Belly Besties: Kid’s game to encourage healthy habits

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About the app: Nestlé Belly Besties uses a virtual friend to encourage healthy habits.

Energy density and managing portions

The best way to determine the energy density of foods is by calculating how much energy is in a typical serving.

Energy density = no. of calories/weight (grams)

Based on this calculation:

Very low energy-dense foods = less than 0.6 kcal/g
Low energy-dense foods = 0.6 to 1.5 kcal/g
Medium energy-dense foods = 1.5 to 4 kcal/g
High energy-dense foods = more than 4 kcal/g (Source: The British Nutrition Foundation)

Calculating is not always an option, especially when it’s home-cooked meals made using various ingredients. The next best thing is to identify whether the meal is composed of foods that are mainly carbohydrates, proteins or fats. Fats provides the highest amount of energy (calories) per gram – double what carbohydrates or proteins provide. It thus follows that the more fat is contained in a food or used to prepare the food, the higher its energy density. Fat can be added to food as ghee, lard, butter, vegetable oil or cream. Think of dishes made of puff pastry, like croissants and pies, creamy pasta dishes, and most baked goods. Certain protein-rich foods like fried chicken, beef intestines (tripe), breakfast sausages, cheese and chicken nuggets are also high in fat. In cases where these foods are part of a meal, the food should be served with a proportionally larger serving of fruit and vegetables. Desserts, cookies, sweets and cakes should only be given after a meal, in small quantities and only occasionally as a treat.

Sugar is a carbohydrate which in its usual form only consists of calories. Foods that contain a lot of added sugar as is the case with certain breakfast pastries and desserts are therefore high in energy density. When you add sugar to another carbohydrate food such as wheat flour and then deep-fry in oil, you get a very high energy-dense food. Think of burfi, koeksisters, magwinya and mandazi. It is not advisable for a child to consume large amounts of these high energy-dense foods and they should be offered, if at all, only an occasional treat.

PLAY ACTIVELY

Five ways to get children to play actively:

1. Spend time playing actively with your children. Teaching your children to play a game like Monopoly involves teaching the rules and ensuring that all participants in the game follow the rules and processes. This in itself is a learning experience for them. Play does not need to involve more than two people. Play with your child by teaching them to ride a bike, boxing moves, how to tackle/dribble as in a soccer or rugby match, and even how to lift – the appropriate dumb-bells for their size and age of course.
2. Encourage your child to play with other children. Arrange play dates for supervised play with other children. Parents can also ensure that the children in the neighbourhood have a safe space to play outside, by cordoning off parts of a street and controlling the movement of traffic where the children are playing.
3. Encourage outdoor play. When children play outdoors, they are likely to play for longer and participate in vigorous activities. Switch off the electronic gadgets and television and get them outside. Without these distractions, they are more likely to think of an outside activity than when they have options indoors.
4. Be a positive role model and encourage family activities. If you spend your free time seated indoors, your children will do the same. However, if they see you outside gardening, mowing the grass, riding your bicycle or jogging, they are more likely to do the same, whether by joining you or playing on their own. Most importantly, they will be outside and moving along with you. Planning family activities is an excellent way to consciously get the whole family moving together.
5. Provide access to sport, play equipment and play facilities. It is important to choose toys and equipment that will encourage moderate to vigorous physical activity. This means buying a skipping rope, a hula hoop, bicycle, or soccer/rugby/cricket/tennis equipment that will allow your child to fully participate in their favourite activity or sport. Let them sign up for school sports, even though it may mean driving them to matches in the early morning hours or watching matches under the blazing sun. If you live near a park, walk your preschooler there so they can play on the swings, slides and jungle gym.

What we mean by ‘play actively

Playing takes various forms and helps the child in their growth and development. When children play ‘house’ or re-enact fairy tales, they develop imaginary skills. Building puzzles and solving the Rubik’s cube helps to develop problem-solving and attention skills. Swinging on monkey bars, jumping, dribbling a soccer ball and balancing on a beam help with the gross motor and balancing skills. Being actively involved in whatever form playing takes place is therefore not just for entertainment, but important for children’s health and well-being.

Taking part in the kind of play that involves movement for at least one hour a day is especially important for ensuring your child’s health. The less time your child spends choosing to sit or lie down and the more time spent on moderate (riding a bicycle around the yard/block, dancing) or vigorous physical activity (jumping rope, running, hiking uphill) instead, the less likely they are to develop obesity in childhood. Being active will also make them feel capable and motivated to participate in other activities, including team sports. As they grow to be physically active teenagers and adults, they will continue with such healthy habits and will be less likely to develop chronic diseases, such as high blood pressure or certain cancers.

Ways to get your child to choose water

Water does taste different depending on where it is sourced. Water from natural springs, wells, boreholes, ’the tap’ and bottled water, which has undergone various forms of filtration and purification, will all taste different. This may lead to a familiarity and/or preference which once established, could make it difficult for anyone to drink water from another particular source. This can be a problem, especially if the water that is the most available is not what is preferred.

The constant availability of sugar-sweetened beverages at home and school can also lead to a preference for these. Marketing of sugar-sweetened beverages on television, social media platforms, billboards and sport promotions increases the awareness of such beverages, further increasing the likelihood of these being made available to them at home, schools and sporting events. When children see their parents and other family members consuming sugar-sweetened beverages, they would want to have what everyone else is having.

To overcome these challenges, it is important that you limit the availability of such beverages in the household. This means that all family members would only be able to choose water to quench their thirst. If the taste of water is an issue, natural flavouring like mint or moringa tree leaves, slices of lemon, lime or strawberries can be added to the designated drinking water to bring about a more acceptable flavour without impacting the energy density. The taste change will also be mild enough to not create a preference for sweet drinks.

You can also test to see if the water is more acceptable at a particular temperature – icy cold versus room temperature. Whichever flavour or temperature water that your child prefers, make sure that it’s available in that – form both at home and at school. Water bottles are easily available, and flasks keep water at whatever temperature you poured the water at. Personal water bottles are also a hygienic and safe way to keep your child hydrated when they are away from home.

As a parent, continue to model good choices by opting for water at restaurants, and rather choose a bottle of sparkling water to share when you feel like something fizzy to drink.

CHOOSE WATER!

5 reasons why drinking water is important

Some parents may find it challenging to manage the amount of food their child eats, in particular making sure their fruit and vegetable intake is proportionally larger than the foods providing carbohydrates, proteins and fat. Furthermore, the total energy intake of the amount of food may be too much, increasing the risk of overweight and obesity.

Here are five ways to maintain the correct proportion and quantity of foods:

1. By drinking enough water, the body is able to balance what is lost through urine and sweat, thereby ensuring the body’s many systems continue to function.
2. Water allows the body to maintain its core temperature. Imagine what it would feel like if your body were to just keep heating up without water to cool you down! This is particularly important for your child when they are running or playing sports.
3. Water is efficient. It does not need the digestive system to work on it for it to hydrate the body. When your child drinks plain water, it will immediately quench their thirst and immediately become available for use by their body.
4. Drinking water on a regular basis prevents your child from experiencing the uncomfortable mild signs of dehydration, such as headaches, a dry mouth, and even muscle cramps after participating in sports.
5. Consciously replacing sugar-sweetened beverages with water lowers the risk of your child becoming overweight or obese.

What do we mean by ‘choose water’?

Our bodies are made up of about 70% water, depending on age, physical fitness etc. and water is used by the body to do every imaginable activity. The body maintains a delicate balance that involves excreting water as it rids itself of waste products and stimulating thirst so that we can drink and replenish the body. Maintaining this balance is what is considered an adequately hydrated body.

We get some of the water from food such as soft porridge, apples, watermelons, cucumber or soup, and from drinks such as fruit juice or milk. These, together with drinking water, add up to a person’s total water intake. When the body sends the message to the brain that it is time to replenish it with water, we feel thirsty. When this happens, children should drink clean drinking water. Unfortunately, this is not always the case and in fact most often, children will ask for some form of sugar-sweetened beverage. This is concerning because sugar sugar-sweetened does not quench the thirst, which will lead to more consumption until the child feels full.

High and regular consumption of sugar sugar-sweetened which have a high energy density (hyperlink to ‘energy density and managing portions’) has been linked to the development of overweight, obesity and dental caries in children. By ensuring your child chooses water instead of sugar-sweetened beverages, you will contribute positively to managing your child’s total daily energy intake.

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