As January draws to a close we are starting to settle into our new year and find the routine that comes after the festive season has faded away. Kids are about to start going back to school after the long Christmas holiday and with that comes a new set of challenges. Trying to keep your kids on a healthy diet can be tricky especially with them being back at school. Over the last year we have spoken a lot about what is a well-rounded diet, more specifically focused towards adults, but the truth is that the same rules apply to kids when it comes to eating a balanced diet.
Some really great foundations to look at adding to your kid’s diet are things such as limiting excessive consumption of dairy. This does not mean cutting it out in its entirety, but maybe look at cutting milk and other main dairy contributors. Kids should still be able to grow up doing some of the normal things all kids experience, and to stop them eating pizzas or barring ice cream may feel impossible. Rather try and limit the consumption of these sorts of foods to the weekends or certain special occasions instead of cutting them out totally.
When we consume large amounts of things such as wheat or dairy it can cause a lot of mucus to build up in our system. Excessive mucus can lead to higher chances of infections and for viral infections to turn to bacterial infections in your system.
Sugar is another thing worth addressing. It should not be cast out of your diet completely but do try to keep it in its place, enjoy some sweet treats at celebrations or on special occasions but avoid letting it habitually into your daily life.
Finally, try to learn to trust your child’s body to fight against infection and attack. Try to avoid turning to antibiotics as your first port of call when sickness arrives. Obviously we are not recommending neglecting your family doctor but at the same time try to allow some room for your child’s immune system to fight back naturally before putting medicine into their system.
A great way to help in this fight is to try to include some forms of probiotics into their diets as this will help create a boosted immune system and allow it to fight infections with the tools you have already given it. If you are leading a healthy lifestyle and are sticking to a good, well balanced, healthy diet it will naturally overflow into your home and your children’s lives. The best way to lead is from the front and by example. As we start this new year we encourage you to take the opportunity to seize the moment and try to introduce some changes that will benefit not only you and your health but your kids health too.
