Be Food Smart

We all want what is best for our children and family, especially when it involves the food we consume.

The busy lives we lead mean that we often reach for ready made, convenience foods and snacks. Looking closely at these foods, they are often high in sugar, fat and salt.

Don’t worry, finding tasty and healthier alternatives is easy!

Here are a few ways we can make our daily intake a little healthier.

• Sugar swaps for kids-making 1 or 2 every day swaps can really reduce the amount of sugar our children are eating.
• Watch the salt!
• Make your own meals so you can control the amount of salt. Pick products such as reduced sugar and salt baked beans.
• Remember to give them their 5 A Day fruit and veg. Fresh, frozen, canned dried and juiced all count!
• Cut back on saturated fat! Change for lower fat options such as swapping whole milk for lower-fat milks, swap to low fat mince, remove visible fat. Encourage unsaturated fats such as oily fish, unsalted nuts and avocado.

There are handy apps available to encourage us with smart food choices such as:

• Change4Life Food Scanner app
• Change4Life Smart recipes app

These apps also encourage children to get involved such as using the scanner to establish how much sugar is in the food and other nutritional information.

Resources

• The Change 4 Life website is a brilliant resource for all aspects of healthier eating from Starting solids through to school age children
• There are free workshops and a range of advice available via the Hampshire Healthy Families portal
• ‘Intro to Solids’ for parents and carers of babies aged 6 months upwards.
• ‘HEART’ (Healthy Eating & Activity Resources for Toddlers) for parents and carers aged 2 years and 3 years.