According to Dr. Trinh Thi Huyen - Institute of Nutrition, after each Tet holiday, children who come to the Department of Pediatric Examination - Institute of Nutrition often fall into a state of overweight and obesity due to eating too many sweets, carbonated drinks or losing weight, malnutrition due to eating haphazardly causing digestive disorders or eating few vegetables and fruits causing constipation.
Therefore, it is necessary to balance nutrition for children to have a full Tet holiday.
Ensure children's Tet meals are nutritious
Parents should try to keep their children's daily routines regular, not too different from normal, and not let their children miss meals. Children should have 3 main meals and 2 snacks a day.
Feed your children age-appropriate foods that are easy to absorb and ensure a balance of the four food groups in each meal, which are: Starch group (rice, congee, pho, vermicelli, noodles, bread, etc.), protein group (meat, fish, eggs, milk and dairy products, etc.), fat group (oil, grease, butter, etc.) and vitamin and mineral group (vegetables, fruits, etc.).
In particular, you should pay attention to adding enough green vegetables to your family's Tet meals or you can replace them with ripe fruits in case it is not convenient to prepare.
Make sure your child's food is freshly cooked to avoid the risk of food poisoning and increase appetite.
Try to change the dishes, diversify the food and the way it is prepared for children.
Avoid giving children too many sweets, sweet drinks, etc. Using foods rich in sugar such as cakes, candies, soft drinks, etc. is completely unhealthy, and can cause weight gain in overweight and obese children. For some other children, it can make them lose their appetite if eaten close to the main meal, which can cause digestive disorders leading to weight loss and malnutrition after Tet.
Preparing food for children on Tet holiday
Congee is an easy dish to make and suitable for many ages. To easily prepare food for children, parents can cook white congee in advance and add food at mealtime. White congee will last longer and is easier to vary than congee cooked with food.
For children under 1 year old, parents only need a jar of thick white congee, a hand blender, add meat, fish, eggs, fresh vegetables, and available oil to prepare a weaning meal for their children. For older children, congee is also a nutritious dish, easy to prepare and portable, and does not take too much time.
Vermicelli, pho, and soup are also easy to make and nutritious dishes for children.
Milk and dairy products: This is a food suitable for children of all ages, can be bought for use at home and taken out.
Fresh fruits and vegetables. Fresh fruits and vegetables are essential for children's meals, helping them avoid constipation and providing vitamins. Ripe fruits can be eaten or juiced, making them easy to take along if you have to move around a lot. Some fruits can be used with dairy products as a convenient meal replacement, such as apples, bananas, mangoes, etc., or can be used with dairy products for snacks, such as strawberries, etc.
Nuts such as almonds, walnuts, cashews, and macadamia nuts available in households can also become ingredients for nutritious meals when combined with milk or dairy products.
Dried fruits such as raisins, dried mangoes, bananas, dried jackfruit, etc. are rich in energy. When needed, they can be used with milk or dairy products to give children a relatively balanced nutritional replacement meal.
Flan is an easy-to-eat, energy-rich cake that is suitable for children of all ages and is also very diverse in types for children to choose from, easy to carry and store for parents. It can be used with milk to replace the main meal for children. Therefore, having some flan on reserve during Tet is a choice worth considering for parents with young children.
