‘Healthy Eating for Primary Schoolchildren’ Talk for Parents

1. ‘Healthy Eating for Primary Schoolchildren’Talk for Parents Central Health Education Unit Department of Health

2. Purpose To enhance parents’ knowledge and skills of dietary nutrition for helping and encouraging children to foster good eating habits.

3. Here you’re about to… • Have a very precious lesson in life • to understand the importance of healthy eating • Be at the forefront of time • to know about the latest nutritional guidelines on lunch and snacks • Be smarter parents • to learn more practical skills of encouraging and educating children about choosing healthy lunch and snacks

4. What is your idea about healthy children?

5. Like this? Pictures source: Mingpao and Metropolis Daily

6. Or this?

7. News clips on obesity of schoolchildren Stroke: Rising Children Killer Over 60 cases of stroke with patients under 16 years old are recorded on average every year. The figures show a rising trend. （News quoted from sina.com , 03/05/2006, translated.） Obesity Killed Kid of 286 lbs, Aged 9 Ventilation Dysfunction Complex Makes Doctors Clueless （Sing Pao Daily News, 20/05/2005, translated.)

8. News clips on obesity of schoolchildren Children with obesity possess risks of obstructive sleep apnoea 10 times higher than their normally weighed counterparts. (CUHK press release, 31/03/2005, translated)

9. Latest situation in Hong Kong • Primary schoolchildren’s obesity rate rose from 16.4% in 1997/98 to 18.7% in 2003/04 • In 2005, chronic illnesses counted 57% of the local death toll

10. Why is my child getting fatter and fatter?

11. Stroke Hypertension Heart diseases Arthritis Diabetes Energy imbalance Kcal Output ＜Kcal Input Main cause: Obesity

12. Potato chips / Shrimp crackers Ice block / Ice cream Candies / Chocolate Reasons for having too much calories… • Eating too much a quantity • Sitting much, moving less • Eating too much junk food

13. What one have to pay for poor eating habit…

14. It affects learning ability • It increases the chance for illnesses: obesity, heart diseases, stroke, diabetes, cancer • It undermines children’s confidence, ruins their self-esteem and affects mental health: anorexia, bulimia • It causes extra burden to the medical expenses of the community Picture source: www.fathersforlife.org

15. EatSmart@school.hk Healthy eating starts with you!

16. EatSmart@school.hk Campaign Purpose • To facilitate the establishment of healthy eating habit among local primary students Objectives • To enhance schoolchildren’s and their parents’ knowledge of healthy eating • To create a healthy eating environment in school • To boost and improve schoolchildren’s knowledge, belief and behaviour regarding healthy eating

17. The latest guidelines produced by the Department of Health

18. With the guidelines, we hope students can… • Achieve energy balance • Increase fruit and vegetables intake • Reduce total intake of fat • Reduce intake of sugar • Reduce intake of salt

19. How much food do children have to eat for a day?

20. Food Pyramid for Children

21. Lunch should… provide of the nutrients that children need every day one-third

22. Tips on healthy lunch box Grains and cereals, vegetables andmeatshould be in the ratio of :: 1 2 3

23. Recommended quantity for junior and senior primary schoolchildren

24. What is ‘portion’? • Portion = serving • The common unit of recommended food intake • It helps maintain a balanced diet • It is used for describing the recommended quantity of food needed daily from the 5 food groups for adequate nutritional intake

25. Grains and Cereals

26. One serving of grains and cereals is • ~ 1/5 bowl of plain cooked rice / rice noodles (40g) • ~ 1/4 bowl of egg noodles (40g) • ~ 1/3 bowl of cooked spaghetti or macaroni (50g) • ~ 1/2 slice of bread without crust (20g) • ~ 1 egg-sized potato (40g) contain carbohydrates, which is a good source of energy

27. Vegetables

28. One servingof vegetables • 1 bowl of uncooked leafy vegetables • 1/2 bowl of cooked leafy vegetables / gourds / mushrooms rich in dietary fibres, which can help improve intestinal health, blood sugar and cholesterol level, etc.

29. Meat, Poultry, Fish, Eggs and Legumes

30. One serving of meat, legumes, eggs • 4 slices of cooked meat (as big as a mahjong tile) • 1/2 bowl of cooked legumes (board beans, kidney beans) • 1/3 bowl of hard bean curd • 1 egg 1 egg 3-4 pcs of bean curd 90g of beans 40g of meat & fish They are the primary sources of fat and protein, providing calories and essential elements for growth and development

31. Fruit

32. One serving of fruit • 1 medium-sized (as big as a fist) fruit (e.g. orange, apple) • 1/2 piece of large-sized banana • 1 handful of grapes (~ 10 grapes) • 1cup (150ml) of freshly blended fruit juice • 1/2 box of unsweetened dried fruit Orange Mango Mandarin Grapefruit Pomelo Strawberry They are rich in dietary fibres and vitamins

33. Fats and oil

34. One serving of fats and oil • 1 tsp of plant oil • 1 tbsp of salad dressing

35. How to choose healthy food for children?

36. About the ‘Quality’… • 3 lows, 1 high: Low in fat, low in sugar, low in saltand high in fibre • Types of food in lunch: • Encouraged Food Items • Limited Food Items • Strongly Discouraged Food Items

37. Encourage Food Items • Whole grains or high fibre grains/cereals • Low-fat dairy products or other calcium-rich food

38. Limited Food Items • Grains and cereals with added fat or oil and sauce e.g. fried rice, fried noodles, baked rice with sauce • Fatty cut of meat and poultry with skin e.g. chicken wings, spare ribs, chicken legs, fatty minced meat cake • Whole-fat dairy products e.g. full-cream milk, regular cheese, whole-fat yoghurt • Processed or preserved meat, eggs and vegetables e.g. sausages, ham, roasted pork, preserved mustard green • High-salt or high-fat sauce or gravy *Remark: It is recommended that sauce or gravy with high salt or fat content should be served sparingly and separately.

39. Strongly Discouraged Food Items • Deep-fried food items • Food items with added animal fat, plant sources of saturated fat and hydrogenated-fat e.g. lard, chicken oil, butter, coconut oil, palm oil, margarine • Desserts or beverages with more than 10g or 2 tsp of added sugar in each serving • Items with very high salt content e.g. preserved meat sausages, salted fish, salted eggs, etc.

40. Quick quiz… 1. What should be the ratio for grains and cereals (such as rice / noodles), vegetables and meat? 3：2：1

41. Quick quiz… 2.What kinds of food should be included in each lunch? Vegetables and fruit

42. Quick quiz… 3.How many servings of vegetables and fruit should a child eat on average in each lunch? 1 serving of vegetables and ½ serving of fruit

43. Quick quiz… 4.What would be the healthy choice of meat? Lean meat, seafood, fish, eggs, skinned poultry

44. Quick quiz… 5.What should be done to the meat before cooking? Remove visible fat or skin and extra oil

45. Quick quiz… 6.What would be the healthier kinds of cooking oil? Plant oil such as olive oil, canola oil, corn oil, peanut oil

46. Quick quiz… • What are the low-fat ways of cooking? Boiling, baking, steaming, quick sauté with less oil

47. Quick quiz… 8.How to reduce the intake of salt? • Avoid using processed meat and preserved food, and take other seasonings as alternatives of salt

48. Quick quiz… 9.What could be used to make food more delicious if not using salt? • Use more natural seasonings like lemon juice, pepper, black pepper, ginger, garlic, star anise, etc.

49. Quick quiz… 10. How should gravy or sauce be provided? • Sauce and food should be served separately. High-fat and high-salt gravy / sauce should be avoided.

50. Quick quiz… 11.What kind of physical problem would a salty diet bring about? Hypertension. In serious cases, cardiovascular diseases and renal dysfunction may be caused.