Well, we had discussed last week about how useless these commercially marketed health supplement mixes are. In fact, they are more harmful due to the factors required to keep them from getting spoilt, than being helpful in boosting the health of your children. And believe me, with storing those vitamins and minerals are sure to get lost, bottled food supplements that contain a lot of grain tend to become just a waste product and we spend so much of money on them and mix it with milk which our children drink.
I really hope some stricter food regulations come up in India and we would really know that the food that we are feeding our children is really worth every penny we pay for them.
Basics First
Before you learn about choosing the right food to be given to your children take a look at the real necessities for keeping your children healthy and active.
There are five basic necessities for any human body to live a naturally healthy life, they are
- Omega fatty acids
The blanket term omega fatty acids include omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids which are fats that are necessary for the human body for performing many functions such as building healthy cells, lowering risk of heart diseases, protecting against type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer?s disease, maintaining brain and nerve functions and even acts against age related brain decline.
Natural Source of Omega Fatty Acids are
Omega 6 ? sources
- poultry
- eggs
- avocado
- nuts
- cereals
- durum wheat
- whole-grain breads
- most vegetable oils
Omega 3 ? sources
- Sardine
- Salmon
- Tuna
- Mussels
- Flaxseed
- Walnuts
- Cauliflower
- Antioxidants
With so many different types of cancers reported, antioxidants have become more and more important. Antioxidants fundamentally are the defence forces of your body and are very important when it comes to free radical damage.
Well, if you want a clearer understanding, antioxidants fight oxidation process taking place in your body cells on a daily basis. If there is a disruption in the oxidation process, free radicals are formed, which can cause destructions of body cells.
When these free radicals go beyond the protective level of your body?s defence system, oxidative stress occurs which leads to early stages of cancer and heart diseases too. Latest studies connect free radicals to other diseases such as diabetes, arthritis, kidney problem and so on.
Sources of Antioxidants
Some vitamins like vitamin C and vitamin E and minerals such as selenium and manganese have inherent antioxidant properties however compounds that are rich in antioxidants are carotene and lycopene.
These are present in nature in coloured vegetables and fruits such as
- Carrots
- sweet potatoes
- spinach
- tomatoes
- beetroot
- green leafy vegetables
- eggplant
- broccoli
- cabbage
Turmeric which has curcumin also is considered to be a good antioxidant.
After antioxidants one would need multi vitamins and minerals, vitamin K2 and probiotics, the details of which would soon be provided in the part 2 of this series.
also read Why You should Not Give Health Drink Mixes To Your Children
