A few decades ago, buyers could not even dream of such a variety of products as they are now. An abundance of products, household chemicals, clothing and toys will confuse anyone.
Many adults do not pay attention to the usefulness and composition of the products; they eat what they want (or what they have enough money for). For children, this rule does not work. Parents want the best for their child, so they are very careful about buying products for the child.
That's just most often they focus not on the composition of the product, but on the advice of friends or happy children from advertising. People buy juices, curds, chocolate, naively believing that all this will bring invaluable benefits to the children's body. If you have a small child, read our article.
Below are the 10 most dangerous foods for children that you find useful. Perhaps you will change your attitude to certain foods and rethink your child’s diet.
10. Breakfast cereal
Here it is the ubiquitous advertisement. Happy girls and boys for breakfast eat only “stars” and “balls”. Parents are also happy: now there is no need to cook, the child will receive all the necessary substances from breakfast cereals.
We have to upset you: there is nothing useful in them. Breakfast cereals are made from grains of wheat, oats, corn, the shell is removed, only digestible carbohydrates remain. After a couple of hours, the child will want to eat again.
Breakfast cereals are high in salt and sugar. They have enough dyes and harmful additives. In addition, breakfast cereals are expensive. Want to feed your child a healthy breakfast, do not reinvent the wheel, cook porridge. For beauty and taste, you can add fruit.
9. Grapes
This is not to say that grapes do one harm. The berry has a lot of useful substances, but only children need to give it with caution. It is caloric, difficult to digest, in some cases causes gas formation and liquefaction of the stool, harmful to tooth enamel, can cause allergic reactions.
Grapes can be easily choked, you can not give it to a child who has not learned to carefully chew food. Pediatricians recommend giving grapes no earlier than 2 years. It is not necessary to comply with this restriction, only you need to act wisely.
If you want to please your crumbs, add grapes to compotes, casseroles. After heat treatment, the berry loses its properties that provoke fermentation processes.
8. Honey
Many parents believe that a child should not be given sugar, but a spoonful of honey will certainly not hurt. “This is a natural product,” they think. The opinion of doctors is not earlier than 2 years.
Honey, of course, has many beneficial properties, but it can cause a severe allergic reaction. This is not the worst thing that can happen. Honey contains bacteria that do not stay in the body of an adult. He has developed protective functions that the child does not have.
Bacteria can trigger a serious illness - botulism. Damage to the nervous system, muscle paralysis. If you do not want to take risks, do not give honey to a small child.
7. Yogurt
It is no secret to anyone that the advertised yogurts actually do not bring any benefit. They are stored for a long time, they contain a large amount of sugar, artificial additives and dyes.
What now completely abandon yogurt? Of course not, just take their choice more carefully. First, pay attention to the expiration date. It should not exceed 2 weeks. The shorter the shelf life, the more useful the yogurt.
Give preference to those that do not contain preservatives, dyes and sugar. If your child refuses to eat natural yogurt, add fresh fruit.
6. Semolina
Contrary to the prevailing opinion that any porridge is useful, this is not entirely true. Semolina, which was previously fed to newborn children, does not bear any benefit. After processing in the cereal there are no useful substances left, only carbohydrates.
Semolina porridge is very high in calories. Therefore, you should not listen to mother and grandmother, who say that "more than one generation has grown on semolina." It is, but do not forget that in those days, parents often had no alternative.
Either leave the child hungry, or feed him with semolina. If the child is very small, offer him a quality adapted mixture. If the child is older, prepare any other cereal for him for breakfast.
5. Juice
It is not easy to refuse a child to buy another box of juice. When buying it, remember that the juice contains a lot of sugar. If the child drinks the drink too often, the load on the pancreas increases.
In addition, in juices there are a lot of preservatives, dyes and other harmful substances. We are not talking about any vitamins. If your child is used to juice, it will be very difficult to refuse it.
In this case, you can prepare freshly squeezed juice and be sure to dilute it with water. Just do not forget that it is not worth it to get carried away by juices, even freshly squeezed ones.
4. Glazed curds
Most parents perceive glazed curds as a tasty and healthy snack. In fact, there is a huge amount of sugar, cheap fats, dyes, emulsifiers and other additives. In addition, because of the "chemistry" it is difficult to assess the quality of the cottage cheese from which the cheese was made.
Often, there is no need to talk about any quality. The well-known program “Control purchase” conducted an analysis of the composition of some brands of glazed curds. In most cases, the amount of preservatives in the product was several times higher than the numbers indicated on the package.
And some even contained Escherichia coli bacteria and mold, which is difficult to see with the naked eye. If your child is crazy about glazed curds, you can cook them yourself. There are enough recipes on the Internet, and you don’t have to worry about the usefulness of the product anymore.
3. Cow's milk
Cow's milk is very healthy. The content of proteins and nutrients in it is 3 times higher than their content in human breast milk. At first glance, this may seem like a big plus, but in fact there is nothing good here.
Excess protein and nutrients lead to a large burden of kidneys. The child does not have enzymes that will help him digest cow's milk. It contains casein, which can cause a severe allergic reaction or even intestinal bleeding. Do not risk the health of the child. For the first time, cow's milk can be tasted at 2 years old.
2. Nuts
A very useful and tasty product that children should be given with caution. Pediatricians recommend including them in a child’s diet after 3 years, and children with allergic reactions even later.
Allergies are the most common reason why you should put off your nuts. In principle, there is nothing wrong with nuts, only the product should be of high quality.
You need to carefully monitor the child so that he does not choke. Nuts are very high in calories, so the daily dose should not exceed the recommended one. Still, do not rush to treat the child with nuts, this food is very difficult to digest.
1. Mushrooms
Mushrooms have great nutritional value and are rich in B vitamins, but should not be given to children under 6 years of age. Each doctor has his own opinion about when the first time you can try mushrooms (not earlier than 6 - 7 years).
They have too much fiber, it makes it difficult to absorb nutrients. Another reason for not giving mushrooms to young children is toxicity.
They absorb toxins from the environment. If the adult body does not respond to them, then the child’s body is very sensitive to harmful substances. Do not rush to give the child mushrooms, he will still have time to try everything.