Children’s Foods: They Really are That Healthy

Cornflakes, bear sausage, children’s fruit juice drinks, and chocolate bars are just a few examples of children’s food. These are often advertised in a particularly childish way, sold with extra stickers, and are beautifully colorful. However, they offer no advantage for the nutrition of your offspring. On the other hand, they are often unhealthy and overpriced!

Children’s food – only seemingly healthy and good for your child

More and more often you can find the food, especially for children in the store. These are often advertised separately, especially for the little ones. The advertising is backed with children’s songs and the target group is addressed directly. Parents are promised extra vitamins and minerals. But there is little good behind this advertisement:

• Children’s foods are often high in sugar, unhealthy saturated fats, and additives. In addition, they are often more expensive than the usual product.
• Many products advertise with additional vitamins and minerals. However, these are superfluous if your child has a healthy diet. In some cases, these substances are even overdosed and, in the worst case, can even become dangerous.
• Beverages such as lemonades, fruit juices, or so drinks often contain too much sugar and sometimes too much citric acid. This increases the occurrence of tooth decay.
• Meat and sausages especially for children have no advantage for the little ones. The products may look cute, but they are often just more expensive.
• Ready-made products, such as canned meals or frozen pizza, which are aimed specifically at children, should not be included in the everyday menu. These also often contain a lot of sugar, fat, salt, and unhealthy additives.

Healthy alternatives to children’s food

Children’s food should not be standard for your child, at most an exception as a sweet or small snack in between. This saves you money and gives your offspring a balanced diet. Healthy alternatives to the well-known children’s foods include:

• Homemade fruit juice spritzers (1 part juice and 3 parts water), unsweetened tea, and plenty of water.
• Children should not always drink sweetened beverages. If your offspring constantly drinks sweet lemonades and the like, they will get used to the sweetness.
• Instead of yogurt with colorful pearls and lots of sugar, offer your child natural yogurt, quark, or sour milk with fresh fruit.
• Cornflakes are not a healthy breakfast. A roll with some jam or muesli with fruit is also sweet and tasty, but much healthier.
• Vitamin-fortified sweets should never be nutritional. They are and will always be sweets and should be an exception! Make sure your child always eats lots of fruit and vegetables.