Tag: child

How much sugar does my child consume? The sugar meter tells you! – Italian Cuisine

A new online tool is born to compare how much sugar our children consume with how much they should consume to avoid health risks

Excessive consumption of sugar in the diet can cause health problems. According to the Larns (Reference Intake Levels for the Italian Population) drawn up by the Sinu (Italian Society of Human Nutrition), the consumption of sugars (those naturally present in foods and those added) should be limited to quantities of less than 15% of the energy introduced daily, while a high intake, i.e. greater than 25% of the total daily energy, is to be considered potentially risky for the development, for example, of obesity is diabetes. In this sense, the most at risk are the children, more subject to the consumption of baked goods, sweets, juices, ice cream For this reason, nutritionists and pediatricians engaged in the service of Grana Padano Nutritional Education, the sector of the Grana Padano Consortium that has been promoting and disseminating the principles of balanced nutrition for over ten years, have devised a tool which allows you to calculate sugar that every day is consumed compared to what one should consume, also proposing healthy alternatives with less sugar.

Sugarometer, a tool for pediatricians, schools, families

The sugar meter can be used by smartphone, tablet or PC and is already available at this link. The program, supporting a pediatricians, schools and families, it can be used by the doctor and dietician as part of the food anamnesis, in the classroom as a teaching tool and in the family to guide the parent towards a more responsible choice of food for their children.

How the sugar meter works

With a simple click on the foods that are consumed daily and after indicating the quantity, the tool adds up the simple sugars consumed in a day from males and females from 2 to 17 years, measuring both the sugar naturally present in the food, and the added sugars during the processing of baked goods, ice creams, creams, etc., such as sucrose and fructose. After displaying the sum of the teaspoons of sugar consumed in a day, the program la compare with the amount of sugar you should be taking instead according to the Larn benchmarks. The sugar meter does not just warn about the excessive consumption of sugars, but also provides a free pdf manual that offers healthier alternative foods with less sugar, including simple recipes to make at home, as well as useful notes to learn more about the food and its consumption limits.

Beware of added fructose

An 8-year-old male child should on average consume no more than 7-8 teaspoons of sugar in a day, including that naturally contained in the food. According to the experts it is fine favor the sugar naturally contained in food, for example fructose in fresh fruit or lactose in milk, but you have to limit the added amount and to sweeten prefer honey. It is also important to limit the consumption of beverages and foods formulated with fructose and high fructose corn syrups, as well as reducing the use of fructose such as sweetener.

"In addition to the excessive consumption of sugar, a big problem that we have been observing for a long time, in recent years the intake of fructose added to drinks and foods has increased," explained the professor Claudio Maffeis, Full Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Verona. «This contributes to the appearance of fat liver and the increase in circulating levels of lipids and has been indicated as one of the factors that promote excess weight and metabolic syndrome. So good there fresh fruit, but pay attention to sucrose (commonly understood sugar as well as disaccharide, ie glucose + fructose) which is usually added to drinks and foods, to fructose used to sweeten some drinks and to fruit juices or packaged foods .

The child who lives in every great chef – Italian Cuisine

What is that thing that brings everyone back in time in an instant and as if by magic? We asked some great Italian chefs and each one told us what the special ingredient is that still makes them feel like they were wearing short trousers

Who hasn't happened to breathe a perfume and suddenly find yourself reliving a moment of the past? The emotional power of food is so strong that it takes little, an image, a gesture, a flavor, to awaken in the memory those sweet moments that each of us has always carried with us and that perhaps, as in the case of cooks and cooks that we interviewed, they left a mark for the future.

So ad Antonia Klugmann it is enough to smell the scent of tomatoes, the one that is perceived stronger if the leaves of the plant or the stalk are rubbed, to remember when her grandfather Antonio took her to the market to do the shopping. He loves them above all else and therefore he kept adding: "If you asked me what I would take to a deserted island, I would have no doubts: spaghetti with tomato".

Valentino Cassanelli is Ugo Alciati they are united more than by a perfume by a gesture. The one from Emilia and the other from Piedmont, remember when they stole the stuffed tortellini (the first) or agnolotti (the second) from the kitchen table, the kingdom of grandmothers and mothers. Neighbors Mazzucchelli they heard Mama Maria alternately saying "just eat" to the eldest son Massimo (a great gourmet since he was a child) and "eat" to Aurora, who preferred rice in white with a drizzle of oil and a generous grated parmesan cheese, more than tortellini (which today are one of his masterpieces on paper).

For many chefs, the link with the dishes they ate as children is so strong that they have brought them back to their menus. Discover these and other stories of chefs, children, food and love in the June issue of the report and then try to close your eyes and search your memory. What is your special ingredient or dish, what will remain in your heart forever?

My child does sport: what is the best nutrition for small sportsmen? – Italian Cuisine

It teaches sacrifice, team spirit, patience, loyalty, helps to release energy into the most active kids and to focus on a goal. Besides being formative, sport activity is good for health and fights sedentariness typical of our age. However, the nutritional needs of children who play sports change, because they need more energy support. It is easy to notice: when my daughter returns from a volleyball training she is very hungry! But what should sports children eat?

The ideal menu for young sportsmen

A small athlete's day must be divided into meals with combinations of food of both animal and vegetable origin: the former, in fact, as nutritionists explain, provide medium-high biological value proteins, while the latter guarantee a supply of vitamins, antioxidants, fibers and minerals. Everything contributes to an adequate growth of muscle mass and the support required by physical activity.

Breakfast includes Greek yogurt, whole grains, such as spelled and barley, and the dried fruit your children prefer (my daughter for example loves almonds and nuts!). For lunch, for those who eat at home, you can propose a beautiful autumn risotto with red pumpkin, seasoned with grated cheese, and end with fresh fruit, such as kiwi or apple. At dinner, instead, white meat, for example chicken or turkey, will be perfect with a side dish of potatoes. The meal always ends with fruit. This menu is simple to make and also suitable for other family members, so it will be easier to dine together and enjoy each other's company, telling the day around the table!

The snack of the sports child

And if children burn so many calories already in their daily activity, the days in which sports sessions are added require an extra dose of energy. Between daily meals it is therefore important not to forget the snack, which should not weigh them down if they are about to attend a swimming, volleyball, basketball or whatever they like most, but they must recharge them and make them arrive at dinner in force. The energy requirement of a child aged 9 and up is around 1900 calories a day divided into 5 meals. Of all these, the adequate intake for the snack is 193 calories. Unduetris Merenda Sport by Citterio it is a balanced and tasty answer to this need: it is a combined and delicious snack, based on a strawberry, banana, grape and apple smoothie, grissini and salami slices. Very comfortable to carry and put in the gym bag, thanks also to the fact that it is kept out of the fridge for up to 8 hours, it is a complete snack and definitely good!