Encourage your child to choose a variety of foods to help ensure that they obtain the wide range of nutrients they need to stay healthy.

Remember to include these sorts of foods:

	Meat, particularly red meat and liver, and fish are rich sources of iron. Pulses (beans and lentils), green vegetables and fortified cereals are also good sources of iron. Iron is needed for healthy blood and research has shown that some children have low intakes of iron, particularly older girls.
	Citrus fruit (such as oranges and lemons), tomatoes and potatoes, are all good sources of vitamin C, which is essential for health. Vitamin C may help the absorption of iron, so having fruit juice with an iron-rich meal will increase iron absorption.
	Milk, margarine, butter, green vegetables, carrots and apricots are all good sources of vitamin A, which is important for good vision and healthy skin.

Schools Food

As your child grows older, they will tend to follow the eating habits you've established at home.

If your child has school dinners, talk to them about what they eat and try to encourage them to vary their meals.

If you choose to give your child a packed lunch, it can be a challenge to keep them varied, interesting and healthy.

But remember, about a third of our diet should be made up of starchy foods such as bread, so sandwiches are a good choice. To make them healthier, make sandwiches using thickly sliced bread or rolls, and choose wholemeal varieties.

Include healthy fillings such as mashed banana. You should also try and add some variety to their lunch, but remember to keep them healthy, so try adding salads and fruits instead of sandwiches from time to time.

Here are some starchy foods that could be included in a packed lunch for more variety:

	pasta
	rice or potato salad
	slices of deep-based pizza topped with lean meat, fish or vegetables
	breadsticks or crackers
	plain popcorn
	scones or malt loaf with a scraping of spread

We should all be eating at least five portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables each day.

Eating fruit and vegetables as snacks between meals as well as part of main meals can help to achieve this.

So include salad and vegetable sticks (e.g. carrots, celery, cucumber, pepper) in your child's packed lunch.

You could also add fresh fruit or some chopped fruit salad. Dried fruit such as raisins or dried apricots are a good addition to a packed lunch.

Some schools let children keep their packed lunches in a fridge at school, which is ideal. If this isn't possible, you could use freezer blocks or gel packs to keep the food cool and safe. Or you could freeze a carton of fruit juice and use that to keep the lunchbox cool – the juice will have defrosted by lunchtime.
 

Try to Avoid


Sweets and snacks

Eating sweet and sticky foods frequently between meals causes dental decay. Snack foods such as cakes, biscuits, crisps, chocolate and sweets, are often high in sugar and saturated fat, and low in certain vitamins and minerals. So if your child does eat these sorts of foods:

	try to make sure they eat them only occasionally or in small amounts, so they only make up a relatively small part of the overall diet.
	help and encourage your child to clean their teeth every day.
	try picking a weekly sweet day, or choose the weekends as a time when your child is allowed to eat sweets.

Watch out for salt

The maximum amount of salt children should be having varies by age:

	4 to 6 years – 3 g a day.
	7 to 10 years – 5 g a day.
	11 year upwards – 6 g a day.

There's no need to add salt to your child's food. If you're buying processed foods, even those aimed at children, remember to check the information given on the labels to choose those with less salt.