5 Tips to Help Children Maintain a Healthy Weight by Nutritionists

It is the responsibility of parents, guardians, and teachers to help maintain a healthy weight for kids. They can do this by encouraging healthy eating habits and limiting junk food. Parents must also motivate their children to have enough physical activity, sleep, and restricted screen time.

Why Maintaining a Healthy Weight Is Important for Children?

According to a study, healthy weight for kids ensures that they are fitter, healthier, and more confident. It also helps them learn better and have fewer health problems later in life. When parents encourage their children to be active and eat well, they are more likely to have a healthy weight and live a healthy life. What you put in your body affects the way you feel physically and mentally, which is why it is important to eat well.

Gaining Weight Healthily

Some kids may struggle with gaining weight. This includes underweight kids, picky eaters, or those who suffer from chronic medical issues requiring a special diet. Some kids may also be on medication that affects their appetite. So, how can we help maintain a healthy weight for kids like this?

You must consider adding all food groups to their diet. These are the following foods you can add to their diet for a healthy weight gain:

Protein

Red meat, such as steak or mutton
White meat, such as chicken or turkey
Pork meats such as sausages, chops, bacon, ham, etc.
Fatty fish, such as tuna, salmon, mackerel, trout, or sardines
Eggs
Nut butter or Seed butter such as peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter, or sunflower butter
Nuts and Seeds, such as walnuts, almonds, chia seeds, pecans, or flax seeds
Soy proteins, such as soy milk or tofu

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Dairy

Cream cheese
Full fat cheese
Full fat yoghurt
Buttermilk
Whole milk
Fresh cream
Sour cream

Fats and oils

Butter
Ghee
Olive oil
Canola Oil
Salad dressings

Carbs

Rice
Corn
Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
Whole grain bread
Pasta
Oats
Quinoa
Low sugar granola bars

Fruits and vegetables

Bananas
Dates
Figs
Squash
Root vegetables
Dried fruits such as raisins, cranberries, apricots, and currants

Beverages

Smoothies made with full-fat yoghurt, coconut milk, or nut butter
Protein shakes made with protein powder, nut butter, or chocolate milk (use fresh ingredients)
Hot cocoa made with whole milk

You must avoid feeding your children low-nutrient, energy-dense foods. While offering them junk food once in a while is alright, it should not become a habit. Eating high-nutrient, energy-dense food with a high number of calories is ideal. This is because they also have other nutrients, vitamins, and minerals.

Avoid energy drinks, cold drinks, and any fizzy drinks. These drinks can fill up their tummy without giving them any nutritional value. It is full of sugar which might make them jittery or have a sugar rush. Most importantly, encourage them to eat when they are hungry, even if it is a little bit. Encourage them to avoid skipping meals.

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Tips to Help Children Maintain a Healthy Weight

It isn’t easy to replace old habits with new and healthier ones. However, it is possible. Especially if you want a healthy weight for kids, here are some ways in which you can make that happen:

1. Skip the Sugary Drinks

Sodas, juices, sweet teas, and sports drinks have very little nutritional value. Since these drinks have high sugar content, it leads to weight gain. It is better to drink water, coconut water, electrolytes, or fresh juices.

2. Exercise

Physical activities help to build muscle and burn calories. It not only helps your kid to stay fit, but it also helps them feel better too. You can encourage them to walk the dog or cycle to school. You could also motivate them to play running games with friends or play a sport.

3. Reduce Screen Time

It is important to restrict screen time for overall health. Set a time limit for your kids. In this time limit, they can choose to play video games, watch TV, music videos, etc. If they do school work on a tablet or computer, ensure they spend the rest of the day doing other activities. Ensure they do not use any screen at least an hour before bedtime so they can sleep well.

4. Watch Portion Sizes

Depending on one’s weight, height, metabolism, etc., it is important to understand portion sizes. Some people do better with 3 big meals, and some do better with several smaller meals throughout the day. Try to find out which works best for your children.

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5. Eat Plenty of Fruits and Vegetables

Fruits and veggies provide more than just vitamins and minerals. They have rich fibre content, which will help your child feel full. Feeling full after eating fruits and veggies makes them less likely to overeat.

As their parent, you are their role model. If you follow healthy practices, they will also follow healthy practices.

Good Eating Habits

Eating well does not have to mean going on a diet to lose weight. There are tons of ways through which you can ensure a healthy weight for kids. In most cases, dieting doesn’t even work. Studies have shown that diet may even have the reverse effect. People may gain back more weight than they started with.

It is so important to teach your children healthy eating practices for so many reasons. It affects their mental health just as much as their physical health. Firstly, dieting doesn’t work because it encourages people to distinguish between “good” and “bad” food. However, every food is okay in moderation. Diets also force people to “give up” some foods, making people feel sad or deprived. Diets also result in us losing out on nutrients our bodies need.

Growing kids must eat a variety of foods. An occasional treat can actually be a good thing. Since food is a mood booster, there is nothing wrong with treating yourself or your child once in a while. The best way to develop good eating habits is by changing our mindset about food. Here are some tips on healthy eating and healthy weight for kids:

Drink water, electrolytes, or sugar-free drinks instead of packaged fruit juices, sodas, and sports drinks.
Add at least five servings of fruits and vegetables to your kid’s diet. It will fill them up and keep them feeling full throughout the day.
Add foods from all the food groups. They should eat fruits and veggies, grains, protein, and dairy. Whole grains and lean protein are particularly important.
Make smarter and healthier fast-food choices. Eat a small burger over a double patty burger. Eat a salad over fries. Stick to regular servings instead of large ones. Go to fast-food places rarely, if ever.
Keep healthy foods stocked in your kitchen. If your kids feel hungry in between meal times, give them snacks like carrots and cucumber with hummus, dried fruits and nuts like raisins and almonds, fruits with nut butter, etc.
If you are on the road, carry your own healthy snacks instead of relying on store-bought ones. You can carry trail mix, granola bars, popcorn, fox nuts, etc. These would be far healthier alternatives.
Encourage them to eat when they are hungry, not when they are bored. If they feel bored, try to divert their attention to something else.
Start your day with a hearty and healthy breakfast.
Try to avoid eating while watching TV as it may encourage them to eat more or not pay attention to their food.
Pay attention to their appetite and metabolism. You can adjust their portion sizes accordingly. Everyone’s body responds to food differently.

Helpful Foods and Supplements

When it comes to healthy eating and maintaining a healthy weight for kids, it is important to feed them nutrient-rich foods. For kids who need to gain weight, you must feed them energy-dense high-calorie foods. This means you ought to add in foods that have a high amount of protein and fat so that they can gain weight and have energy throughout the day. These are the foods you can add to their diet:

Eggs (Omelette, Fried Egg, etc.)
Cereal with whole milk
Cheese
Yoghurt made with whole milk
Trail mix (dried fruits, nuts, and seeds)
Orange juice
Peanut butter

It may also help you to make a list of foods that your child actually likes. This list might help you to find healthier versions of these foods. You can then find nutrient-dense and energy-dense alternatives for their favourite foods.

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Summing Up

At the end of the day, a healthy weight for kids plays a big role in their overall health. If they are fitter, they are more likely to have fewer mental health issues as well. If your child is overweight, you must consult a dietician so you can find the best way to allow for normal growth and development. Do not place them on weight reduction diets without professional advice.