Best Nutrition Advice for School-Aged Children
Eat breakfast every day:
- To help maintain concentration in class.
- A good breakfast should provide a third of the total daily energy requirement.
- A typical breakfast includes a cereal (rice, bread, oats, and corn-flakes), protein-rich food (cheese, labneh, egg, milk, and yogurt) and vitamin C rich fruit (orange, kiwi ...).
- Children who eat a healthy breakfast are less likely to snack on foods that are high in fat and/or sugar later on and tend to have a better nutrient intake across the day
- Skipping breakfast has deleterious effects on memory and attention.
Snacks in schools:
- Choose snacks that provide a range of essential nutrients as well as energy, such as low-fat yogurts, low-fat milk, fruits, healthy sandwiches of white cheese or labneh and vegetables, unsalted/ unsweetened nuts and seeds
- Avoid popular snack foods such as biscuits, ships, crisps and chocolate bars that are high in fat and/ or sugar.
Eat a variety of foods in order to have adequate nutrient intake:
- Adequate nutrition will help the child develop maximal intelligence (IQ) and well-being.
- Choose a daily diet with plenty of grain products, vegetables and fruits.
- Choose a diet low in fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol.
- Choose a diet that provides enough calcium and iron to meet the growing body’s requirements.
- Choose a diet low in sugars and salt: Remove salt shakers from tables
- Take oily fish at least once every three weeks
- Restrict provision of meat products
Water.
Drink water all the day
Shift to low-calorie and low-fat meals, snacks and deserts, low fat or skimmed milk
- Reducing the use of deep frying
- Avoid taking sweet deserts, soft drinks, fruit-flavored drinks, sugar-coated cereals, chips or candy, as they have little nutritional value
Balance the food with regular physical activity in order to maintain a healthy body weightIt is recommended that children and young people should engage in 60 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity each day.
Parents should teach children from an early age about nutrition, foods, drinks, healthy eating and drinking
- To know what happens to the food they consume.
- The child should be guided to make independent food choices and eat a variety of foods.
Dental Hygiene
It is important to teach children about dental hygiene to keep their teeth healthy and strong.
Download the new version of the Ministry of Public Health application and discover new features providing reliable health information
and advanced digital services.
The new version allows you to scan medicine barcodes to verify whether the medication is officially registered with the Ministry of Public Health and distributed through approved official channels, contributing to enhanced patient safety and reducing counterfeit and illegal medicines. In addition to other healthcare services, including:
- Tracking medication records on MediTrack
- Locating the nearest healthcare facility
- Accessing information and statistics on nurseries
- Following the latest health news and updates
The Ministry encourages citizens to rely exclusively on the official application as a trusted source for accurate and reliable health information.
