenated fats, are not fit for any human beings, especially children, and should be avoided.

Starch

• According to nutritional scientist Aajonus Vonderplanitz, starches are used in the body mainly to bind to and neutralize excessive hormones, such as the adrenaline, that make kids so hyperactive and anxious. Although the best remedy for hyperactivity is exercise, eating starches can help calm children down further -- especially in situations when the extra help is truly necessary, such as when trying to do homework. Starches can either be consumed raw in the form of raw nuts or cooked in the form of potatoes or bread.

Real, Whole Foods

• Children are healthiest when they consume real, whole foods, the same foods that their great, great grandparents would have recognized as food. These foods include full-fat dairy, eggs, meats, coconut oil, fruits, vegetables, whole grains and unprocessed and raw foods in general. Fresh, raw foods are especially beneficial.

Note On Vegetables

• Vegetables and/or vegetable juice should be consumed in smaller quantities. According to Vonderplanitz, vegetables and vegetable juices over-alkalize a child's naturally acidic digestive tract, compromising digestion of acidic foods and animal foods properly. When eating a cooked or processed diet, though, moderate vegetable or juice consumption can be beneficial as well to prevent constipation, and thus should be encouraged.

Vitamin A & D

• Because vitamins A and D are so crucial to proper growth and development as well as eye and bone health, a child's diet should always contain these nutrients in moderate amounts. The best sources for vitamin A are liver (especially beef liver), cod liver oil, shellfish (oysters are best), and red and orange fruits and vegetables. The best sources for vitamin D are cod liver oil, all wild seafood, and eggs, milk, and lard from animals raised on pastures (which are exposed to plenty of sunlight).

Sweets

• According to the Weston A. Price Foundation as well as Ramiel Nagel, writer of Cure Tooth Decay: Heal and Prevent Cavities with Nutrition, processed sugar -- especially white refined sugar and high fructose corn syrup -- are responsible for many health problems and imbalances including tooth decay and growth and development issues in children. It is best for children to eat fruits and raw, unheated honey in place of processed sugars and sweets or to keep processed sugars to a bare minimum.