Healthy Eating Tips for Kids with Diabetes

This week Disability Living has been blogging about nutrition. Nutrition is an extremely important topic. After all, nutrition is necessary for health and even survival. Many children and adults are malnourished, not due to poverty, but to disability. Disabilities like cerebral palsy and autism can cause issues with eating and swallowing, and can make it difficult to get proper nourishment. Diabetes can also make eating a healthy diet challenging for a child.

Kids with diabetes can eat right.

Did you know that for kids with diabetes, eating right is all about finding balance? Eating right is not necessarily about eating perfectly healthy foods all of the time; it is more about eating a proper balance of foods. Kids with diabetes should be encouraged that they do not have to give up the foods they love — they just have to learn how to make smart choices about what they put into their bodies.

Help your child with diabetes eat healthy.

Can you as a parent help your child with diabetes consistently eat a healthy diet? Yes. Here are a few tips that will make it easy to help your child eat a nutritious diet.

– When cooking at home, bake foods; do not fry. This will help you effortlessly keep control over the calories your child consumes.

– Purchase whole grains to stock your shelves with.

– Do not keep sugary soda in the house. Instead, try club soda with fresh fruit juice.

– Keep fruits and vegetables readily available. Keep a healthy, beautiful bowl of fresh fruit on the kitchen table. This encourages the entire family to snack healthily.

– Make eating an event. When it’s time for dinner, sit down and eat with your child. Be an active part of his or her healthy eating experience. Talk to your child for a few minutes before going in for a second helping of food.

– Demonstrate healthy eating to your child by making smart nutritional choices yourself.
– Make healthy snacks that include all of the food groups. Find a list of healthy snack options at http://www.diabeticlifestyle.com/eating-well/healthy-snacks-kids-diabetes.

– Ask a doctor to make specific food recommendations for your child.

How do you keep your diabetic child healthy?

Does your child have diabetes? If so, we understand that it can be difficult to help your child eat a consistently healthy diet. How do you keep your diabetic child healthy? We invite you to share your tips with us by leaving a comment on this Disability Living blog post. Your advice may assist another parent who is in need of ideas. We appreciate your feedback!