Nutrition and tooth decay

As an Egyptian, I had to add some Pyramids to my web site.

The Giza Pyramids are great but unfortunately they have no nutritional value!

Speaking of nutritional value, I do not like the behavior of candy manufacturers who buy purified sugar in tons, add artificial colors and sell it to our kids in grams. They make tremendous money by selling low nutritional value stuff to our children.

A school is the place where I assume my children's behavior is favorably shaped. Also it is the place I expect my children to develop healthy eating habits. Unfortunately, schools get involved in business to sell cariogenic stuff to my kids. Why they don't just sell Apples?

Here's another pyramid that is more nutritious and if you bear it mind, it might help you prevent tooth decay.

The more you go up the less you or your child needs. The pyramid divides food into four groups The grains, Fruits & vegetables, meat, milk and fat & oil. your child's diet should include all four groups with varying amounts.

Grains:
A 4 to 8 year old child needs 4-5 servings a day.
An 8 to 14 year old girl needs 5 servings a day.
An 8 to 14 year old boy needs 6 servings a day.

The term serving refers to half cup of rice, half cup of pasta or one piece of bread.

Vegetables:
Colorful ones (dark green, red and orange) are rich of Anti-Oxidants.
A 4 to 8 year old child needs 1 1/2 cups a day.
An 8 to 14 year old girl needs 2 cups a day.
An 8 to 14 year old boy needs 2 to 2 1/2 a day.

Fruits:
A 4 to 8 year old child needs 1 to 1 1/2 cup per day.
An 8 to 14 year old girl or boy needs 1 1/2 a day.

Milk and Its products:
If we are talking about strong jaw bones with well calcified teeth that should resist decay, milk is of extreme importance.
A 4 to 8 year old child needs 1 to 2 cups per day.
An 8 to 14 year old girl or boy needs 3 cups every day.
Cheese, ice cream yogurt are good substitutes for milk.

Meat group:
Includes in addition to meat, fish meat, sea food, eggs, nuts and beans.
A 4- to 8-year-old child needs 3-4 servings each day.
An 8 to 14-year-old girl or boy needs 5 servings daily.

A serving of this group is one egg, one table spoon of peanut butter, one ounce of meat (red or white).

Those big companies are following the food pyramid with its bottom upward!!

Calories

A calorie is a unit of energy. It is the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of one cc. of water one degree centigrade.

The average daily calorie need for different children ranges from 1400 to 2500. with lower values for young children, increasing until puberty. Boys usually need more calories than girls, athletics usually consume more calories than non-athletics.

If your calorie intake is higher than your needs, the extra calories will be transformed into Fat. too much Fat is harmful to your body, that's another reason not to have too much sugary Soda and candies.

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