What do I do to eat the children? Or for dinner? What is the best for my children to eat? The same as us? Do I have to do something different to them? There are many doubts we have when it comes to feeding our children.
Increase in childhood obesity
What is clear is that, collectively, we are not doing something right in answering the question of what we feed our children. According to the Aladino España 2015 study, 23.2% of Spanish children are overweight, that is, almost 1 in 4 is over the weight they should be. But the worst thing is that 18.1% of children are obese.
The plate method
As we have recommended in the Clara challenge, to follow a healthy and balanced diet that helps control weight without complicating your life and in an easy way, the ideal is the plate method designed by Harvard University (USA). .). This method –designed for adults–, by not having to count calories or weigh food, is very easy to follow and very effective.
The plate method recommends that half of a flat plate be only vegetables (lettuce, spinach, broccoli …), raw or cooked, or both. A quarter of the plate will be for carbohydrates: pasta, rice, potatoes or legumes. And the other quarter will go to protein: turkey, chicken, fish, egg, tofu, etc.
According to the results of the IV Nestlé Observatory of Nutritional Habits and Lifestyle of Families, in reality, children eat more than double the recommended carbohydrates (56%), half of what they would eat from vegetables (25% ) and also less than what would correspond to protein (19%).
The plate method, adapted to children
Taking these data into account and taking the Harvard plate method as a reference, the Gastroenterology Service of the Sant Joan de Déu Hospital and Nestlé have developed the Nutriplato.
A plate with drawings. This method consists of a real plate on which the composition of the ideal plate has been stamped. That is, half is green, because it corresponds to vegetables; a fourth is red, the one corresponding to proteins; and another fourth is yellow, the one for hydrates.
A user guide. But, in addition, this dish is accompanied by a guide that allows the quantities to be easily adapted to the child's age. Because 3-year-olds don't eat the same as 12-year-olds. And there are also recipes, so that mothers and fathers have it easier when cooking. In addition, we also recommend that you visit the Nutriplato website.
Do you want a Nutriplate? If you have a child between 4 and 12 years old and you want to receive a Nutriplato and its guide, you can call the Nutriplato phone number: 900 11 21 31.
