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Medical Video: How to Create a Healthy Plate
Welcoming preschool, your child must have good eating habits. Ideally, at this age he would no longer use the reason for eating (or a hunger strike) to rebel, nor to associate food with love or affection. Generally (though almost certainly not always), your child will now see eating as a natural response to hunger and enjoying food as a pleasant social activity.
Although the enthusiasm of preschoolers to eat is still normal, he may still have the habit of choosing foods that are very specific, and may vary from day to day.
Your child may like certain foods, and then turn out not to like the food at all the next day. He may ask for certain foods for several days in a row, and then insist that he no longer likes the food. Although the wishy-washy attitude starts to be annoying because maybe the food you have provided is left free by the little one, but this behavior is fairly normal for preschoolers, and is not a problem. Let him eat other foods or choose the food he wants to eat himself. As long as he chooses foods that are not too sweet, fatty, or salty, it doesn't matter. Try to offer him to taste healthy new foods by giving them small portions to just taste, but don't force the child to eat the full portion of the new food.
As a parent, your job is to ensure that your child has a choice of nutritious food whenever he eats. If your child has a variety of healthy foods at the dinner table, let him make a decision about what he wants to eat, and how much. If he refuses to eat vegetables, don't be discouraged or frustrated. Persuade (do not force) your child to taste the food, even if he repeatedly rejects it. Over time, he may change his mind and want to taste the food he has refused. This period is the right time to teach about healthy snacks and healthy habits.
Remember, there is no need to bother yourself to make nutritious food. If you only have a few minutes to prepare food, try making a turkey sandwich, sauteed long beans, apples, and a glass of nonfat or low-fat milk. Simple lunches like this take a little time to prepare and are much healthier than eating food at fast food restaurants.
Television advertising can be a serious obstacle to fulfilling good nutrition for children in preschool. Some studies show that children who watch television more than twenty-two hours per week (more than three hours a day) have a greater risk of suffering from being overweight. Children of this age are very easily affected by advertisements of sugary cereal, sweets, and chocolate, especially after they visit other homes where this food is served. So that your child does not contract obesity, you need to monitor your child's eating habits, at home and outside the home. Monitor your child to make sure he always eats healthy and enough.
