Childhood is the age to make your kids strong both physically and mentally. Making healthy choices for your children, whether their meals or their workout routine, can be daunting. Yoga is an effective form of physical exercise to improve your children’s physical attributes while making them more attentive, calm, and healthy.
On the other hand, making the proper nutritious additions to your kids’ diet and encouraging them to try healthy dishes can immensely improve their well-being.
In this article, we explore how yoga and nutrition can boost your child’s overall health.
Choose Proper Nutrition For Your Children
Nutrition is a vital part of health and growth. Adequate nutrition is connected to enhanced physical and mental health, robust immune systems, lower chances of non-communicable illnesses (cardiovascular disease and diabetes), and longer lifespan. Young kids require a variety of foods to get the necessary nutrients and become healthy.
A balanced diet is also crucial to deliver the energy children need to grow normally. Some of the critical foodstuffs for your child’s overall development are:
1. Soy Diet
Soybeans are a part of the pea vegetables family and have been a staple food in Asia for ages. Soy dishes are popular among vegetarian and non-vegetarian people due to their high ‘complete’ protein content and soy food’s ability to become milk and meat substitutes.
Soybeans contain phytoestrogens that have been linked with profitable health outcomes. Consuming soybean-based meals may lower the risk of several health concerns, including cancers, and improve your child’s bone health. Besides soy protein, consuming soy products will also deliver beneficial nutrients like fiber, omega-3 fatty acids, and antioxidants.
2. Whole Grains
Whole grains provide a nutrient that most kids don’t have in their diet: fiber. Fiber makes them full and healthy, in addition to several other health advantages. Whole grains also offer copper, magnesium, iron, B vitamins, and phytochemicals. Kids require about 25 grams of fiber daily, but most snacks have only 1-3 grams per serving. Arrange for 100% whole grain or whole wheat snacks that contain at least 4-5 grams of dietary fiber in every serving.
High-fiber whole-grain meals for children include oatmeal, brown rice, whole-wheat pasta, quinoa, whole-wheat bread, and whole-wheat tortillas.
3. Nuts And Seeds
Nuts and seeds offer combined benefits of protein, fiber, and healthy fats. They are also rich in magnesium, calcium, and alpha-linolenic (ALA) acid. A handful of nuts like Brazil nuts, almonds, hazelnuts, cashews, pistachios, peanuts, pine nuts, pecans, and walnuts can provide protein levels of 4 to 7 grams per ounce and 150 to 200 calories.
Similarly, seeds offer 5 to 9 grams of protein and 150 calories per ounce. Some seeds you can add to your child’s meals are flaxseeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds.
4. Vegetables and Fruits
Leafy greens like kale and spinach and orange/red vegetables like tomatoes and pumpkin are excellent nutrition sources for your children as they are rich in vitamin K and vitamin A, respectively.
A diet containing colorful vegetables and fruits can help your children boost their immunity and reduce the risks of ailments like low blood pressure, vision, digestive issues, abnormal blood sugar, and inadequate weight.
Yoga For Your Child’s Wellbeing
Besides providing your child with the proper diet, physical exercise is also crucial for their overall development. Yoga is a physical and mental discipline that can keep your child fit and ready for life’s challenges. The best factor about yoga is that your child doesn’t need special skills or prior knowledge to approach yoga asanas!
Here are some easy yoga poses that your kids can begin with.
1. Bridge Pose
The pose helps strengthen your kids’ spine and thighs. This pose requires the practitioners to lie on the back and bend the knees while keeping the feet flat and hips wide apart. Now, they need to place the arms in resting positions alongside the body and lift their back off the floor. The body muscles must remain tight during the pose.
2. Easy Pose
This is one of the simplest yoga poses for little children who need assistance to practice yoga. First, the practitioners need to sit upright with their legs crossed. Next, they must keep their hands on their knees and keep their head, spine, and neck straight. The thighs and feet should be relaxed. The pose benefits your back, hips, and thighs.
3. Corpse Pose
Although it looks easy, this yoga pose needs patience and concentration from the practitioners. First, the practitioners should lie on their backs with their hands and legs stretched. They need to close their eyes and breathe naturally in a relaxed manner.
This yoga pose helps to keep blood pressure low and improves the heart health of your kids. It may also help fight fatigue, memory loss, and insomnia.
There are several benefits of yoga for your child’s well-being. Yoga improves muscle strength, increases bone density, and protects against osteoporosis. Yoga helps oxygen and blood circulation, assisting your child in athletic activities. Yoga boosts mental focus and improves cognitive function, making your child perform better in challenging situations.
Conclusion
Yoga and nutrition are two crucial factors that complement each other regarding your child’s well-being. With the right diet selection and a proper yoga routine, your kids can develop a healthy physique and a sound mind.
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