Every coParent is rightly concerned about keeping the kids healthy this flu season.
One goal to aim for is teaching them the importance of washing hands with warm water and soap, not gel. Next, aim on increasing vitamin C intake and feed children healthy, clean and organic food.
coParents should aim to provide a well balanced diet with enough protein and enough fats for their children. Their brains are still growing. They need fats and cholesterol to assure cell membrane development. Add in complex carbohydrates and an abundance of vegetables and a little bit of fruit, which will provide fiber.
You want to do more vegetables than fruits, if possible. Keep an eye on fruit intake, due to the increase of energy levels, while keeping a steady flow of vitamin C to stay well. Regarding increase of energy, the fruit has fruit sugar, fructose. A child who is very sensitive to sugar could also be very sensitive to fructose. So if you give a child an orange and a banana and they are bouncing off the walls, you now know why.
This is especially true for a child who is autistic or has ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). coParents should watch that fruit intake and also sugar content in foods, including refined sugar and also organic raw sugar.
Overall, the best snacks to give the child would be carrots, celery sticks with peanut butter, wheat bread or crackers or cheese. The good thing about kids and cheese is that it has fats and oils; and the protein in the milk, that gives them a lot of what they need to grow.
Written by Katrina Miller, MD; family physician; Chief of Medical Informatics at LA Care Health Plan.
About Lori Denman-Underhill
