Healthy Food Development

Developing healthy behavior in food

Balance in eating nutritional elements... Children choosing the types and quantities appropriate for their growth, and moderation in eating sweets... Who among us does not consider this one of his educational concerns? What this article is about is presenting the factors and methods for forming healthy behavior in children.

It is noted that the efforts of many educators are focused on the daily goal of getting the child a complete meal that includes the basic nutritional elements. The truth is that sustaining healthy nutrition is the most important goal that must be focused on, through paying attention to training children to take responsibility for the food they eat. food. It can be said that healthy nutrition for children must be viewed from two perspectives: The first: current nutrition, and the second: future health orientation. If the focus is limited to current nutrition without considering future effects, it is possible that we will fall into mistakes that hinder what we aspire to in terms of forming sustainable healthy habits. One of the most important rules in the matter is that a child who is forced to eat a certain food when he is young will not eat it - in most cases - when he is It is optional for him in the future. Eileen Satter divides the responsibility for nutrition between children and parents as follows: The responsibility of the parents is focused on “when” and “what” the children eat, and the responsibility of the children is in determining the “how much” amount that the son wants to eat, and the problem begins when one of the parties exceeds The limits of his responsibility to control the responsibility of others. It may seem difficult to see your son refusing to eat healthy food and you tend to force him, or you see that the amount of food he eats is insufficient and insist that he eat more. All of these practices that are repeated in our daily lives do not serve the interest of nutrition in the long term. Forcing a certain amount of food weakens the child’s ability to control the amount of food he eats, as he is accustomed to eating whether he wants or not. Forcing a child to eat a certain type of food will not make him love it, but may lead to his rejection and aversion to it, as we mentioned previously.

We do not need to turn our tables into battlefields to achieve proper nutrition for our children. With a little planning and patience, we can achieve what we want in peace, and maintain enjoyable mealtimes. One of the most beautiful pleasures in the world is food, and table meetings are among the most prominent opportunities for rapprochement and harmony within the family and are the most important in Establishing nutritional awareness in a practical way.

We must prepare ourselves educationally to deal with nutrition issues properly, as the mistakes that are committed have dire consequences. Every person who hates vegetables or eats food in inappropriate quantities or in an inappropriate way is based on a bad habit that he has acquired, and often within the family. One of the most prominent wrong methods is a bad example, especially from the parents. Or strictness in excluding less useful types of foods, such as white bread, or forcing them to eat certain quantities or types, or depriving them of certain foods, such as sweets or potatoes, or strict or sarcastic comments and directions about children’s eating behaviors.

The most influential factors in accepting or rejecting food are:

• Taste.

• the shape.

• How to apply.

• The person's health and psychological condition.

• Mental perception of a specific type of food.

• Habit and tradition.

One of the factors influencing children’s nutritional behavior is the media. Food advertisements and children’s programs contribute to forming the nutritional trend: “I don’t like vegetables... I don’t like vegetables, I like cakes in any form.”

These were the words of an anthem on one of the children’s channels, and although this anthem was an introduction to a scene in which the mother offers vegetables to her daughter and that the daughter then likes the vegetables and asks for more of them, the verse of the anthem remained in the children’s minds longer than the scene where she accepts the vegetables and they kept repeating it. Which had a negative impact in supporting the idea of ​​aversion to vegetables. The secret of this is that the introduction anthem received two types of support: The first: It came at the beginning while the mind was empty, and the second: It included a melody, which makes it remain in the minds of the children to a greater extent than the second clip, which attempts to modify the idea.

Attention should be paid to the psychological factor in the health approach. The issue is that rejecting some foods does not depend on the taste, but rather the rejection comes before knowing the taste in the first place.

It is important to realize that a healthy orientation does not mean that children will eat everything that is healthy. However, by continuing to provide nutritional information, diversifying meals, and promoting healthy eating practices, attempts to try food begin, which may take a longer time for some children. There are individual differences that go back to the personality of each individual. Some children easily accept new things and love experimentation, others reject everything new and do not respond to trying new types, and there are those who have a weak appetite.

Children go through developmental stages that affect their nutritional behavior in terms of the quantity they eat and the type of foods they prefer. In the fourth month, when food begins to be served to the child, there is an opportunity to start introducing new foods and flavors every two or three days after verifying that the child has no allergies. The foods should be fresh, as canned foods contain sweeteners and sugars. When the child gets used to them, he may reject fresh meals, and educators must Not to rely on their own taste in offering only the things they like and leave room for the child to develop his own taste.

In the first year, the child grows rapidly and needs a larger amount of food than he needs in his second year, when growth slows down, which some mothers do not realize. They worry about the decrease in the amount of food and insist that the child eat the same amount. Among the developmental changes in early childhood is the child’s rejection of foods that he previously accepted. Children show interest in information related to foods and are happy to participate in preparing them, which makes this age appropriate for developing nutritional awareness and forming healthy eating habits.

In late childhood, primary school age, changes occur in the child’s appetite for food. Some psychologists call this stage “the age of gluttony,” which leads to the emergence of obesity among children, especially those who sit a lot in front of screens and have little activity. It is important at this age to provide what It complements the child’s growing need for healthy foods, and this is also the case in adolescence, which is characterized by rapid growth and the need for balanced food. To deal with these changing needs in growth and to pay attention to the long-term goal of forming a healthy orientation among children, there are a number of methods that will achieve the goal: It can be summarized as follows:

• Training in Islamic etiquette in improving the chewing of food, reducing bites, and reducing the quantity “according to the son of Adam, two bites that strengthen his loins.”

• Family gathering at the table during meals, in addition to its impact on family cohesion, is also an opportunity to establish nutritional awareness and provide a role model for children. Parents must be aware that the reactions and behaviors that children see affect their behavior more than abstract instructions and the truth of the saying, “Our children raise us before they We raise them.”

• Avoid speaking within earshot of the child that he does not like such and such foods to leave him the opportunity to change. Speaking about his rejection of certain foods would prove this rejection.

• Do not rush to judge the child that he does not like this or that food just because he refused to eat it once or twice before. Rather, the attempt must be repeated again and again, year after year. It may require accepting a type of food 12-15 times to finally accept it. Put some From food on his plate over and over again to get used to seeing it and smelling it until he thinks about trying it. Experiments prove that many cases of rejection of a particular item end in this way. The variety of food recipes is also an important factor. A child may reject spinach as pies, and then we should not rush to judge him. He does not like spinach, but we offer it in other dishes that he likes, in small quantities. Excluding a certain item from a child’s food list just because he refused to eat it once or several times often leads to excluding this food permanently.

• Special meals should not be prepared according to the specifications of children who do not like this or that type of food, nor should we exclude meals that children love from what we consider to be of little benefit. We may provide a dinner meal that includes two types of pizza; One is with cheese and is small in size, his portion of which does not exceed a small piece, and the other is large with vegetables, with side options such as bread and fruit. If he wants more pizza, all he has to do is eat it with vegetables without taking out its ingredients, and when the child does that, he must avoid showing joy and surprise, make it normal. .

• Limiting the consumption of snacks, because they make the child sit at the table when he is not hungry, and then he will be more selective or rejecting types of food. The child’s sitting at the table when he is hungry is an important element in his appetite for food and his willingness to taste the available items.

• Determine the appropriate amount of cakes, biscuits, and sweets for children to eat according to the portions shown on the packages. If the child wants to eat more than the portion shown, we offer him to supplement with some fresh fruit or vegetables. It is wrong to place the entire package at the child’s disposal. Even the beneficial foods that children eat must be subject to the daily rations stipulated as a need for growth according to age and gender. There are children who ask for a cup of juice and then pour another cup and perhaps a third. The child must understand that the first fulfills the growth need and that what comes after it is not beneficial but harmful. for him . It is necessary to establish nutritional awareness among children.

• Setting a rule for the table: “Taste before you refuse.” It is necessary to taste the meal by taking 2-3 mouthfuls before the son decides to refuse. This method has been shown to be effective, as the son often refuses food based on a previous perception, and there is no way to change that except by tasting. But it is necessary to emphasize avoiding harsh, coercive tones, and using encouragement and reinforcement.

• Taking advantage of presentation methods to encourage children to accept foods: offering fresh vegetables cut in an attractive way, providing types of salad dressings for children to dip vegetables in, as this is a favorite process for them.

• The Prophetic etiquette represents, “The Messenger of God never reproached for food. If he desired it, he ate it, otherwise he left it,” by directing children to control their expressions of rejection of a certain type of food, due to its effect in spreading the infection of rejection and aversion, especially for the younger members of the family.

It is important to transfer responsibility for nutrition from parents to the children themselves by providing health information about foods and their role in healthy growth, and by providing opportunities to try different and varied foods, because proper nutrition is an influential factor in a person’s happiness and success because of the role it plays in his immunity, vitality and health. .

Dr.. Sahar bint Abdul Latif Kurdi

Family and child counselor