HEALTHY FOOD, BETTER MOOD

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Article Summary

If your children complain that they don't like something, it's not just fussiness. A child's sense of taste if more acute than an adult's. Nevertheless, this is no excuse for resorting to unhealthy sugary, fatty or processed foods. FOOD

Did you know that children’s sense of taste is much stronger than an average adult’s?

This is because at birth babies have an average of 10,000 taste buds, but by the time we reach old age this has dwindled to an average of only 3,000. Interestingly, this explains why very young children put everything in their mouths. It is not because they are hungry, but because they can better explore the size, shape, and texture of an object by using the huge number of nerve endings in the mouth compared to the hands. It’s only later that the hands and eyes take over for exploration of objects in the world.

But it’s good to remind yourself just how sensitive your children’s sense of taste is when asking them to try new foods.

Remember, too, that research suggests that if your children start the day on a sugary cereal or processed white bread, they will not concentrate as well as those children who start their day with a boiled egg, lean ham, cheese, rye bread, porridge or muesli.

In fact, you might like a little experiment yourself: try to watch the extent to which the changing moods of your children are a function of their food intake.

Each child may differ, but the knowledge that you form of their eating habits and how it affects their mood swings can help you offer each of them the healthiest foods for their own particular makeup and avoid those foods that seem to have a negative effect.

Category Tags:

Nutrition

Article Tags:

fussy

,

healthy meals

,

taste

,

senses