How to Identify Healthy & Unhealthy Foods for Kids

Extensive marketing by the fast-food, snack and soda industries contributes to promoting unhealthy diets for children. Billions of advertising dollars are spent each year promoting foods that are high in sugar, fat, salt and chemicals. Companies market directly to children, making it more difficult for parents to enforce a healthy diet at home. Knowing what foods are good for children is essential to identifying a healthy diet for kids.

Instructions

Identifying Unhealthy and Healthy Food for Children

• 1

  Understand Food Labels. Food labels are designed for children ages four and over, and adults. Children under two have different restrictions and needs and you should work with your pediatrician to develop an appropriate diet for them. Generally speaking, kids four and over have diet needs similar to adults. Parents should choose foods that are high in fiber and low in fat, sugar and sodium. Be mindful of the serving size, as it is still possible to overeat on healthy food.

• 2

  Beware of bars. Many granola bars and breakfast bars tout themselves as healthy foods but are actually unhealthy. It's tempting to give kids a bar and think that you are giving them a healthy snack, but many of these bars are loaded with sugar and high fructose corn syrup and are simply candy bars in disguise.

• 3

  Avoid sports drinks. These are increasingly popular among kids and are thought to be healthy because they are consumed by athletes. But these drinks are not healthy for children. They are made to replace electrolytes lost while sweating. Unless your children are sweating in the heat while exercising, these drinks simply add extra sugar to the diet that will be stored as fat.

• 4

  Don't believe in fat-free products. Many foods that are fat-free have extra sugar added to them. Sugar, if not burned off, will turn into fat. Fat-free food will not make a fat-free child. Children and adults need a certain amount of healthy fat in their diets, for example fat from olive oil, nuts and avocados. Removing fat from the diet also leaves most children unsatisfied, causing them to eat more and leading to unhealthy weight gain.

• 5

  Learn to choose healthy foods for kids. The Food Guide Pyramid for children was designed by the US Department of Agriculture. The pyramid promotes healthy nutrition in children and offers clear nutrition advice, such as eating a variety of foods, balancing food with physical activity, eating plenty of whole grain products, vegetables and fruits and choosing a diet low in fat, sugar and salt.