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Want your kids to get enough calcium? Set a good example and drink milk too
Hey moms, if you want your daughters to grow strong and healthy, serve them milk, and pour a glass for yourself, too! The most available source of calcium in our food supply comes from milk and foods made with milk, so it’s not surprising that those who drink more milk get more calcium.
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Kids & Snacking
Snacking is a very important part of a kid’s day. Growing children often need more food energy than they can easily consume at a single meal. In fact, about 20 percent of a child's energy and nutrients come from snacks.
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Starting the Day off Right
Let’s face it, we’ve all heard that breakfast is the most important  meal of the day, but all too often we not only neglect it for ourselves, but don’t enforce and encourage our kids to eat in the morning
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Eating Properly Can Only Help
Adequate and proper nutrition is important for kids as they grow and develop. It is compounded in sports, when athletic performance becomes increasingly paramount for their success. It is easier for kids to reach for a bag of chips or a can of soda at school...
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What Fuels our Body?
Our bodies are all about energy. And energy provides the fuel our body needs to do work. Since our body is always working, it needs continuous energy.
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"DIET" vs. "DIET"
There's a big difference between a "diet" (i.e. a regimented food plan to help you lose weight), and your diet (i.e. what you consume on a regular basis), and this is a big part of the problem with confusion among all of us.
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Obesity, Are Our Children At Risk?
"That's just baby fat," "so he's a little chunky," "no need
to worry, she'll outgrow it."
Heard these expressions before? I bet you have, probably you
have even stated them. Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad
news but statistics reveal that our present generation of
"future" adults is at an alarming risk level
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Want your kids to get enough calcium? Set a good example and drink milk too
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Hey moms, if you want your daughters to grow strong and healthy, serve them milk, and pour a glass for yourself, too! The most available source of calcium in our food supply comes from milk and foods made with milk, so it’s not surprising that those who drink more milk get more calcium. However, a fascinating new study published in the April 2004 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that girls with the most calcium in their bodies, not only drink more than girls who don’t meet the recommended daily amounts, but their moms also drink more milk.
Calcium is the mineral in your body that makes up your bones and keeps them strong. 99% of the calcium in your body is stored in your bones and teeth. The remaining 1%, found in your blood and muscles, basically enables your kids to sprint to second (muscle contraction) and not bleed to death when they skin their knee on the slide (clotting). In terms of how much kids need, children ages 4 to 8 require 800 milligrams of calcium daily, whereas children ages 9 to 18 require 1,300 milligrams daily.
Researchers studied nearly 200 mothers and their daughters for five years (as the girls aged from 5 to 9 years old) to see if what the girls drank effected the strength of their bones. The investigation showed that the girls who successfully met the daily requirements for calcium had 2 important things in common: they drank about twice as much milk as the others, and their moms also drank milk. These girls were more likely to be served milk at mealtimes and drank almost 20% less sweetened beverages. Also, the girls who drank the most milk did indeed have the strongest bones (higher bone density), which will reduce their risk of bone fracture and protect them from osteoporosis later in life.
From toddlers to teens, milk intake decreases while soft drink intake more than triples. Statistics show that 70% of girls and 60% of boys don’t meet the current calcium recommendations, which can cause irreversible damage to their bones. B y offering milk to your young children and setting an example by drinking milk, you can help your children establish a healthy habit that they are likely to carry into adolescence, which is a key period of bone growth and development.
Julie B. Hirsch, PhD |
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