Have you ever thought what your child eats in school. Well, I think few of the parents would know and there would be quite a few who don’t. It is important to keep a tab on your child’s diet for a healthy lifestyle. As per a study, it was found out that school meals are one of the areas of concern for Americans to fight against obesity. The facts about unhealthy school lunches are awful. There are many lunch ideas for schools that can be thought about and planned, and implemented successfully. If children are offered and encouraged for healthy meals both at home and school, obesity or other health related issues can be kept at bay.

What is Being Done?

The legislation has planned for a new standard of meal plan for kids at school. It can be treated as one of the most vital solutions to unhealthy school lunches. According to it, more healthier foods will be made available to the kids, in contrast to the unhealthy meals like pizzas, hamburgers, fries, et al, which are the causes that can lead to childhood obesity. That does not mean that these popular foods will be totally banished, but then they will be made more healthier. Also, the vending machines will be stocked with more of lesser-calorie sodas, low-fat milk, and the likes.

Being a kid it is obvious that they will never want to eat cereals or vegetables on their own will, nor will they be happy eating them. What they will go after is pizzas and burgers. The reason is simple, they like it, hence they eat it. But then at the same time, they must be made aware of the benefits of eating healthy foods and must be encouraged to do so. And as a treat, they can eat whatever they wish on certain days of the week. Read the rest of this entry »

Digestion is a biological process by which the complex molecules of food substances are broken down into simple ones so that valuable nutrients present in them can readily get absorbed into your body. As long as the digestive system is functioning normally, your child is healthy. Any abnormality in its functioning can lead to some minor or major digestive problems in children. Small children are prone to them mainly because their overall digestive system is not very matured.

Common Digestive Problems in Children

Digestive problems in children are triggered by wrong foods, wrong eating habits, infection, exposure to toxins and so on. The most common among them are given below:

Constipation: In this condition, children have infrequent bowel movements. Its symptoms are hard stools which are difficult to pass. Stool withholding, lack of fiber in diet, side effects of medicines are the most common causes of constipation. Constipation in children can be relieved and regular bowel movements is restored by including lots of fiber-rich foods in their diet.

Diarrhea: Diarrhea in children is mostly triggered by bacterial or viral infection. It can be a symptom of an undetected disease of the digestive system. It is identified with watery stools 3 or more number of times in a day, abdominal pain, nausea, bloating, dehydration, etc. Diarrhea can be acute or chronic. In acute cases, these symptoms last for one or two days. On the other hand, chronic diarrhea is more serious and persist for several days. Here the treatment involves replenishment of lost fluids with the help of rehydrating solution and avoiding all such foods that causes stomach irritation. Read the rest of this entry »