The healthiest food for a child. Home environment and toys

Are you concerned about making sure your child's diet is balanced? Are you worried whether your baby is getting enough healthy food? nutrients? Then this rating is for you!

1. Oatmeal.

Oatmeal is fiber, it stimulates intestinal motility, and easily saturates the body with carbohydrates. This is a great breakfast, full of B vitamins, iron, zinc and calcium.
. Thus, if the baby refuses to eat Oatmeal pure form, add fruits, nuts or a little jam or honey.

During the cold season, the child needs to compensate for the lack of vitamin D, because the sun still rarely comes out. Eggs contain a lot of this vitamin, as well as protein and other nutrients: B vitamins, vitamin E and zinc. American Association Heart Disease recommends one egg per day for adults. The same amount can be given to a child over one year old.

Just 3-5 g of creamy and vegetable oil per day to provide the child’s body with vitamins A, D, E, mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids. They help its growth and development, protect against microbes and infectious diseases. Also very useful are nut, olive, corn oil. Just be careful - your baby may be allergic to some types of oils, such as peanut oil.

4. dairy products.

Milk is a controversial product. But it must be in the child’s diet. Choosing the right manufacturer for you is not easy, but it is necessary. To do this, read the results of independent examinations, try the selected product on your child, and if you do not notice an allergy or eating disorder, feel free to include milk from the selected manufacturer in your diet.
Experts highly recommend including homemade yoghurts and kefir in the children's menu. They contain a lot of calcium and are easier to digest than regular milk. In addition, the bacteria they contain are very useful for promoting intestinal health.

Melons contain large amounts of vitamin C, beta-carotene, B vitamins, trace elements and calcium. But, at the same time, the likelihood of poisoning with melons is quite high. Therefore, it is better to offer your baby melons either from a trusted supplier or from your own garden. In winter, you can offer your baby a dried version, but it’s better to try it on yourself first, just in case.

6. broccoli.

A wonderful vegetable that children love to call “Trees”, available, thanks to freezing, both in winter and summer. Broccoli is very useful for children of any age, especially during the period of active growth, because this cabbage contains a lot of calcium and other nutrients: potassium, beta-carotene and B vitamins.
In general, many nutritionists call cabbage the “Ideal Product”, because in its raw form it helps remove toxins from the stomach and small intestine, improves digestion, increases immunity, helps destroy viruses and bacteria. So feel free to add a child to the menu. cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and regular cabbage won’t hurt either.

7. potatoes.

Although nutritionists are up in arms about this root vegetable, they still recommend including it in children's menus. After all, one serving of potatoes contains a lot of beta-carotene and calcium; to get the same amount of calcium, a child would have to eat 23 servings of broccoli. In addition, potatoes contain a lot of fiber that is beneficial for children.

Protein is especially important during the growth period. Product selection, rich in protein, huge: legumes (in combination with grains), soy products(tofu), meat, fish, poultry. But a child will not receive such an amount of animal protein from any food product, the required set amino acids and iron, both from meat. (Although of course this is a controversial issue.

9. whole grains.

No, we do not suggest you sprout wheat and feed it to your baby. But brown rice and whole grain bread are the best better food for a child. They are much better than white bread and regular rice, they give necessary for the body fiber, minerals and vitamins, but do not burden the digestive system. In any case, it is not recommended to introduce a child to white bread.

10. beets.

The advantage of beets is that they retain their beneficial features all year round. Boiled, baked and raw beets contain vitamins (c, b1, b2, PP), microelements (iron, potassium), and pectins. In addition, it is useful for cardiovascular function. vascular system And digestive tract, and the taste is not bad, so even the capricious sweet tooth will agree to eat it.

What to feed a 2 year old baby? You won’t satisfy him with pureed unsalted soup. He already has teeth, he is happy to train them if you give him a chicken leg. He sees what adults eat and is drawn to new foods. Is it possible to give him what mom and dad eat? When organizing the nutrition of a two-year-old baby, it is necessary to take into account the needs of the growing body in useful substances Oh. At the same time, we must not forget that tender digestive system, the liver and kidneys cannot cope with rough or spicy food. Much of what adults eat is still harmful to him.

Right now he needs to be taught to chew food. The main thing is to make sure he doesn't choke.
It is necessary to get used to solid food, otherwise it will be more difficult to get used to meat and fruits later. The baby will be picky about food.
A 2-year-old child's diet should include thick cereals, well-cooked meat and fish, vegetable stew pieces - foods that require chewing.
If until now he ate 5-6 times a day with semi-liquid, pureed food, now he is able to eat more densely, and 4 meals a day is quite enough.
The most high-calorie food should be eaten during lunch. If your baby overeats at dinner, he will sleep worse. Besides, he won’t want to have breakfast in the morning.

Products necessary for a 2 year old baby

The range of products that a child should eat is expanding significantly.

Milk and dairy products

It is necessary to consume milk with a fat content of at least 3.2% and fermented milk products daily. You can give up to 500 ml of these products per day. The diet must include up to 50 g of cottage cheese with at least 5% fat content.

You should add a teaspoon of cream or sour cream to your dishes, and give a small piece of cheese daily. It is sometimes recommended to make cheese pancakes or dumplings from cottage cheese and cheese. Although raw cottage cheese more useful.

Meat

Until now, it was recommended to give the baby only mashed potatoes or steamed beef and chicken cutlets. Now the range is expanding. You can add dishes from lean pork and rabbit to the menu. The meat of ducks and geese contains difficult-to-digest fats, so feed them to such small child not worth it. But low-fat turkey meat is good for him.

Animal foods contain vitamin A, without which normal health is impossible. physical development child, his growth. The content of this vitamin and valuable proteins is especially high in the liver, so it is useful to prepare pate or cutlets from it. In addition, liver is more tender than meat; dishes made from offal (liver, heart, tongue) are easier to digest and assimilate in the child’s body.

The child is given up to 100 g of any meat per day. Occasionally it can be replaced by sausages (milk sausages or low-fat boiled diet sausage).

Advice: It is better to serve sausages marked “for children,” since they contain a minimum of harmful food additives and their composition is more strictly controlled.

Fish

The fats contained in fish are easily digestible and contain special amino acids necessary for the formation of the vascular system and nutrition of the brain. Regular consumption of fish is necessary for the development of speech, memory and other mental abilities. A child needs to be given about 30-40 g of fish per day. It is recommended to give sea or river fish low-fat varieties(cod, hake, carp).

Fish is fried or boiled, cutlets are prepared or fish soups. You should not give smoked or canned fish, as well as caviar (it is high-calorie product, which can cause allergies). You can give your child soaked low-fat herring. The fish must be thoroughly cleaned of bones.

Vegetables and greens

Plant foods are the main source of vitamins. At 2 years old, a child’s diet should include not only vegetable purees, but also stewed vegetables cut into pieces, as well as vegetable salads. Spinach dishes are very healthy. Be sure to add fresh parsley to vegetable dishes. green onions, a little garlic. This helps to form taste sensations. Fiber found in plant foods is essential for normal functioning intestines, preventing constipation.

Fruits and berries

A two-year-old child needs to eat 100-150 g of fruits and berries every day. They must be cleared of skin and seeds so that the child does not choke. The baby chews a piece of apple or pear perfectly with his teeth. Children love bananas and plums. Citrus fruits are very useful, but they must be given with great caution, since children are often allergic to them. This also applies to strawberries and raspberries.

Please note: Some fruits and berries (pear, blackcurrant, blueberry) strengthen the intestines. If a child often has constipation, then it is better to offer him kiwi, cherries, plums, and apricots.

Children under 1.5 years old are usually given clarified juices. From 2 years old, you can give natural juices with pulp (up to 150 ml per day). This will help stimulate bowel function.

Porridge and pasta

For normal operation intestines, the baby needs to eat buckwheat, oatmeal, rice and other cereals, as they are rich in protein and contain the necessary micro- and macroelements and vitamins. Pasta is prepared as a side dish or added to soups (up to 50 g per day).

Sugar and sweets

It is not recommended to spoil your child with sweets. He may develop an addiction to sweetened foods. This has a bad effect on appetite and metabolism. Sugar should be in daily diet be no more than 40 g (taking into account the fact that it is contained in sweet juices and jam). Sometimes you can treat your baby to marmalade or marshmallows. Chocolate often causes a child allergic reaction. In addition, it stimulates the nervous system.

Video: Healthy and harmful foods

Sample menu for a week for a 2 year old child

Day	Breakfast	Dinner	Afternoon snack	Dinner
1	Buckwheat with milk - 200 g White bread with jam - 1 piece Cocoa - 100 ml	Tomato and cucumber salad with sour cream - 40 g Pumpkin soup with potatoes and meat - 150 g Rice porridge - 80 g Bread Apple juice - 0.5 cups	Yogurt - 150 ml Banana - 0.5 pieces Cookies - 1 piece	Stewed vegetables with fish - 200 g Bread Kefir - 0.5 cups
2	Cottage cheese casserole with fruits and nuts - 200 g Cocoa - 150 ml Bread, butter	Apple and carrot salad with vegetable oil - 40 g Soup with egg and dumplings - 150 g Boiled meat - 50 g Berry jelly - 100 ml Rye bread	Milk - 150 ml Cookies - 2-3 pieces	Omelet - 50 g Pancake with jam Kefir - 150 ml
3	Hercules porridge- 150 g Bread and butter Cocoa - 100 ml	Fish soup with potatoes and rice -150 g Spinach casserole with egg - 80 g Juice - 100 ml Rye bread	Kissel - 150 ml Cookies - 3 pieces Banana - 0.5 pieces	Milk pudding - 150 g Cookies - 2 pieces Sweet tea - 100 ml
4	Pumpkin porridge with rice - 100 g Cocoa - 100 ml Cheesecake - 1 piece	Beet and apple salad Rice soup with meat Dumplings with cottage cheese - 2 pieces Tea with sugar	Omelet - 100 g White bread with butter Tea or compote - 150 ml	Kefir - 150 ml Crackers - 50 g
5	Millet porridge with milk, with butter - 150 g Cocoa - 100 ml Cookies - 1 piece	Fish rice soup - 150 g Pasta with sour cream - 50 g Bread Compote - 150 ml Fruits - 100 g	Cottage cheese with cream - 50 g Cookies - 3 pieces Rosehip tea with sugar - 150 ml	Yogurt - 150 ml Cookies - 2 pieces
6	Buckwheat porridge with butter - 100 g Pancake with cottage cheese - 1 piece Sweet tea	Apple and carrot salad - 50 g Milk soup with vermicelli - 150 g Meat cutlet - 1 piece Tea with sugar - 100 ml Rye bread	Pancake with jam Pumpkin and carrot porridge - 80 g Tea with milk	Kefir - 150 ml Cheesecake - 1 piece
7	Baked apple - 1 piece Hercules porridge - 100 g cookies - 1 piece Cocoa - 100 ml	Apple, banana and kiwi salad - 50 g Rice soup with chicken - 150 g Pasta with minced meat - 80 g Tea with milk	Vegetable stew with meat - 100 g Bread Dried fruit compote - 150 ml	Kefir - 150 ml Cookies - 3 pieces

Video: Weekly menu for a child aged 2 years

Despite the fact that the nutrition of a child at the age of 2 years is already approaching that of an adult, he needs to be prepared separately. Do not put pepper, vinegar, tomato paste(it contains food additives).

It is recommended to prepare food for the child one time at a time. When dishes are heated, food components lose their beneficial properties. It is advisable to feed the baby at certain time, you cannot force him to eat if he refuses any product. It may be enough to remove one of the components of the dish or change the consistency. Between feedings, the baby should be given water to drink. Juices or other drinks spoil your appetite.

The baby’s health depends not only on physical education, but also on proper nutrition. Therefore, it is very important to pay attention healthy food. We present a list of the healthiest foods that should be in every child’s diet.

Milk and dairy products

All dairy products are rich in fat, easily digestible calcium and phosphorus salts. Children aged three to four years should receive at least 0.5 liters of milk daily, including kefir, acidophilus milk and yogurt.

Cereals are the richest source of energy for the body, and because... Every day the child becomes more and more active, its reserves need to be constantly replenished. Wheat will provide the body with energy and strengthen its defenses thanks to vitamins A, D, E, C, B and unsaturated fatty acids. Rice is a source of carbohydrates, potassium, B vitamins and amino acids that play important role in the development of the organism.

Buckwheat contains many minerals, vegetable protein, carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins B1, B2, B6, PP. Oats are optimal percentage carbohydrates, proteins, fats and B complex vitamins. Oats also contain carotene, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, iodine, zinc.

This is a very valuable product in any form: hard-boiled, scrambled or used for cooking various dishes and drinks. The egg yolk contains a complex fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and group B, phosphatides and various minerals and trace elements. It is advisable for the child to eat one egg per day.

An important component of baby food is meat, as it contains vitamins, protein and essential amino acids that a child needs for normal height and development. And the iron in it takes Active participation in hematopoiesis. To begin with, it is better to give your child rabbit or turkey meat, they are less allergenic. Later, you can introduce chicken, veal, beef and lean pork into the diet.

Liver

Liver is rich in vitamin A - beneficial for immune system, eyes, skin, mucous membranes. Contains the most vitamin A beef liver. IN chicken liver a lot of folic acid, it also contains a lot of vitamin B12. The liver contains potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, copper. It is very useful for children suffering from anemia. However, you need to remember that an excess of vitamin A is undesirable, so you should not often give liver to your child.

Fish serves as a source of protein, polyunsaturated fats important for metabolism, vitamins A, D, B2, B12, PP, as well as calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and zinc. For children, you need to choose low-fat fish - cod, pike perch, hake, sea bass.

Vegetables contain a lot of water, various minerals, water-soluble vitamins and contain almost no protein or fat. With them, most of the vitamins C, group B1, carotene, and carotene necessary for the body are delivered to the body. mineral salts(calcium, sodium, potassium, magnesium, iron, etc.), which are necessary for the normal course of life processes and body growth. Preference should be given fresh vegetables, but you can also use fresh frozen or steamed vegetables. Vitamins are better preserved in such vegetables.

Just like vegetables, fruits contain great amount vitamins, fiber and microelements. If possible, fruit should be given to children at fresh and in a wide range, since they all contain different amounts of different vitamins and microelements. Apples, pears, plums, apricots, currants, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and others are just a treasure for your baby, of course, provided that the child is not allergic to a particular product.

The benefit of nuts lies in the unique balance of vitamins B, A, E, P, etc. and minerals (potassium, sodium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, etc.). Unlike animal fats, rich in bad cholesterol, there is practically no cholesterol in nut fats. But they contain fatty acid, which the child’s body is not able to produce on its own. These substances are necessary for quality fat metabolism, which will save the baby from problems excess weight. The most useful for children are Walnut, hazelnuts and pine nuts.

Water and juices

Children should not be limited in their drinking. Water losses especially increase in the hot season and when physical activity. Therefore, the water balance in the body must be replenished by drinking free liquid - water, juice, tea, etc. Water should be purified or boiled, and juices should be natural. Liquid intake should be limited during meals.

Prepared by Maryana Chornovil

As soon as a child is born, parents have to decide one of most important tasks: provide him with food. At first it will be mother's milk and/or formula, then most parents buy ready meals for children in stores. But at the age of about a year, the child begins to move to the common table.

And then mothers are puzzled by the question: among the abundance of products, how to choose quality ones? After all, you don’t want to feed your child with surrogates. In this article I will tell you how to determine the quality of basic food products at home.

Cow's milk and dairy products. It’s hard to imagine a children’s kitchen without milk. And despite the controversy about its benefits, milk remains the No. 1 product for baby food. Milk porridges, omelettes, cottage cheese, sour cream, cheese, kefir, yoghurts - where would you be without them? Dairy products are rich in calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, vitamins A and D. But these are real dairy products. In stores, instead of cottage cheese or sour cream, there is often some kind of palm oil. When choosing, first of all, you need to make sure that the label indicates exactly the product you need, that is, it says “milk,” “cottage cheese,” “sour cream,” and not “ milk product", "curd product", "sour cream product". We dismiss the latter immediately - this is an imitation and is not suitable for children.

Milk- give preference to pasteurized and normalized. If the package says “reconstituted,” it means that this is a powdered product, and “whole” milk—if you’re lucky—can be obtained from both natural milk and powdered milk. Types of milk obtained from powder have no nutritional value. If you buy milk from a private seller, then its fat content can fluctuate between 4-6%, for children this full fat milk doesn't fit. It should be diluted with water in half. It is strictly forbidden to give milk from a cow in its raw form, even if you know the owners of the animals - cows are susceptible to various diseases, many of which can be very dangerous to people. We remind you that you can give cow's milk to a child no earlier than six months and start very carefully, since milk can cause severe allergic reactions.

Cottage cheese- For small child it is preferable to make it yourself from reputable milk, because cottage cheese is one of the most counterfeited products, and on a state scale. To reduce costs, manufacturers can increase its fat content by introducing vegetable fats(most often palm oil is used for these purposes), and some particularly talented manufacturers manage to make cottage cheese that does not contain a drop of milk. Recognize a fake without laboratory analysis impossible. The only advice is to buy crumbly cottage cheese, since the crumbly consistency is very difficult to imitate, and if the cottage cheese has a pasty consistency, then most likely it has added vegetable fat. The benefits of ready-made curd masses and so-called “cheeses” in glaze are very doubtful - these products are prepared using vegetable fats, instead of butter, a spread is used - a mixture of milk and vegetable fats, and substandard or “lost” cottage cheese - additives are often used as a base They perfectly mask both taste and smell.

Kefir. One of the oldest fermented milk drinks, known to man. Unfortunately, high-quality kefir has now become a rarity. Manufacturers use the same tricks - they add vegetable fat, reduce the amount of milk in the product to a minimum, to speed up the production process they do not ferment the product, but simply saturate it with bacteria, add starch and preservatives. At home, it is not possible to distinguish bad kefir from good one. You can only determine the presence of starch: drop a drop of iodine into a spoon with kefir. If the drop turns blue, it means the kefir is fake. In this way, you can determine the presence of starch in cottage cheese, sour cream, yogurt, fermented baked milk, and yogurt.

Sour cream- also very useful product and also often counterfeited. When choosing, you should opt for sour cream with a shelf life of up to 7-8 days; longer periods are ensured by introducing preservatives or using pasteurization, which is not good: it destroys the used ABOUT The largest is often lactic acid bacteria. Determining naturalness on your own is quite simple: dilute 1 tablespoon in 1 liter of water at room temperature and let it settle. High-quality sour cream will give a milky liquid without any foreign inclusions. If lumps, flakes, or sediment appear in the solution, throw the sour cream in the trash.

Yoghurts and organic products. This relatively new product for us appeared on store shelves in the 80s and was advertised as extremely useful for children and adults: it improves immunity, normalizes digestion, prevents rickets and is generally a panacea for everything. About 15 years ago, similar drinking “bio-products” were added to yoghurts, the use of which, as manufacturers promise, will help overcome any cold and heaviness in the stomach. However, real yogurt has little in common, to say nothing, with what is sold in stores and promises us lightness and comfort. Real yogurt is made only from goat or sheep milk and tastes quite sour, which even few adults would agree to consume without jam or sugar. It is fermented by a special type of bacteria called Bulgarian lactobacillus, and this is where all the benefits of this product lie, and not at all in berry additives. This type of bacteria is not part of our intestinal microflora, but has the ability to suppress the activity of harmful microorganisms, due to which digestion improves, respectively, general health It gets better and your immunity is higher. The vast majority of store-bought yoghurts contain cow's milk (if they contain it at all), they are thickened not by fermentation, but by thickening additives, and lactobacilli, which are far from Bulgarian, are introduced artificially. And they come with flavors and dyes identical to natural ones, emulsifiers and preservatives. The benefits of such products are very conditional. The consumer can receive a certain dose excess bacteria, but this does not at all mean that his digestion will improve and his immunity will increase for the simple reason that the human intestinal microflora contains about 500 types of bacteria, and not one or two, which are contained in the so-called “bio-products”. Thus, store-bought yogurts, which are more appropriately called “yogurt products,” are essentially a dessert that you should not indulge in due to the high sugar content and other not very healthy additives.

Cheese. Undoubtedly a very healthy product with a high content of calcium and natural monosodium glutamate, “mind serum”. But it is also counterfeited, using vegetable fats instead of milk. Unfortunately, at home it is impossible to distinguish the right cheese from the wrong it is impossible. However, when choosing cheese for your family, focus on the following indicators: the holes in the body of the cheese must be evenly spaced, the packaged piece must not have any traces of cutting, the body of the cheese must have a uniform color without lighter spots along the edges and there must be no dark inclusions in it. The so-called “processed” cheese is actually not cheese in the literal sense, but a dairy product made from substandard cheeses or substandard cheese mass with the addition of butter, and to give a special, “stringy” consistency, special salts are introduced into the cheese. Despite the fact that processed cheeses have a high nutritional value, they should be given to children from the age of three due to the high content of phosphates, the same melting salts that help it maintain consistency.

Cow butter. Modern oil spoiling the porridge is a piece of cake. The fact is that Russia does not produce enough milk to produce an adequate amount of butter. Everything else is either imported or counterfeit. Most often, margarine or spreads are sold to consumers instead of butter. Margarine is a product plant origin dream big amount milk, during the production of which vegetable fat is subjected to hydrogenation - enrichment with hydrogen; as a result of this manipulation, soybean or rapeseed or corn oil becomes solid, and in combination with additives they are given a creamy taste and smell. A spread is a type of product that contains milk fats of at least 15%, vegetable fats and various flavoring and technological additives. Outwardly, it can be very difficult to distinguish high-quality margarine from butter, but with some persistence this can be done without resorting to expensive tests.

You can start with an organoleptic examination, and in Russian, take a piece of the intended oil in your mouth. The butter melts and does not create a cooling sensation. Margarine or spread causes a “chill” sensation, the taste of lard remains on the tongue, and a coarse texture is felt. In the pan, the butter will melt evenly without cracking, covering the bottom with a thick liquid yellow color, the spread and margarine evaporate immediately, producing a large number of cod. Butter after freezing does not lend itself to a knife and breaks off into pieces different sizes. Spread and margarine can be cut off after freezing, but they will separate. Keep the pack in the refrigerator on the middle shelf. The butter will need a few minutes to “go away”; the spread can be spread right away. When cut, butter has a uniform color, while margarine and spreads have an uneven color, with dark inclusions. Finally, the butter, after lying in the light and open air for several hours, becomes covered with a yellow oxide, “staff.” This does not happen with margarine and spread.

Meat products

Sausages. Actually, sausages should be greatly limited in the children's diet. From 100 kg of meat, modern craftsmen get up to 700 kilograms of sausage and frankfurters - this means that the remaining 600 kg comes from chicken and pork skins, fat, bone meal, soy isolate, blood and various additives: salts, flavors, stabilizers, flavor enhancers, preservatives. Stew is also not food for a child: the boiled meat no longer retains any useful substances; moreover, carrageenan, an extract from seaweed, is often used as a gelling agent. dangerous additive, having carcinogenic effect. If you want to feed your child meat, it is better to buy a piece of meat and make cutlets or meatballs.

Meat. However, even with a piece of meat you can make a big mistake. Many producers cannot resist the temptation to earn extra money and pump up meat aqueous solution complex of additives. This solution includes the same carrageenan, monosodium glutamate, various phosphates and antioxidants. Meat can absorb up to 70% of the solution from its weight, that is, roughly speaking, a piece of meat weighing 1700 grams can contain up to 700 grams of brine. Visually, injected meat does not differ in any way from normal meat, except that in the pan it comes out with an abnormally large amount of liquid. During cooking, the brine turns into broth, so it is advisable to drain the first water, as well as the liquid that evaporates abundantly from the meat during frying. Injection (syringing) is a permitted technological operation, but according to our legislation, the seller is not obliged to inform the buyer that his pork is “hooked on the needle.”

When choosing meat, choose the one that simply says “beef” or “pork” on the label. If a piece of meat is without spices or marinade, and the label says “roast beef”, “roast pork”, or something else like that, it is guaranteed to be stuffed meat. The piece should be clean, have a natural color for the given type of meat, not stick to your hands, have a pleasant faint odor, and have no signs of weathering, dark or, especially, green spots. Fresh meat is elastic, and when pressed, the dent should straighten out immediately.

Bird. The first thing that comes to mind is chickens. This is the cheapest meat on our shelves. Chicken meat has high nutritional value - it has good taste and aroma, suitable for cooking boiled, steamed, stewed and fried foods, appetizers and salads. Finally, it cooks quickly.

Those who caught Soviet times, remember how strikingly different those chicken broths were from modern ones. They were richer, had a greenish tint, and the chicken, although it was cooked almost like beef for an hour and a half and was tough, had a brighter taste. For a sick child, first of all, chicken broth was cooked, and for good reason - broth from organic chicken contains natural “antibiotics,” substances that help the body fight infection. Today's chickens are not the same. In an effort to grow as much cheap meat as possible, producers interfered with the nature of laying hens: they developed fast-growing breeds, and in addition created feed that promoted the rapid growth of chickens. And the consumer received a market version of chicken: it cooks in 20 minutes, is easy to chew, but tastes and nutritional quality decreased noticeably.

Is it possible to find good chickens in our stores? No! If only in specialized super expensive markets selling environmentally friendly products. But the price will be appropriate. Everything else that is available to the average buyer is so incomprehensible. What is 85 rubles per kilo, what is 150 - the difference is only in the promotion of the brand. And so, all economy class chickens are raised using the same technology. Many housewives prefer to buy so-called “paired” chickens, which are laid out on the counter supposedly unfrozen. But, alas, for the most part these “paired” chickens spent some time in freezers. If the package contains liquid blood, mixed with water, even in small quantities, means the chicken was frozen and defrosted before being placed on the counter. Take a closer look at them and you will see that almost all of the “paired” chickens have been frozen. Some manufacturers even include a piece of absorbent material in the packaging to prevent blood and water from spreading onto the backing. Whether or not to use such chickens for baby food is up to you to decide.

Egg. Store-bought eggs have also undergone significant changes since the times of the USSR. The wrong chickens lay the wrong eggs. Since everything that the chicken ate for lunch, breakfast and dinner goes into the egg, those chemicals contained in the feed go into the yolk and white. Many people believe that they should buy their own eggs. However, those private owners who purposefully produce eggs for sale most likely feed their chickens with exactly the same feed. Therefore, there is only one way out - either engage in poultry farming yourself, or look for some trusted housewife who keeps chickens “for herself” and sells small surpluses.

If such a luxury is not available to you, then when buying eggs in a store, first of all pay attention to the presence of a stamp on the eggs themselves or on the factory packaging. You cannot buy eggs without a stamp. Eggs are considered fresh up to 21 days of storage. After this period, it may not go rotten, but the content of nutrients and useful substances in it will noticeably decrease. Surely your grandmother and mother taught you to choose large eggs. But it's not right. The most big eggs are given by old hens finishing their laying career. Exhausted by abundant egg production, they are no longer able to provide sufficient nutrients to their eggs. The most useful are eggs of categories 1 and 2 from young laying hens. They are smaller, but they contain much more vitamins and microelements. You shouldn’t chase bright yolks either. A good factory-made egg should have a pale yolk. If it is bright yellow or even poisonous orange, it means that special substances were added to the food to give it this color.

Egg white is a rather allergic product, so eggs should be introduced into the baby’s diet with extreme caution, at first giving only the yolk in an amount the size of a match head, gradually increasing the portion. A child can eat no more than 2 eggs a week without harm to health, and an adult can eat two or three.

Fish products, seafood. This category of products is very useful. Fish and seafood have a high content of calcium, proteins, virtually no cholesterol, little fat, and what fat is useful for a growing body. And it would be very good if we could buy high-quality fish for our children: not overfrozen, not contaminated with chemical waste, not contaminated with worms, not rotten. But where can I get one like this? If you believe Rospotrebnadzor, the quality of almost half of all fish does not stand up to criticism. When buying fish, be very, very careful - it is fish that ranks first in the number of poisonings. For very young children, it is better to buy fish in the form of baby food. Older children can be switched to regular fish; it is recommended to start with low-fat species, for example, pike perch.

Fish that is sold alive will be as fresh as possible. It is necessary to select in the aquarium individuals that are apparently healthy, without green or white plaque on the scales, not peeling, without wounds, the scales are iridescent, bright. When buying fresh fish on ice, the first thing you need to pay attention to is the gills: they should be bright red. A dark red color, and especially green, indicates that the fish is stale. Fresh fish's eyes should be iridescent, not cloudy, when touching the scales, the finger should not stick to it, the smell is pleasant, without any ammonia tints. The belly is not swollen or torn. If the fish is sold without a head, then look at the vertebral bone: it should not be yellow, green, gray - only white, sometimes with shades of pink. Fresh fish has elastic meat that, when pressed with a finger, regains its shape.

It is better not to buy frozen fish for children at all.

Seafood. These include all those living organisms that live in sea water that cannot be called fish: squid, oysters, scallops, shrimp, crabs, octopus, lobsters, lobsters and other living creatures. Seafood is very healthy food, but at the same time heavy, so small children can be given seafood from the age of three and little by little. Almost all seafood in our stores is frozen or canned. When buying canned food, look at the expiration dates, and if you have made a choice in favor of frozen products, then you should refrain from purchasing if the product is frozen in pieces: this means that it was thawed and then frozen again. Squid carcasses, shrimp, and seafood cocktail components should be crumbly. You need to defrost seafood on the day you plan to eat it. They should be stored defrosted even in the refrigerator for no more than a day.

Vegetable oils and fats. You may be surprised that we have made a distinction between oils and fats. Aren't they the same thing? No, it's not the same thing. To put it simply, vegetable oil consists of vegetable fats.

The most common vegetable oil consumed in Russia is sunflower. Olive is in second place in popularity. All other vegetable oils: soybean, rapeseed, cedar, sesame, flaxseed, cottonseed, corn are specific to our country and are used quite rarely.

Despite the fact that manufacturers never tire of praising the virtues of sunflower oil, upon closer examination it turns out that it is not so healthy. Yes, like any vegetable oil, it does not contain cholesterol, but at the same time it increases the level of “bad” cholesterol in the body. And when fried, it forms a large amount of carcinogens. Sunflower oil It is advisable to use only as a dressing for dishes. Sunflower oil is sold refined and unrefined. Refining (purification) removes from the oil along with harmful substances and all useful. Unrefined oil more or less completely retains all vitamins, minerals and amino acids, but contains a sufficient amount of not very pleasant things. Which one to choose is up to you.

Best used for frying olive oil pure olive oil and olive oil varieties. Olive oil variety olive-pomance oil for home cooking is not used at all, it is used in industrial confectionery production for baking, and the extra-virgin olive oil and virgin olive oil varieties are recommended to be used only for dressings, for cosmetic and medicinal purposes.

Without knowing it, we consume large amounts of coconut And palm oils They are widely used by confectioners all over the world because of their unusual properties for vegetable oil - after processing they become hard and acquire the properties of butter, but at the same time they do not acquire the dangerous qualities of hydrogenated vegetable fats. Being very cheap, they allow manufacturers to make big savings on raw materials. In themselves, these types of oil are not harmful; palm oil is even more beneficial than sunflower oil. It's just a shame to pay the same price for a cake with vegetable cream as for a cake with buttercream.

Spreads and margarines. What is their difference? Spreads contain from 15 to 50% milk fat; margarines contain only solid vegetable fats. Overall, the spread is safer and tastier than margarine. Many families have switched to spreads, abandoning the more expensive butter. But, nevertheless, the best spread can contain up to 8% hydrogenated vegetable fats, which means that those who regularly consume spreads put themselves at risk of myocardial infarction and development oncological diseases. As for margarine, it should not be in the mixture at all. children's menu, since any margarine is loading dose hydrogenated fats, the dangers of which we will talk about in one of the following articles. It is not even advisable to use margarine for baking, not to mention the fact that some housewives add it to porridge and spread it on bread.

Pasta. These are pure complex carbohydrates, a source of large amounts of energy for rapidly growing child's body. By the way, the actual pasta - dietary product, in which the amount of fat is equal to microscopic fractions of a percent. People get fat not from pasta, but from what a person eats with it - butter, pork cutlets, sausages and sausages, grated cheese. To avoid gaining weight, pasta is best consumed with fish, vegetables, mushrooms or seafood.

For the production of pasta, durum and soft wheat varieties are used. The former are considered more useful, since the variety itself requires more nutritious soil, and accordingly, the grain is more saturated with useful substances. In addition, durum pasta does not spread when cooked, does not turn into dough or a sticky mass. They keep their shape perfectly. The difference between them is so great that in many countries pasta is not produced from soft wheat varieties at all, which cannot be said about Russia.

According to our standards, durum pasta must indicate category A. All other categories are made from soft grains. But some manufacturers cheat and mix soft wheat flour with durum wheat flour. Bring such a deceiver to clean water simple: if the water in which you boiled the pasta becomes cloudy, soft wheat varieties were used. And if it also turns green, it means that the manufacturer tinted the pasta to give it a more marketable appearance.

It is preferable for children to give pasta made from durum wheat. A domestic manufacturer is checked for integrity using the experimental method described above, a foreign manufacturer is checked by a label on which durum or semolina should be written. The pasta in the package must have a smooth surface (of course, with the exception of grooved ones), the color of the pasta is uniform, without spots or specks, durum wheat pasta is different amber color. The packaging should not contain crumbs, flour, or splinters. When you try to break these pasta, they “resist” and bend. “Soft” pasta has a rough, porous surface and pale color; it breaks easily.

Cereals. This is a very common food product in Russia. We call cereals whole or crushed grains of plants belonging to cereal crops, as well as peas, lentils, beans - these are also cereals. There is probably no nationality that does not use cereals in their cooking, and this is not surprising: they are rich in microelements, belong to “slow” carbohydrates, that is, they create a feeling of satiety for a long time. long time, and they are inexpensive. In Russia, cereals are used mainly for side dishes and independent dishes - porridge.

When choosing cereal, you need to pay attention to its color. The color of the grain should be natural for this type of cereal. For example, buckwheat grain is beige, and if in the package it has an intense Brown color, which means that it was “fried”, and therefore there are much fewer nutrients in it. Rice comes in white with a hint of grey, golden and brown. In the package, the grains should be the same color and more or less the same in size and shape. The presence of flour at the bottom of the bag should alert you: perhaps beetles are in charge of the package.

Bakery products. In Russia, people traditionally consume large amounts of bread, increasing the “fullness” of dishes. “Without salt it’s not tasty, without bread it’s not filling,” says an old Russian proverb. The demand for this product gives rise to a large number of mini-bakeries that produce buns and pretzels of the most unprecedented shapes and tastes: with cheese, and with pumpkin, and with grains... But practice shows that it is better to buy “state” bread for food, which is baked in large factories, because their dough leavening process is worked out to the smallest detail and they do not resort to in various ways speeding up the rise of the dough. What cannot be said about small bakeries: they often add enzymes to the dough, as a result the dough visually rises, but does not gain maturity, there is no required quantity useful substances.

Nowadays, fresh baked goods are very popular, which are produced and immediately sold in large stores and small street stalls. You shouldn’t get carried away with these outwardly beautiful products for the reason that 2/3 of manufacturers use frozen semi-finished products (already shaped and aged buns and bagels) as a base, the shelf life of which can be up to one and a half years. During such a period of freezing, there will be nothing useful left in the bun. On holidays, once a week on weekends, you can, of course, pamper your household with such baked goods, but it should not be a permanent food item.

When choosing bread, look at the date of its production. U wheat bread The shelf life is one day, for rye it is two days, for small baked goods it is 12 hours. After this period, it is advisable not to eat bread. Do not buy bread that is too voluminous, airy - it is obtained this way due to an excessive amount of leavening agents. Good bread should be easy to cut, not flake, not crumble, and the knife should not “get stuck” in it. The cut surface should be dry, the smell should be pleasant, the crumb should be porous, not sticky, without foreign inclusions or a lump of unbaked dough.

Liliya Kozlova

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