Everyone knows that children’s nutrition should be full-fledged, balanced in the composition of proteins, fats, carbohydrates and a sufficient amount of vitamins. But not everyone knows that with the onset of the autumn-winter period, the child’s diet should contain products that help the body resist viruses and infections. Proteins, amino acids, probiotics and fiber strengthen the immune system. The «winter» menu has a few more differences from the diet in the warm season.
The winter diet should be about thirty percent calorific than the summer one in order to make up for the energy losses of the body. These are hearty and nutritious dishes from meat, poultry, fish, dairy products, nuts.
In winter, you need to reduce the amount of light carbohydrates from sweets, desserts. In addition to being overweight, they are more likely to cause allergic reactions.
Give preference to warm dishes and exclude cold snacks.
The most important vitamins in winter involved in the formation of antiviral immunity are A, B2, B6, C, D, PP E, folic acid, selenium, zinc, iron, calcium and magnesium.
An important defender of health in winter is vitamin C, it helps to maintain immunity, enhances the recovery processes in the mucous membranes of the upper respiratory tract, reduces inflammation. Children, as a rule, do not like foods that contain a lot of ascorbic acid: bell pepper, herbs, sorrel, sea buckthorn. Therefore, they can be offered an alternative — rosehip tea, black currant berries, citrus fruits. But they should be given with caution to children prone to allergies.
The child’s diet should contain proteins and fats (meat, fish, butter, sour cream, egg, cheese), vegetable oils (as well as nuts and seeds), carbohydrates (cereals, especially buckwheat, rice, pasta, bread), fiber (vegetables, fruits, legumes).
The 10 healthiest winter foods
Puree with a cutlet, chicken with buckwheat or pasta is fine. But take a closer look at these products — they are leading in the utility ratings!
Before introducing new foods into the diet, make sure that the child does not have allergies or individual intolerance.
Carrot
Root crops contain an order of magnitude more nutrients than fruits or leaves of other plants. And the record holder for usefulness can be called carrots. It contains a lot of easily digestible carbohydrates, pectin, essential oils, amino acids and vitamin A. It is called a growth vitamin — an indispensable element for the child’s body, in particular, it is useful for vision and heart function. And, what is important in winter, carotene increases the child’s resistance to respiratory diseases.
It is recommended to introduce carrots into the bait from 6-7 months, but this should be done carefully so as not to provoke an allergic reaction. If there is no individual intolerance, then salads from raw carrots will be a good prevention in winter. Just do not forget that for better absorption of carotene (vitamin A), vegetable fat (vegetable oil) or sour cream should be added to carrots.
Salmon and cod
We have already written about the benefits of vitamin D (cholecalciferol) more than once. This is the main fighter of the invisible front — participates in the protection of the body from infections, viruses and other misfortunes. Cholecalciferol is always needed by the body, but in winter, during the coronavirus epidemic, it is especially important to maintain the necessary level. Preschoolers were called the main carriers of coronavirus in the family. Recall that most often vitamin D is not supplied with food enough. To determine this, you need to do a blood test. And to prevent vitamin D deficiency, it is useful to eat foods in which the vitamin is present. There is a lot of it in salmon, tuna, mackerel. In addition to vitamins, sea fish contains protein, Omega-3 polyunsaturated acids and other necessary substances that help the child’s body resist colds and viruses. Preschoolers need to eat 60 grams of salmon fish 2-3 times a week.
Kids begin to introduce fish bait at the age of 10 months. For a daily allowance, only a few grams are needed. But, since cod liver is a heavy product, especially canned food in oil, it is undesirable for children under 10 to try the delicacy. But you can take fish oil on the recommendation of a doctor, it is made from the liver of cod. By the way, if a child refuses to take fish oil, then it can be replaced with linseed oil, in addition to polyunsaturated acids, there is a lot of linolenic acid — an assistant in the treatment of chronic respiratory tract infections.
Butter
In the old days, lung patients were treated with fat. A high-calorie diet, which contains a lot of protein and fat, helped to cope with diseases. Adults can still eat a small sandwich with bacon for prevention during the cold season. And children need to replace fat with butter — it is easier to digest, has nutritional value and a lot of useful properties. If you remember, as a child, our grandmothers made a sweet «medicine» for colds: they mixed butter with cocoa and honey. So a sandwich with butter, which is served for breakfast in every children’s institution, is a good means of prevention from various ailments. But remember that butter is a high—calorie product, in combination with baking — especially. Therefore, it is better to choose wholegrain bread for a sandwich. Daily, the child is recommended no more than 20 grams of butter.
Beet
There are hardly many fans of this vegetable among children, and among adults too, the taste of beetroot is for an amateur. But, if the child does not have allergies, beets should be included in the diet, especially in winter. The fact is that, unlike many crops, beets retain their useful elements all year round. And it is impossible to count them, which has a positive effect on many organs and systems of the body, especially the central nervous, circulatory, cardiac. Beetroot appears in the baby’s diet after a year. Portions should be discussed with a pediatrician, since this is an allergen product.
Yogurt
Fermented milk products in the diet of a child in the cold season also perfectly cope with the task of strengthening the immune system. The lactic acid bacteria included in the yogurt support the normal intestinal microflora, reduce the growth of pathogenic flora, remove toxic substances and stimulate local immunity. For baby food, you need to choose natural varieties of yoghurts and, if possible, unsweetened ones. The daily norm is up to 200 ml.
Greens
If a preschooler constantly sniffs, catches a cold and risks catching a more serious illness, a set of measures is needed to strengthen health. Meals in this list will be mandatory. For example, you need to check if there are enough vegetables and greens in the baby’s diet? It should be up to 250 grams every day. From herbs, you can choose dill, parsley, cilantro, lettuce, basil. The fact is that the greens themselves are an excellent prevention against viruses and infections. It contains a large amount of vitamins C and potassium, dietary fiber and chlorophyll — a source of magnesium, an essential element for the body, is involved in the production of immune cells and macrophages that destroy bacteria.
And what other products help strengthen the immune system in winter?
Milk — milk proteins are involved in the creation of cells, including immune cells.
Apples and citrus fruits are a complex of vitamins and dietary fibers that cleanse the body of toxic metabolic products, pathogenic microbes.
Pumpkin — contains a lot of antioxidants that prevent the formation of free radicals, which lead, among other things, to respiratory diseases.
Rosehip broth is a storehouse of vitamin C. They drink courses, and you need to remember that the drink removes potassium from the body, so at the same time with rosehip, children need to add bananas, dried apricots or raisins to the diet. The pediatrician will tell you in more detail.
