how to improve your child's nutrition - part 3

Food nourishes your body and nutritious food provides added strength and energy for proper growth. Nutritious food given to your child from birth will go a long way to develop gross motor skills and fine motor skills with a natural progression to good health during the teens. Good eating habits from a young age will lay a strong foundation of good health and fitness in later years.

Consumption of junk food must be discouraged as it is the root cause of obesity in children. Pizzas, burgers and fries contain unhealthy fat that is harmful for health and leads to heart ailments, diabetes, high cholesterol and juvenile arthritis. By the same token, a child suffering from malnutrition will have very low immunity and resistance to diseases and will be easily susceptible to sickness.

You can combat these issues by presenting food in an appetizing manner as well making something out of the ordinary as opposed to the same staple diet that you make for your family. Give your child fruits and vegetables every day. If your child hates to eat it in its raw form, add them to fruit salads, drinks, sandwiches or make tasty snacks out of them.

Here is a recipe to make tasty Apple Custard drink

2 cups milk, 2 tsp custard powder (any flavor), 2 tbsp condensed milk, 2 tbsp sugar, 1 cup grated apple, ¼ cup of dry fruits (almonds & cashew nuts), 1 tbsp sabja/black khas khas (soaked in water for an hour) (available in Indian stores)

Mix the custard powder in 1 tbsp milk and keep aside. Mix together milk, sugar, condensed milk and heat it. As it comes to a boil, add the custard mixture & keep stirring all the time. After it simmers for a few minutes turn off the heat and allow it to cool. Add a drop of green food color and the soaked sabja, stirring constantly. Add the grated apple and mix again. Refrigerate for an hour and serve cold. Garnish with nuts, grated apple and sabja, if you want. 

As promised in my previous post, I have given below a couple of recipes of chutneys that you can have as a dip with your snacks.

Garlic chutney

1 cup fresh garlic cloves, 1 tbsp red chilly powder, ½ tbsp lemon juice, salt as required

Grind together all the ingredients into a fine past with ¼ cup water in a blender and use as needed.

Dates & tamarind chutney

2 cups of seedless dates, ¼ cup seedless tamarind, 1 cup jaggery (grated), 1 tsp chilly powder, pinch of asafetida and salt as required

Mix together dates, tamarind, jaggery, chilly powder, asafetida, salt with 4 cups water, in a pan and cook it simmered for 25 minutes. Turn off heat and strain the mixture after it is cooled. You can refrigerate it up to a month.

Green Peas and coriander chutney

½ cup green peas (boiled),

1 cup coriander/parsley (chopped)

2 cloves garlic

1 inch piece ginger

1 green chilly

½ tbsp juice of lemon

1 tsp sugar & salt as reqd

Grind all the ingredients into a fine paste with very little water, in a blender. Refrigerate it when not in use.