As rates of obesity are on the rise in the United States, the Wollaston Child Care Center strives to provide our students and families with proper nutrition education and to reinforce these ideas by providing healthy snacks twice daily. Learning about healthy habits now, at our Quincy MA nursery school can help your child be a healthier adult.
The Pyramid
According to the USDA, children should be eating six servings of grain, five servings of fruits and vegetables, two servings each of dairy and protein, and minimal sweets and fats each day. An example of a daily menu that fits these recommendations looks like this:
Breakfast: A piece of fruit with 1 cup of yogurt and a piece of toast
Lunch: A turkey sandwich with cucumber slices and milk
Dinner: 2 ounces of meat with 1 cup of pasta and broccoli
Snacks: an apple, cereal, cucumber slices
Practice Makes Perfect
Although it’s important to eat healthy at home, providing healthy snacks during the day at our nursery school is one way to implement our teachings in everyday life. Our morning snacks generally include bagels with cream cheese, yogurt, or cereal with fresh fruit, while the afternoon menu offers different types of crackers with fruits or vegetables.
What Can I Eat?
While the less processed, the better, modifying food in a way to make it more appealing to small children can help parents more easily fit a child’s diet into the pyramid. For example, we often offer applesauce or canned pineapple as an alternative to fresh fruit. When it comes to vegetables, accompanying them with a dip can also make them more appetizing to picky kids.
Sources of protein include meats, beans, fish, eggs, nuts, seeds, and soy, to name a few. Protein is essential for growing bodies because it helps build and maintain tissues in the body.
Please note, as we have many children with allergies, we do not permit nuts at the
Wollaston Child Care Center.
When it comes to grains, it’s recommended that around half are whole grains, like whole grain bread, oatmeal, and brown rice. Whole grain foods are important because they are full of fiber and help you feel full.
Here at Wollaston Child Care Center, a Quincy MA nursery school, we hope to educate children in all aspects of life, including a healthy lifestyle.
