Make 2025 the Year of Healthy Eating!
Eating healthy does not have to be difficult or expensive. Making simple substitutions goes a long way in improving the quality of what you eat. Swapping foods with healthy nutrients over ones that are less healthy is a great start.
I am passing on information from my book - “Feed Your Child’s Future Health, Prevent Disease before It Starts” and from previous posts to aid you in a healthy start to the new year! The information in my book applies to all ages.
My book available on Amazon
The following table of substitutions will improve the fats in your child’s diet:
Instead of This: Try this:
corn, sunflower, or seed oil olive, canola, avocado, grapeseed, or walnut oils
mayonnaise or butter pesto, hummus, mustard, or mashed avocado
croutons on salads nuts or seeds* and more vegetables
meat each dinner seafood twice a week*
grain-fed meats grass-fed meats
poultry with skin and full-fat meats poultry without skin and lean cuts of beef, including 90/10 or 93/7 ground beef
commercial salad dressings make your salad dressings with extra virgin olive oil
deep-frying or cooking with lots of oil bake, roast, pan sear, steam, or air fry
baking with saturated fat/shortening Bake with saturated fat substitutes which include avocado, ripe bananas, legumes, yogurt, and olive oil
– recipes with these substitutes can be found online
(*Children under 4 should not have whole nuts or seeds but can have nut butter;
*Shellfish should not be given before a year of age.)
Various carbohydrate foods including pastas and grains. Choosing complex carbohydrates (whole wheat and whole grains) over simple carbs (those made with white flour) decreases sugar and increases fiber intake.
Listed below are foods with the highest carbohydrates and some healthier options:
· Bread (white bread, bagels, croissants, pastries) – whole wheat and whole grain bread
· Pasta - Regular pasta is approximately 80% carbs and low in protein and fiber, thus digested into sugar. Whole wheat pasta or pastas made from vegetable sources, such as lentils or chickpeas, is lower in carbs and high in protein and fiber.
· Cereals – look for whole grain cereals with the least sugar (5 grams or fewer).
· Rice – opt for brown rice over white rice. Brown rice has more fiber - 14% of the recommended daily intake; white rice has only 3%.
· Sugared beverages – soda, juices, sports drinks, coffee shop drinks, etc. – add sugar and calories and nothing healthy. Better options: water, water, water, tea without sugar, coffee with milk.
· Cake, cookies, jam, jelly – these are mostly simple sugars that lead to rapid glucose and insulin spikes. Consider fruit for dessert as well as baked goods made with vegetables - avocado, sweet potatoes, chickpeas, and even black beans! Find recipes online.
· Potatoes – white and sweet, although high in carbs have starch, fiber, vitamins and minerals, that make them a healthy option.
· Grains such as oats, quinoa, buckwheat, and farro – are considered healthy carbohydrates due to their fiber and protein content.
Foods rich in fiber
These foods provide fiber for gut health:
Vegetables - add chopped veggies to soup, stew, chili, salads, scrambled eggs, and casseroles
Fruit - serve whole fruit for snacks and dessert, not fruit juice
Nuts and seeds - add to yogurt, baked goods, salad, oatmeal, and as a snack
Beans and legumes - add to soup, stew, chili, salads
Whole-wheat and whole-grain breads, crackers, and pastas
Fiber-rich foods from legumes, fruit, nuts and seeds, grains, and legumes. These all increase the nutrient density of meals and improve gut health.
A no sugar sign made out of sugar cubes.
Finally, reduce sugar, any way you can, especially avoiding sugar-sweetened beverages, to protect your child from future heart disease and a host of other diseases. Make it a New Year’s resolution to drink more water and fewer sugar-laden drinks - your heart, gut, and brain will thank you!
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