Healthy fats are good for you, your body, your metabolism and your mind. We’ve been conditioned to think of all food fats as bad. There are certainly “bad fats” that are unhealthy, but equally important there are “good fats” that keep you healthy.
Children need healthy fats in their diet to develop appropriately. Most importantly, babies need a lot of fat for development. Human breastmilk provides approximately 50 percent of its calories in fat. Infants also need fat in their diet for brain growth, because the brain grows more in the first two years of life than at any other time in a person’s development! Naturally high fat breastmilk is the most complete nutrition for a baby’s development.
Some healthy fats to include in your kid’s diet as children get older are eggs, wild caught fish, full fat goat’s milk yogurt, coconut milk, sunflower or pumpkin seeds and nuts. Buy organic when you can to avoid pesticides and GMOs. Additionally, including foods that contain high amounts of Omega 3’s support a child’s nutrition and build brain cells.
Now for the “bad fats.” Most of this can be common sense, but too much chocolate and / or candy loaded with sugar turns into fat. Try to avoid fried foods, shelf packaged snacks that contain hydrogenated ingredients, “fast foods”, most shelf stable salad dressing, and fake foods (like false cheeses and whips). Minimizing the amount of these unhealthy fats in your child’s diet is important, as they can compromise brain health and physical fitness.
When you are cooking and baking at home, healthy oils include non-mixed cooking oils such as cold pressed olive oil, coconut oil and avocado oil. Avoid excessive seed oils as they are actually bad for you.
Teach your children that not all fats are bad fats. Encourage them to learn and participate in their food choices. Kids are so creative. I bet you can get your child to come up with a “healthy fat” snack or meal recipe if you give them a lesson in what is healthy for them and what is not.
Blessings and best wishes,
Dr. Kenneth Akey