Treating Your Body Well. Children's Health And Nutrition

Parents begin making decisions regarding their children long before a baby is born. From morals to food, to activities, parenting decisions are ongoing. While some of these decisions have very little impact on the lives of children, others can have a significant impact.affect them throughout their lifetime; health and nutrition are prime examples.

Children’s health and nutrition are crucial to their well-being. Parents need to encourage healthy habits. A healthy lifestyle can help prevent them from developing chronic diseases.Whereas an unhealthy lifestyle can lead to startling statistics such as these:

  • Only one third of children are physically active each day.
  • Americans, even children, consume far less fruit, vegetables, or whole grains than recommended daily.
  • 12.5 million children and adolescents are obese and if uncorrected will contribute to the 78 million U.S. adults who are currently obese.

Make the decision toChildren’s health is important. Teach them how to lead a healthy lifestyle.. Teach children how important physical activity and a well-balanced diet are to their health. Although these are not the only two contributors to a healthy way of life, they both have a significant impact on ones wellbeing. Children can become unhealthy if they don’t have a healthy diet and get enough exercise.Overweight can lead to mental problems and chronic diseases.

In addition to diet and regular exercise, other health related items parents should pay close attention to include rest, sleep, and drug and alcohol use. If a child eats well, exercises regularly, and does not get enough sleep, their mental and physical health may suffer.Lack of rest can also impact their stress levels and productivity. Parents should be concerned about their children’s mental and physical health if they are exposed to drugs or alcohol.

Keeping Fit And Having Fun

  • Keeping Kids Fit: Make Fitness Fun for the Whole Family Sarah E. Messiah, Ph.D., shares her encouraging words and ideas with the Miami Herald on how parents can make fitness fun for everyone.
  • 5 Tips for Staying Active With Kids and Family Everyone can use a tip or two for staying active, and these five tips are outstanding.
  • Keeping Kids Fit (video) PBS presents several videos with a lot of information and resources for keeping kids fit.
  • 10 Rules to Keep Kids Active If you find that you are stuck in an inactive rut with your children, check out these ten rules for keeping your kids active.
  • What if I don’t like sports? This page will discuss alternative ways to stay active for kids who don’t like sports.
  • 11 Ways to Encourage Physical Activity in Your Children
  • Keeping Your Children Active Sometimes it helps to know why children should stay active to want to encourage them to exercise. This website provides information and suggestions for how to keep your children active.

Kids can stay fit and healthy by engaging in fitness.

Sleep And Rest For The Body

  • Why is Sleep Important? This article is by The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. It explains why sleep is so important for your health.
  • What Sleep Is and Why Every Child Needs It Sleep is the most essential thing a child requires. This page explains why.
  • The rest of the story: Why Children Need Sleep Dr. Nathan Boonstra shares his article on why children need to sleep, how much they need and how to improve their sleep.
  • Good, Sound Sleep for Your Child WebMD explains how much sleep children need, the quality of sleep needed, and its benefits here.
  • Teaching Kids the Importance of Sleep Children often fight sleep, and on this website, the National Sleep Foundation provides a variety of tools and information for parents to use to teach their children about sleep.
  • Sleep: An Important Part of Healthy Development (PDF) In this newsletter put out by Oregon State University Family Care Connection readers learn about the importance of sleep and its connection to the healthy development of children.
  • The connection between growth and sleep (ages 5-8). Read this article to learn more about the relationship between growth and sleep.
  • Sleep in School-Aged Children (6 to 12 Years) As children grow their sleep patterns will change; learn what to expect between the ages of 6 and 12 years here.
  • Ten Benefits of a Early Bedtime for Your Child
  • Not only is it important for your physical health, but also for your mental well-being, rest, relaxation, and exercise are all good options.
  • Fabulous Food And Nutrition

    • The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Childhood Nutrition Facts Centers for Disease Control and Prevention discuss both the benefits and the consequences of healthy eating habits for children.
    • The Benefits of Eating Healthy Foods as a Child Childrens bodies and minds are developing rapidly, and it is important for them to eat healthy to fuel their bodies and promote proper development.
    • Nutrition for Kids: A Dietary Approach to Lifelong Health (PDF) This is a helpful guide for parents who are looking for nutritional information relating to children and their health.
    • How does nutrition affect children’s school performance? There is much political debate about education funding. CNN shows one argument that discusses how nutrition impacts children’s school performance.
    • Daily Nutrition Guide Read this article to find out what nutrients children need every day.
    • Healthy Eating for Children (PDF). This printable guide explains how parents can encourage healthy eating habits in their children.
    • Helping Children Develop Healthy Eating Habits This article explains the normal progression of eating habits and how to guide children to develop healthy eating habits.
    • Nutritional Psychiatry – Your Brain on Food Food fuels your body and fuels your brain. Harvard Health Publications has created this page to explain how food affects the brain.
    • ADHD Food Fix Studies have shown that ADHD symptoms can be affected by a child’s diet. Discover how to minimize ADHD symptoms with a proper diet.
    • Teach Your Child How to Handle Food Pushing Everyone in a childs life has different beliefs on what children should and shouldnt eat. Help your child learn how to handle food pushing with the help of this article.

    Help encourage kids to try new and healthy foods

    Additional Health And Nutrition Information

    • Help! Help!
    • Children Nutritional Facts Here readers find stunning facts about childrens nutrition.
    • How to Use and Understand the Nutrition Facts Label Nutrition labels are often confusing. The FDA provides clear instructions on how to understand and use the nutrition facts labels.
  • Stress Learning to Relax Children feel stress just like adults. Rest and relaxation can help reduce stress.
  • Top 10 Tops to Help Children Develop Healthy Habits Every parent wants their children to be physically and mentally healthy and here are some great tips to help parents achieve that goal.
  • Lessons and activities for teaching kids about drugs
  • Preventing Drug Use among Children and Adolescents (PDF) This is a great resource guide that offers tips and tricks to prevent drug abuse.
  • What Parents Should Know: A Prescription Drug Abuse Documentary (Video). Watch this video to learn more about prescription drug abuse and protect your children from its dangers.
  • Talking to Kids About Alcohol (PDF) This is a resource for parents needing help talking to their children about alcohol and the dangers associated with it.
  • Alcohol: A Dangerous Poison For Children Teenagers don’t have to worry about it. Alcohol can be dangerous for all ages.