The state of our children's health - Back to School special

Some things are priceless - but do you pay enough attention to your children's diet and lifestyle? Recent research on nine-year olds in Ireland has highlighted a number of startling findings.The most startling is perhaps that one in four nine year olds is overweight and that seven per cent of the same age group is now obese.The study also found that girls are more likely than boys to be overweight (22 per cent compared to 17 per cent) and obese (8 per cent compared to 6 per cent). Findings also showed that the majority of nine year olds in the study ate high fat high calorie snacks: 55 per cent of children had eaten crisps in the previous 24 hours, 74 per cent of children had eaten biscuits/ cake /chocolate in previous 24 hours, 53 per cent of children had one non-diet soft drink in previous 24 hours and three out of four nine year olds were not active for the recommended 60 minutes per day.One of the most important things we can do as parents is to provide our children with healthy meals and snacks.It's also important to talk to children about food and encourage them to cook or help out in the kitchen. Young children in particular, love cooking and are far more likely to eat something they've made themselves, so get them involved in making simple recipes like fruit smoothies, or filled pitta breads.Children also learn by example - you can't expect a child to eat loads of fruit and veg if you never touch the stuff yourself - so make it your mission to ensure the whole family has a healthy diet.It's not just your children who will benefit - your waistline will love you for it too. In fact, the National Children's Food Survey (IUNA, 2005) found that 68 per cent of parents find it hard at least some of the time to provide a healthy diet for their child. This study also showed that children had low intakes of fibre, calcium, iron, vitamins A, C, D and folate.With this in mind at back to school time, school lunches are an opportunity to provide nutritious food which will help in the fight against obesity and provide us with essential vitamins and minerals.Top tips for healthy lunchboxes and providing the nutrients needed for growing children:1. Starchy Foods: Use bagels, rolls, pitta pockets, wraps in addition to bread for variety. Pastas, noodles, potatoes or couscous are also good sources of carbohydrates. Choosing the multigrain/wholemeal/wholegrain option will help increase fibre intakes.2. Make Fruit & Veg Fun: In order to increase fibre, vitamin and mineral intakes - aim to have at least one piece of fruit or vegetable in the lunch box to count towards your child's five fruit and vegetable portions a day. Try vegetable sticks with dips, or a small container with mixed vegetables such as cherry tomatoes, carrot sticks, celery and cucumber or small fruits such as apples, mandarins or kiwis. Most children will leave food that takes a lot of effort to eat, as they want a quick refuelling stop leaving maximum time for the playground. Peel clementines and cover with plastic wrap, cut kiwi fruit in half or make colourful skewers with bite sized-pieces of fruit.3. Lean meats: Try to have lean meats such as ham, roast beef, chicken or turkey, tuna and egg salads are great sources of protein and vitamins.4. Dairy for strong bones: Yoghurt, yoghurt drinks, fromage frais, small cartons of milk (including flavoured milk) and cheese provide plenty of calcium. The once-healthy yoghurt now often comes attached to a pack of confectionery to stir in. Some of these contain more than five teaspoons of sugar in each pot.5. Savoury snacks: cheese strings and similar foods tend to be highly processed and may contain high levels of saturated fat and salt. One single snack can contain almost as much salt as a young child should have in an entire day.6. Cereal bars: many cereal bars contain more than 40 per cent sugar and 30 per cent fat. Sugar is sticky in cereal bars and sticks to the teeth causing maximum damage.7. "Real Fruit Snacks" saying a product is made with 'real fruit' gives it a healthy spin. But take a closer look at the label and you may find that they contain as much as a whopping 63 per cent sugar. Manufacturers might claim that they are a great fun way to enjoy a healthy and nutritious diet' but a dentist might disagree.8. Drinks: Encourage water or milk as drinks as they are tooth friendly, milk also provides calcium for strong bones. Fruit juice 'drinks': pure fruit juice contains 100 per cent fruit juice as you would expect. However a 'fruit juice drink' can contain as little as six per cent juice. Many so-called 'juice drinks' are really only juice-flavoured sugary water and contain more water and sugar than actual fruit juice. They many also include artificial flavourings, sweeteners and colourings.9. Keep treats as treats - they are not as filling as more nutritious foods of similar energy content. Check to see if your child's school has a policy on treats.For more information on any aspect of diet, please contact The Community Nutrition and dietetic service, Marlinstown office park, Mullingar, Co Westmeath Tel: 044 9353220.