Family Medicine Doctor, Albert Yuen, MD, Talks About Nutrition for Children

You can help your children avoid lifestyle disease

if you teach them how to eat while they are young.

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Many children are becoming obese earlier in life, leading to the development of diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. The common folk belief that a fat baby or chubby toddler is healthy is hard to break. Popular fad diets and TV ads often mix helpful and harmful components in their messages.

Children are currently exposed to a wide variety of foods that tend to be high in fat and sugar, including excess juice, juice-based sweetened beverages, French fries, and nutrient-poor snacks. And they often eat 35% more than they need. This is not good news for those who may be heading towards lifestyle disease later in life. It is the foremost reason why it’s so important to establish healthy eating habits in children at an early age.

What can a mother do?

Diet recommendations for 2-6 year olds are similar to those for older individuals, so it’s fairly easy to plan for the whole family. But the challenges for children’s diet relate to providing quality nutrient intake and avoiding excess caloric intake. It’s important to transition to low-fat milk and other dairy products, and sweetened beverages and other sugar-containing snacks should be offered sparingly.

Some tips to parents on implementing changes in diet (AHA guidelines):

• Reduce added sugars, including sugar-sweetened drinks and juices
• Use canola, soybean, corn oil, safflower oil, or other unsaturated oils instead of solid fats
• Use recommended portion sizes when preparing and serving food
• Use fresh, frozen, and canned vegetables and fruits and serve at every meal
• Introduce and regularly serve fish as an entrée
• Remove the skin from poultry before cooking/eating
• Use only lean cuts of meat and reduced-fat meat products
• Limit high-calorie sauces such as Alfredo, cream sauces, etc.
• Eat whole grain breads and cereals rather; read labels and ensure that “whole grain” is the first ingredient on the food label of these products 
• Eat more legumes (beans) and tofu in place of meat for some entrées
• Choose high-fiber, low-salt/low-sugar alternatives for breads and prepared foods

Success in changing habits starts early in life and is based on early parental guidance. If a parent mindfully implements these small but significant changes, they can have an impact on young children and help stem the tide of childhood obesity, ultimately saving lives and slowing down the progression of lifestyle diseases in our young.

Dr. Yuen practices Family Medicine at WWMG's Everett clinic and also the Silver Lake Medical Center.  Click here to learn more about him.