Sometimes it’s really easy to see if your child has an unhealthy gut. They might have issues going to the toilet, go a little too often, have really stinky bowel movements, or really sore tummies on a regular basis. These can all be symptoms of other issues, so it’s a good idea to get them checked out by your GP first.
However we can all ensure that our kids have healthy guts through some basic good dietary habits.
- Encourage them to eat less crap. That’s right, less added sugar, processed foods, packaged foods, white foods (white bread and pasta). It’s up to us as parents to give our kids a healthy selection to choose from, 80% of the time. We can encourage them that treats are occasional foods which make up the other 20%.
- Introduce more fibre in their diets to keep things moving down there. Kids under 8 should eat 14-18g of fibre a day. 9-18 year olds need a whopping 20-28g of fibre a day. You can read more about the national fibre intake guidelines here.
- Drink more water. This is going to help with the fibre intake above
- Encourage more regular exercise, it keeps blood flow and bowels moving. That’s both energetic and passive exercise. Walking to the shops rather than driving, more general activities not screen related.
Fibre 101
Sufficient fibre each day keeps their bowels regular, their healthy gut bacteria thriving. It helps the healthy gut grow stronger than the unhealthy bacteria. It also keeps them full, slows the release of sugar into their bloodstream, and keeps their hormones in check (parents of teenagers take note!). They should be aiming to eat some fibre with each and every meal, to achieve their daily fibre intake.
The best sources are fruit and veg, wholegrains and legumes (beans and peas). There are plenty of foods high in fibre, the aim is finding the foods which are easy for your child to eat.
Top fibre foods which are easy for kids to eat :
- Apples: try them with peanut butter for picky eaters
- Oats : try adding cinnamon, honey, grated apple or banana
- Weetbix or other whole grain cereals (see note below on multigrain cereals)
- Berries: strawberries and blueberries have a really really high fibre content
- Avocado is a great fibre source
- Pear
- Corn
- Peas, throw a few into a risotto
- Wholemeal bread and pasta (Serve multi grain bread instead of white bread, maybe start with wholemeal)
- Sweet potato
- Rice (brown basmati seems to be the most popular brown variety with kids, they hardly notice!)
- Carrots
- Beans (nothing wrong with baked beans!)
- popcorn is great for their lunchbox, try lightly salted not flavoured
Remember to ensure they drink plenty of water with all this fibre intake or you might get some nasty blockages.
Some tips:
- Serve some sliced fruit with brekkie, lunch and after dinner.
- Add flaxseed meal to their morning oats, to baking (muffins) or pancakes
- Include berries in their muffins or pancakes
- Bananas and cheese can cause constipation in kids, as they can become quite binding, so it’s worth keeping an eye on these. Along with processed foods (white bread, pasta, biscuits and other packaged foods).
- Eat whole fruits instead of drinking fruit juices.
- High-fibre breakfast options include porridge or muesli. Increase the fibre further by adding oatbran or wheatgerm, nuts, seeds (sunflower, sesame, pumpkin) and fresh fruit. If you eat a boxed cereal, choose one that has a whole grain as its first ingredient.
- Don’t peel your fruit and vegetables, a lot of the fibre is in the skin.
- Replace white rice, bread, and pasta with brown rice and whole grain products.
- Use wholemeal flour when you bake.
- Read nutrition labels and choose foods with the highest dietary-fibre numbers.
- Get them to snack on raw vegetables like carrot with hummus instead of chips, crackers, or chocolate bars.
- Start serving salads with their dinner. This might be just a few lettuce leaves and a slice or two of carrot to start with. Build up slowly.
- Aim for making vegetables—preferably fibre-rich types like greens and broccoli— a part of every meal and snack
- Introduce beans, lentils and split peas to their meals.
- Try adding chickpeas, kidney beans or lentils to soups, curries and casseroles.
- For constipation, the fibre in wheat bran and oat bran is considered more effective than fibre from fruits and vegetables.
