6 Mistakes in Parental Eating Habits to Avoid for Your Child’s Growth, Intelligence

Eating too much meat and neglecting vegetables

In reality, many children do not like to eat vegetables, they only like to eat meat and fried foods. The lack of vegetables in their diet can cause constipation and other health issues. To make children like vegetables, parents can inspire them by involving them in cooking or preparing them into attractive dishes.

Make sure your child eats 3 main meals and 2 snacks a day. The meals should include a balance of 4 nutrient groups: Carbohydrates (rice, porridge, beans, vegetables, seeds…); Protein (meat, fish, eggs, soybeans…); Fat (animal fat, vegetable oil, butter…) and Vitamins, minerals (various vegetables, fruits…).

Eating rice with soup for easy swallowing

Many people believe that eating rice with soup makes it easier for children to swallow. However, the soup will dilute the gastric juice, causing the food in the stomach to enter the intestines without being properly digested, increasing the risk of digestive problems.

Moreover, although the soup helps the child swallow food easier, it also causes the rice and food to flow into the stomach without being chewed properly, creating pressure on the stomach. If this is maintained for a long time, there is a risk of developing stomach pain.

The process of chewing food helps the enzymes in saliva to assist in the digestion and absorption of food. But if parents often give children rice with soup, the diluted digestive juices reduce the absorption of nutrients. Although the child may feel full quickly, the amount of nutrients absorbed is very little. Over time, it forms a lazy chewing reflex, which affects the development of the child’s jaw.

Gradually, the child’s appetite decreases. Although the child eats a large bowl of food at each meal, the amount of rice is not much, which is one of the reasons why the child is malnourished.

Eating boiled bone broth continuously

The sweet taste of bone broth makes it appetizing. Many mothers believe that bone broth contains many nutrients, so they often feed it to their children.

But in reality, bone broth hardly contains nutrients such as protein, calcium. The main component in bone broth is animal fat. The calcium in bones is inorganic calcium, which the child’s body cannot absorb, and no matter how well the broth is boiled, it cannot dissolve protein, so protein is not found in bone broth.

If using bone broth, parents should ensure that the child also eats meat. Also, adding fish, shrimp, vegetables, fruits, and other types of meat for the child… to provide enough nutrients. It is advisable to remove the layer of fat in the bone broth as it is not really good for digestion. After boiling the bones, you can refrigerate the broth for a few hours to let the fat float and solidify on the surface, then skim it off.

Children should not consume bone broth more than twice a week. At the same time, parents should change the types of bones they use, such as oxtail, chicken bones, pork ribs, etc., not necessarily long bones.

Instead of using bone broth, parents can also use vegetables, fruits, meat, fish,… as they already have their own sweetness and flavor. They can be pureed, minced, or cut into small pieces for the child to eat instead of just consuming the broth.

Combining beans, sweet potatoes, spinach, and calcium-rich foods or milk

These are mild foods that are encouraged to be eaten because they are high in nutrients and calcium. But combining or consuming them in close proximity also has negative effects.

Spinach, sweet potatoes, and beans all contain phytic acid. This is an acid that easily binds to calcium in the body and forms salts. So when they are absorbed at the same time, calcium will be converted and ultimately the transformed compound is excreted. Parents should pay attention to the time interval between the child’s consumption of these foods.

Preference for fast food and greasy foods

Young children often prefer fast food such as fried chicken, soft drinks… but they are not good for their health. Indulging children with unrestricted eating will have a negative impact on their health.

Unhealthy eating habits can lead to obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, even affect the brain and picky eating.

The nature of cakes, candies, and soft drinks is that they contain a lot of sugar. Therefore, whether it is children or adults, excessive sugar consumption will be harmful to health, including the risk of overweight, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases,…

Therefore, parents should try to maintain a healthy diet, increase the consumption of vegetables and steamed dishes, limit oily and fried foods to ensure the child’s health.

Cooking food that is too salty

Salt increases the excretion of minerals, especially calcium. Therefore, when parents cook food that is too salty, they inadvertently supply a significant amount of salt to the child’s body, causing the child to lose calcium. Therefore, parents need to pay attention to not let children eat salt too early and too salty.