What to do if your child is thin and short

Diet is related to children's physical health. Many parents will find that their children are thinner and smaller than their peers, more fragile, and more prone to catching colds. In fact, this situation is mostly caused by lack of attention to diet. As parents, they should cultivate good eating habits for their children from an early age to ensure that they are not picky or partial eaters.

In order to make it easier for parents and children to remember, good eating habits are summarized into "seven do's and seven don'ts" and are introduced as follows:

1. Eat a variety of foods and don’t be picky or partial to certain foods.

There is no food in the world that can provide all the nutrients needed by the human body, so we must eat a variety of foods. Any picky eating or partial eating will hinder our ability to obtain comprehensive nutrition. Some children are only picky about certain foods. Parents can choose other foods from the same food group instead. However, serious picky eating and partial eating, such as not eating meat or vegetables, must be corrected. The daily menu should include 5 nutritious food groups, none of which can be missing.

2. Eat all kinds of food in a balanced way. Don’t eat more of what you like and less of what you don’t like.

Different foods have different nutrients. The body has a certain amount of requirements for each nutrient. It is not good to consume more or less. If we eat more of what we like and less of what we don't like, although the food variety appears to be rich, there will be a deviation in the amount of nutrients, which will destroy the balance of nutrients. Food of all levels should be consumed in proportion, and attention should be paid to the combination of foods in the same group, such as coarse and fine combinations, dark and light vegetables, fish, poultry and meat, etc.

3. Eat on time and don’t eat snacks between meals

Three meals a day are our main channels for nutrition intake, which is in line with the physiological characteristics of the human digestive system. Eating too many snacks between meals will affect the amount of food you consume during the main meals. Some students often buy food from roadside vendors after school in the afternoon. These foods not only have simple nutritional ingredients, but also most of them have food hygiene problems. Parents can prepare snacks for their children after school at home, but the quantity should not be too much.

4. Eat three meals in moderation. Do not skip or eat less breakfast or lunch, and eat more dinner.

The total energy of three meals a day should be 30% each in the morning and evening, and 40% at lunch. Skipping or eating less breakfast can affect your physical health, reduce your physical strength and affect the normal brain activity. If you eat a light lunch, you will overeat at dinner. In addition, you should eat in moderation during holidays and family banquets. Don't eat too much or eat too fast, otherwise it will damage the normal digestive function of the gastrointestinal tract and even cause vomiting or indigestion.

5. Eat a light diet and avoid high-energy foods such as fried foods, candy, ice cream, and sugary drinks.

More than half of a child's total daily energy should come from food, about 1/6 from protein, and only about 1/4 from fats and oils. If a child consumes too much oily foods or sugar, not only will the energy intake be too high, greatly increasing the risk of modern civilization diseases such as hypertension, hyperlipidemia, obesity, and coronary heart disease in children, but also because it is too sweet and difficult to digest, and the lack of dietary fiber affects the digestive function, causing digestive tract diseases such as constipation and gastritis.