What your kids must eat for dinner

What you eat can have a direct impact on your weight, fitness and overall health. This is why it is important to know what to eat for dinner and lunch and other meals of the day and how much to eat during a meal.

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Written By: Editorial Team | Updated : February 6, 2019 12:03 PM IST

A number of studies including a recent one have proven that diet plays a more important role in weight loss than exercise. The ratio is about 70:30. What you eat can have a direct impact on your weight, fitness and overall health. This is why it is important to know what to eat for breakfast, dinner and lunch and other meals of the day and how much to eat during a meal. These rules extend to not just adults but also the kids. In her most recent post regarding the Rujuta Diwekar Fitness Project 2019, an annual weekly nutritional guideline, celeb nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar talked about the importance of having a wholesome dinner for kids. Here are some dinner guidelines you need to follow:

1) Have a wholesome, simple dinner at least 6 days a week which consists of dal-rice, khichdi, roti-sabzi and not variety for dinner.

2) What will you eat for dinner is a question that we should never ask our children. Instead, we should tell them what they will be eating for dinner tonight a steady, simple and nutritious meal.

3) Tests a dinner it should pass -

1. It should be a meal that was your grandmom s dinner too

2. It should be local to your region

3. It should be easy to cook and tastes best when served hot

4) All traditional combinations like roti-sabzi, dal-chawal, khichdi-kadhi, etc., meet this requirement and it ensures that the growing bodies and brains of our children meet their requirement of nutrients too. It even ensures sound sleep. The key is to stay consistent with dinner, even at the cost of it being boring, on most nights of the week. And yes, don t forget to add ghee.

5) What you must not have for dinner on a regular basis -

variety* different meals every day

ready to cook meals like noodles & pasta

take away or ordered in food

These do not have the nutrients to fuel growth, often leave our kids dehydrated and disturb the sleep routine too.

6) Eating out Not more than twice a month, and that includes the times they may have eaten out because of birthday parties, etc.

*You may offer your children variety for dinner once a week at home, ideally on a Saturday.

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