Kid's Digestion WORDS BRONWYN LOWE
In our work we find there is plenty of awareness about the implication of poor gut health and digestion for adults, but what about kids?
When starting to look at gut health for your children, it is important to look at what is going in, i.e. what are they actually eating and how?
Here at the Herbal Dispensary, it is not uncommon to have parents coming in and telling us that their child seems to have trouble with their digestive system, but they are not sure how to help them and what the implications of poor digestion are or what the benefits of addressing this could be.
How many servings of green vegetables?
So why should you care? Good gut health for your children may help to contribute to a stronger immune system, as well as offering long-term benefits for physical and mental wellbeing. Improvements that you may see in the short term are with bowel and digestive functions, improved sleep, mood and general wellbeing. You may also notice an improvement in conditions such as allergies and skin conditions like eczema.
PAGE 38 | WWW.NOURISHMAGAZINE.CO.NZ
How many pieces of fruit have they eaten? Where did their protein come from? What about iron and zinc rich foods? Did they drink enough water each day? Are they overeating at mealtimes or running around eating? Are you serving balanced meals, but they only eat a portion and the rest goes in the bin? Keep a record of what they are eating, you could even jot down over a week what they have eaten and see if you can pick up where the gaps in nutrition might be. Once you have identified that you would like to change some of