Summer vacation is coming. How should parents manage their children’s diet and health?

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After a semester of hard work and study, the long-awaited summer vacation has finally arrived. The "divine beasts" in each family have begun to gradually return. Some are frantically catching up on sleep, some are eating and drinking to their heart's content, and some are simply "growing" in front of the computer, motionless... Many parents and friends are also beginning to have a headache. How can they manage the diet of these naughty children so that they can get enough rest physically and mentally while also accumulating plenty of energy for the arrival of the new semester?

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The first and most important point is "food diversity and reasonable matching". Do not underestimate these eight words, there is a lot of knowledge in them. First of all, to achieve food diversity, parents and friends need to remember the two numbers "12, 25". These two numbers mean that we should eat at least 12 kinds of food every day and 25 kinds of food every week. The types here refer to foods with different raw materials. For example, rice and steamed buns can be counted as two kinds of food, but noodles and steamed buns can only be counted as one kind of food. In addition to eating enough 12 kinds of food every day, the types also need to meet the four major categories of food, namely cereals and potatoes, vegetables and fruits, fish, poultry, lean meat, milk and soy products. Reasonable matching requires parents and friends to achieve "three matchings": meat and vegetable matching, coarse and fine matching, and light and dark matching. The scrambled eggs with tomatoes and stir-fried meat with green peppers that we usually eat are good combinations of meat and vegetables; making rice into two-grain rice, red bean rice, purple rice, or making steamed buns into mixed-flour steamed buns can achieve a combination of coarse and fine ingredients to provide children with more dietary fiber, B vitamins, and minerals; emphasizing the combination of dark and light vegetables is mainly because dark vegetables are richer in beta-carotene, vitamin B vitamins, and plant compounds, and dark vegetables should account for half.

Second, it is necessary to eat a light diet with less oil, salt and sugar. The high temperature during the summer vacation can easily cause people to lose their appetite, and they want to eat something heavy to stimulate their appetite. However, a diet high in oil, sugar and salt will increase daily energy intake, affect the overall quality of the diet, and is not good for children's health. Parents should use more cooking methods such as steaming, boiling, stewing and frying, and less frying. Increase the proportion of vegetables, fruits and soy products on the table, and eat animal food in moderation, and choose more low-fat fish, shrimp, poultry, lean meat, etc. If your child has a poor appetite, you can promote appetite through color matching, using lemons, tomatoes, natural spices for seasoning, and changing the properties and texture of food.

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Third, it is necessary to choose snacks reasonably. During the holidays, some parents may think that their children have worked hard for a semester and can take a break during the holidays, so they prepare a large number of puffed foods, beverages, chocolates, etc. that their children like as "rewards", but this kind of "reward" is very bad for children's health. This kind of food usually contains a lot of oil, salt and sugar, and a high-oil, high-salt and high-sugar diet can be said to be "harmful but not beneficial" to children. In addition to increasing the possibility of children suffering from dental caries and obesity in the short term, many chronic diseases are currently showing a "younger" trend. Long-term high-oil, high-salt and high-sugar diets may increase children's risk of diabetes and hypertension in adulthood. Parents can provide children with some foods with high nutrient density that are not eaten in three meals as snacks, such as milk, fruit, original dried tofu, original nuts, etc., to better meet the nutrients needed for children's growth and development. But parents are also reminded that snacks should be small, not too much, and not to replace meals.

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Fourth, drink enough water and don't be greedy for coolness. In recent years, the frequency of high temperature weather has increased. With the emergence of high temperature, ice cream and iced drinks have become the first choice for children to remove heat. Some children can even eat several ice creams a day. However, the intake of these foods can only bring some coolness in a very short time, and cannot really relieve the discomfort caused by high temperature. Moreover, if the intake is not controlled, or if iced food is eaten immediately after a lot of sweating, it may even cause dangerous situations such as short-term shock. The correct approach is to give priority to plain water, or unsweetened mung bean soup, etc.; at the same time, drink enough water, 800 ml per day for children aged 4-6; 1300 ml for boys aged 7-10, 1100 ml for girls; 1400 ml for boys aged 14-17, 1200 ml for girls; drink in small amounts and multiple times, and the water temperature is not easy to be lower than 10°C. In this way, the loss of body fluids caused by sweating can be replenished in time, and the discomfort caused by high temperature weather can be truly relieved.

Fifth, we should pay attention to food safety. In a high temperature and high humidity environment, various pathogenic microorganisms multiply faster and food is prone to spoilage. Therefore, families should pay attention to food safety issues in the purchase, storage, processing, cooking, and consumption of leftovers. Purchase on demand, store reasonably, separate raw and cooked food during processing, steam and cook meat products thoroughly, wash raw vegetables and fruits, and try not to leave any leftovers. If there are any leftovers, they should be refrigerated in time and eaten as soon as possible. They should be heated thoroughly when eaten.

In addition to the above five points, parents should also encourage and accompany their children to go outdoors in the cool mornings and evenings, or go to indoor gymnasiums to play ball, swim, etc., or do some appropriate exercises at home, and control the time children watch screens and sit quietly. At the same time, they should have a regular diet and work and rest schedule, eat three meals a day, go to bed early and get up early, and ensure sleep time to reserve energy for study and life in the new semester!

Author: Liu Ailing, researcher at the Institute of Nutrition and Health, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention

Review | Wang Guoyi, Associate Professor and Master Supervisor at Beijing University of Technology