What are our children eating?

In a typical household today where both parents work, a school going child is given enough pocket money to buy their own meals. This is usually breakfast, lunch and sometimes even dinner. The only time this child will eat home cooked food is probably on a Sunday or other public holidays. Sometimes this is also not true because this is when the parents want to unwind and the meals will mostly be outside also.

The child will buy breakfast from the school canteen. After school lunch will be at a mamak shop, food court or a fast food restaurant. For dinner it could be the same.

A school going child's day starts and end as follows:

• Wake up, get ready, and go to school.
• Have breakfast in school canteen – nasi lemak, mee / meehoon, fried chicken, fried sausage / chicken nuggets, kuih, sirap or soft drink.
• After school lunch – nasi campur with fried chicken (fish and vegetables are rare), mee goreng, etc., fast food i.e. burgers or chicken and soft drink or other sweet drinks.
• Go to tuition.
• Dinner – same as lunch.
• Go home.

The above child is mostly eating a lot of fat, sugar and not enough fruits or vegetables.

Ask any school going child what are the basic food groups or to name healthy and unhealthy food, they will give you the correct answer. How? Because they are taught this in school, they memorize it for their exams, but do they follow what they learn and choose to eat the right food? Give a child a plate of steamed chicken with vegetables and a plate of fried chicken with chili sauce and guess what will be the choice.

If you go to a typical mixed rice shop, you will see fish, meat and chicken cooked in a variety of ways. You can also see many vegetable dishes. Will the shop owner tell the child to choose a fish, meat or chicken dish and a minimum of two healthy vegetable dishes? Even if the child knows his food groups will he follow? Who can make sure our children eat correctly?

As parents what can we do to make sure our children grow up healthy?

Try to have at least one meal a day at home, maybe dinner. Cook a healthy meal which includes the basic food groups. Use less oil, salt, sugar and artificial flavour enhances. You can buy cook books with healthy recipes or search the Internet.

If cooking at home is not possible, buy or go to a restaurant or food court where you can have healthy food. Educate your child to identify and order the correct type of food.

If you have a maid, train her to cook healthily. Give her a daily menu listing your choice which includes vegetables.

Buy fresh fruits and make sure your child eats at least one portion a day. Buy nuts as snacks instead of chips.

Make a healthy sandwich, add a fruit and pack breakfast of lunch for your child.

Make your child drink more water that soft drink or juices (unless homemade where you control the amount of sugar).

We brought our child into this world and it is our responsibility to bring them up healthy.

Typical Food Pyramid.

Additional resources:

Official website of Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia
http://www.moh.gov.my/v/Makanan_Nutrisi for Panduan Nilai Kalori 200 Jenis Makanan, Malaysian Dietary Guidelines, and other publications.

Nutrition Society of Malaysia (Persatuan Pemakanan Malaysia) www.nutriweb.org.my for articles such as 'Pikat anak suka makan sayur setiap hari' by Dr Tee E Siong many more including recipes.