Milk, Yoghurt and Cheese
Dairy products have an important role to play in the diet of a growing kid.
Here’s what you need to know in order to ensure that your child receives the recommended number of servings from the milk, yoghurt and cheese group on a regular basis.
Milk is an excellent source of vitamin D and calcium – the nutrients needed to build healthy bones and strong teeth.
Although vitamin D can be obtained through sun exposure, increased use of sunscreens limits the amounts of vitamin D that can be obtained from the sun.
Consequently, it’s more important than ever to ensure that your child’s diet contains vitamin D-rich foods, especially milk.
Although it’s okay to offer your child chocolate milk on occasion, don’t let it replace the regular milk in her diet.
Chocolate milk is such higher in sugar than regular milk.
If your child relay enjoys her chocolate milk, dilute with regular milk so that she’s not getting quite as much sugar.
Chocolate milk is much more nutritious that soda pop, however, so if you want to give her the choice of ordering something other than regular milk at a fast food restaurant, chocolate milk is a healthy choice.
Limit your child’s use of processed cheese slice and spread, as these products are much higher in salt than natural cheeses.
Don’t get in the habit of serving ice cream and frozen yoghurt on a regular basis because they tend to contain a lot of fat and sugar.
Flavored yogurts tend to be quite high in sugar.
You can get a lot of mileage out of a small serving of flavored yogurt by letting your child use it as dip for fruit slices.
Or, if you prefer buy plain yogurt and add your own flavoring and such as some fresh fruit, vanilla flavoring, and so on.
Milk, Yoghurt and Cheese
