By Ozren Podnar |
Croatia Also Joined Healthy Food Movement |
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Healthy nutrition and healthy habits start from childhood.
In nurseries and schools when children are developing intensively it is important to pay attention to their nutrition.
Recent studies show that more than 40 % of children in Croatia are overweight and 20 % are suffering from obesity.
This fact puts our country at 5th place in the European overweight scale.
Ten years ago only 19 % of children were overweight.
Main causes of this bad trend are unhealthy food and lack of physical activity.
In order to stop this trend it is necessary to provide healthy nutrition for children starting from nursery schools.
World Campaigns
Few years ago, being induced by a petition of 250.000,00 citizens, British authorities increased founds for healthy nutrition of school children.
They have developed a new strategy of school menus and prohibited unhealthy food in schools.
Similar activities were conducted in other countries of Europe and United States.
For the purpose of improving child’s nutrition in primary schools, European Union started several projects:
- Eat well – feel good
- School Fruit Scheme
- School Milk Scheme
As part of these projects, European schools distributed healthy food such as fruits and vegetables to millions of children in order to prevent overweight epidemic.
Croatia Also Joined
Last year Croatian Ministry of Health published amendments to the Program for Health Protection of Children, Hygiene and Proper Nutrition of Children in Nursing Schools.
The menus were enriched with ingredients that contain energetic and caloric values recommended by modern nutrition.
Healthy children’s meal should contain 10-15 % of proteins, 30-35 % of fat and 60 % of carbohydrates.
Positive changes are being made in Croatian primary schools also.
As part of these changes, some schools have removed candy and soda drinks machines replacing them with milk and water machines.
Recommended ingredients for school children are milk, yogurt, fresh cheese, graham pastry, fruits, vegetables, olive oil and tea, while pizza, leafy pie, chips, donuts and cakes should be removed from their menus.
Reducing Taxes on Healthy Food
In the last few years several highly renewed scientists in the U.S. requested the implementation of additional taxes on unhealthy food to reduce its consummation.
They have requested for the government to increase taxes on unhealthy food and to use that money on subventions for healthy food production i.e. for it to be cheaper.
In case the prices of unhealthy food would increase and the prices on healthy food decrease the consummation of unhealthy food would automatically decrease and that of healthy food would increase.
Transfer to healthy food can also be induced by lowering VAT.
If taxes on healthy, whole and unrefined food would be reduced, healthy food would be more accessible and more consumed.
It would be a major step towards a healthier society and improvement of general health of people.
Decrease of overweight rate and associated diseases along with academic accomplishments of children would be an extremely positive shift for the whole society.
Ideal School Lunch
Research shows that children who eat balanced lunch are more focused in school and achieve better results.
When possible, it is better to prepare school lunch for your kids at home.
Few advices
- Avoid buying packed and refined food for your kids. It is expensive and full of salt and preservatives.
- Pack their lunch properly to preserve freshness and to protect the food from being contaminated.
- Get thermos bottles for preserving warm food and pots various sizes.
- Put cotton napkins and cutlery for multiple use to reduce waste.
- Food should contain all three main ingredients – carbohydrates, proteins and fats.
Whole Grains
Here are few ideas on how to balance children’s meals.
Whole grain flour should be top priority ingredient that you use.
Advantage should be given to bread and pastry made of whole-wheat flour. Persuade your child to eat the bread crust as well.
Instead of bread you can use tortilla or whole grain cracker for making vegetarian sandwiches.
Use whole-wheat flour and make your own versions of your favorite pastry and cakes. You can put healthy butter, fruit or cheese spread on whole-wheat pastry or brown rice cake.
As a snack you can make popcorns with cinnamon or brown sugar.
Fruits
You can give fresh and seasonal fruits to your children. They taste better and are not so expensive.
Fruits can be made as a simple meal. Just cut them into smaller pieces.
For example, cut the oranges into small squares and remove the seeds from apples and pears.
You can also prepare dry fruits such as apricots, dates, raisins, cranberries or cherries.
You can put banana slices, berries or raisins into sandwiches.
If you are packing fruits also pack paper napkins so you child can wipe his or hers hands.
Vegetables
Cut raw vegetables into small pieces and prepare them with a sauce.
You can use peanut butter, humus, guacamole, salsa, pesto or something else your child loves.
Cut carrots, celery, zucchini and cucumbers and make a nice mixture. This vegetables are an excellent side dish for crackers or whole-wheat buns.
Humus or black beans sauce are full of satiated fiber and proteins. They are excellent for making sandwiches and sauces.
Milk Products
Add milk to every lunch. If your child loves only chocolate milk, that is perfectly fine. It is better if he or she drinks chocolate milk than any milk.
Cheese slices or pieces are also an excellent source of proteins and calcium.
Prepare fresh cheese with cut tomatoes.
Add honey or maple syrup to yogurt.
Proteins
Besides milk products there are plenty of food ingredients that will provide enough proteins for every lunch.
If your child is old enough to eat nuts and it is not allergic to it, you can experiment with various nut spreads.
Spreads can be made of peanut butter, almonds, cashews, sunflower seeds, soya and hazelnuts.
If you mix walnuts, dry fruits with few chocolate chips you will have a snack with proteins in disguise.
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