by Marcus Flakes

Created on: November 19, 2009   Last Updated: November 20, 2009

NUTRITION, A RESPONSIBILITY

Childhood obesity is a hot topic in today's food and nutrition industry. Children's eating behaviors are influenced by their peers and what they eat for lunch; whether it's a home packed lunch or school lunch. The calorie, which is an abbreviation of kilo-calories, is a unit of energy that a child consumes. Energy is a significant source that children often need, which are vitamins A, B, C, and D. Children have a tendency to want chose certain foods above others and exclude important nutrient bearing ones. The parents have a responsibility in the provisions of their children's nutrition health. It is the one thing that we have control of, as opposed to diseases.

Nutrition is a word that most people think applies to everyone. Indeed, it applies to every human being, but there's a different diet plan for various age groups. Nutritionist and Dietitians refer to it as, Nutrition over the Life Cycle. This discusses the stages of nutritional requirements from pregnancy to older adults. Contrast and comparison is used to examine the causes and effects of eating disorders. However, like everything else in the world, it starts at the beginning. Children are most affected by nutrition status. The majority of older adults can manage their diets through life experiences and doctor recommendations; whereas, children have a disadvantage. Parents are the responsible source to children's health, because children cannot rationalize the importance of eating healthy.

Advertising in the nutrition industry is called nutritional marketing or food service marketing. It is one way to sell customers on products that children like most. Like any other business, food services have to captures the likes of many different age groups. In this case, marketing to the children has become a very successful project, because children want to try whatever places their stomachs above their minds. If it looks fruity or cheesy, they want it. Parents recognize the number of fast food restaurants that are not nutritionally sound; however, they participate in these unhealthy eating practices, which are a negative influence on children's health. About 2 decades ago, parents use to cook dinner when the kids come home from school. Typically, on a daily basis, some parents don't have time to prepare meals that consist of the five food groups.

Menu planning is merely a plan of meals for the week. However, the product and portion of food is always a determining factor for healthy eating. The average four year-old child can eat regular servings, the same as adults. Therefore, nutrition education is significant, because the parent needs to be able to identify ounces. There a ton of metric conversion resources that can be referenced when serving portions. Time, money, health, weight, food variety, and physical activity are factors in planning menus for children.

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