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Basic Nutrients Your Child Needs
The four basic building blocks of your child's diet are water, complex carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. A proper balance of these essentials is necessary for optimum health. The table on page 48 provides a brief introduction to your child's fundamental dietary requirements, as well as a guide to the functions and food sources of these four dietary elements. A diet based on a wide variety of simply prepared whole foods is most likely to meet your child's basic nutritional needs.
Parents who raise their children as vegetarians must take special care not only to provide adequate protein for healthy growth, but also to teach their children about a nutrient-rich and protein-adequate diet. Many plant foods do not contain the full spectrum of eight amino acids that make up a complete protein. At one time it was thought that to provide a complete protein, certain foods--such as rice and beans-had to be combined and eaten at the same time. Now we know that a diet based on a variety of vegetables, legumes, and grains will provide adequate protein for a child. However, it is important that vegetarian children eat a varied, balanced diet in order to get the full spectrum of amino acids, and therefore complete protein.
Also necessary for good health are nutrients that together are classified as micronutrients, which include vitamins and minerals.
Vitamins
Vitamins are essential to normal body function. They are not a form of energy or fuel, as foods are. But they play an indispensable role in the normal metabolism, growth, and development of your child's body.
Vitamins are classified as either water-soluble or fat soluble, depending upon which type of molecule (fat- or water-based) transports them in the bloodstream. Water-soluble vitamins include all of the B complex and vitamin C. These vitamins are quickly used by the body or excreted in urine, so they must be replenished daily. Water-soluble vitamins may leach out of foods during cooking, be damaged by overprocessing, or be destroyed when foods are overcooked.
The fat-soluble vitamins-A, D, E, and K-are fairly stable during low-temperature cooking. However, antibiotics, mineral oil, and certain drugs (steroids, for example) interfere with their absorption from the digestive tract. Frying foods alters the fat-soluble vitamins in them as well.
For a review of the vitamins your child needs every day, as well as their respective functions and food sources, see the table on page 50.
Minerals
Minerals are part of all body tissues and fluids. They are essential in nerve responses, muscle contractions, maintaining proper fluid balance, and the internal processing of nutrients. Minerals influence the manufacture of hormones and regulate electrolyte balance throughout the body. The term electrolyte refers to the form in which various minerals circulate in the body. Calcium, potassium, and sodium are examples of important electrolytes. Calcium, for example, is not only an important constituent of bones and teeth; it is also involved in the transmission of nerve impulses, the transmission of energy from cell to cell, and the contraction and relaxation of muscles, including the heart. Calcium, potassium, and magnesium together control the continuous cycle of contraction and relaxation of the heart muscle and blood vessels. If these electrolytes are out of balance, resulting fluid shifts may cause swelling or dehydration, the neuromuscular system may become irritable, or an irregular heart rhythm may develop.
Minerals are excreted daily and must be replaced either through the diet or in supplement form. Of all the vitamins and minerals, calcium and iron are probably the most important for children, and may be valuable to take as supplements. For a quick review of the minerals your child needs every day, as well as their functions and food sources, see the table on page 52.
Diet and nutrition comprise a huge subject that deserves your time and attention. Read more, experiment with new and different foods, use cookbooks devoted to whole-foods cooking, and ask lots of questions. The more you understand about food and nutrition, the more committed you will be to providing a healthy, wholesome diet for your child.
