Get it right, make it fun

Good food can change the destiny andblueprint of your child’s health. We tend to allow our children to eat whatever they want. Be it packaged chips, cold drinks, fast food, or sugar-coated candy we hand it to them because “they’re children, they can eat anything” right? No! To put it simply, think of your child as a building. A building with bad quality materials will fall in the future.

Similarly, feeding bad quality food to a child will severely impact his future potential to not only be a healthy adult but also be a good human. I always advocate the saying “you are what you eat” because if you eat food, which creates a positive effect in your body then you will be a healthy happy individual as compared to food that creates negative energy in your body.

A balanced meal of proteins, fats and carbohydrates along with tons of seasonal vegetables and one seasonal fruit daily can really turn a child’s life around. I cannot stress the importance of making sure a growing child gets organic wholefoods which are chemical free.

Food can prevent, retard and reverse common to severe diseases, improve performance, mood and immunity. A growing child needs a healthy mind and body to excel in all fields. Whole food is your tool to help give them this extra edge. We want our children to excel. But by what means do you wish to give them this success? By fair means or foul means?

Ancient Indian wisdom categorisedfood as – Tamasic, Rajasicand Sattavikfoods. Tamasic foods make up your junk and fast food, cold drinks, processedfoods, white flour, white sugar and trans-fats all empty calories with zilch nutritional value. Rajasicfoods have excessive of spices, salts and oils high in animal products inducing ill-health, anger and anxiety. Sattavik foods are organic fresh, regional, seasonalcooked on a slow flame eaten fresh promoting mental and physical well-being.

Studies done in the United States found that what was common among criminals was not that they came from economically and socially poor or criminal backgrounds or were mentally unstable but junk and processed foods, which were their regular fare.

In public schools of the United States, delinquency rates fell and percentile rates improved when white flour, white sugar and processed foods were removed from midday meals.Exemplary leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, APJ Abdul Kalam and JRD Tata ate and promoted the sattvik way of eating.

The equation I like to follow for a balanced diet is 25 per cent proteins, 25 per cent fats and 50 per cent in carbohydrates.

Proteins – Daals, pulses,dairy, nuts, seeds, eggs, fish, tofu, poultry, meat.

Fats- Ghee, coconut oil, oils of seeds and nuts.

Carbohydrates -Fruits, vegetables, grains, potatoes, yams and bread.

Sample menu: Wake up and always drink water. Breakfast-Fruit/paratha/upma/egg toast/dosaidli with chutney/ milk.

Lunch-Vegetables with daal/fish/chicken /curd paneer and roti orrice. Midmeal-Milk/few nuts/fruit/fruitsmoothie/chilla/uttapa/vegetable sandwich.

Dinner- Soup and vegetables with roti/stuffed paratha/vegetable khichdi/pulao curry.

Fun alternatives-Pav bhajji/pizza topped with lots of vegetables