ParentingHub

Nutritional Heros

Carrots are nutritional hero’s, they store a goldmine of nutrients. More beta carotene (vitamin A) is available when carrots are eaten cooked – lightly steamed - or juiced! The steamed carrots need to be served as part of a meal that provides some fat so the body can absorb more than half of the carotene. It is usual for Carrots to be cut into pieces and eaten after boiling or steaming, but done in this way, half the proteins and good energy will be lost so it is more advisable to cook them whole and then cut up.

Colour your Diet

Buy the brightest vegetables you see. Vibrant colours usually correspond with more vitamins. This means going easy on iceberg lettuce and cucumbers, and loading up on carrots, tomatoes, red peppers and sweet potatoes – which are higher in vitamins A and C. Or go for darker shades of greens. Romaine lettuce has 7 x the vitamin C and 2 x the calcium of its paler, iceberg cousin. Pink grapefruit, has more than 30 x the vitamin A of its yellow-coloured cousin.

Drink Leftover Milk

Your favourite breakfast cereals may be fortified with vitamins, but that doesn’t mean you’re getting all the nutrients listed on the side of the box. Up to 40 percent of the vitamins in the cereal quickly dissolve into the milk. To make sure you obtain the most vitamins from fortified breakfast cereals pick up the bowl and slurp all the milk down – just not in front of strangers!!!!

Baking, broiling and roasting are the healthiest ways to prepare meat. Lean cuts can be pan-broiled or stir-fried. Use either a nonstick pan or nonstick spray coating instead of butter or margarine.

Trim outside fat before cooking. Trim any inside, separable fat before eating. Select low-fat, lean cuts of meat. Lean beef and veal cuts have the word "loin" or "round" in their names. Lean pork cuts have the word "loin" or "leg" in their names.

Make a Better Fish Finger

Fish fingers are the seafood version of hotdogs – delicious, easy, but not too healthy. Here’s a healthier, DIY version: Cut a salmon or tuna steak into finger size portions. Dip the sticks into egg white batter and roll in a bowl of bread crumbs. Stick a few in the freezer, and when you are ready to cook simply bake in the oven.

Poke the Chicken

Braai or grilled chicken is tasty, but there’s a catch 22: leave the skin on and it will be as fatty as beef; peel the skin off, and it will be drier than the Namib desert. A quick solution: poke a few dozen holes in the skin with a fork before cooking. This will let fat drip out, but will still keep the meat moist!!!

Smart Snacking

Smart snacking can help children meet daily energy requirements that may be missed at meal times. To avoid weight gain, keep snack portions small. Plan ahead and buy healthy snacks at the supermarket. Pre-portion your child’s snacks into small plastic bags to grab on the go or put snack-sized serving on a plate. Combine snacks from at least two food groups, like a protein and a carbohydrate. It will be more filling and will tide them over to the next meal. Space snacks far enough from meals so that appetites are not spoiled.