How to Choose Nutritious, Fresh or Convenience Foods

2. Choosing nutritious convenience foods for toddlers

Some convenience foods are nutritious and appropriate for toddlers. Others are less suitable because they do not contain enough of some key nutrients and contain too much salt, fat and sugar.

It is not necessary to cut out all the salt, fat and sugar in your toddler’s diet. However, you should keep these ingredients to a minimum when you have a choice.

Unfortunately food labels do not always provide sufficient information to enable you to decide which convenience foods are the best for your toddler. Try to choose those that contain plenty of vegetables or fruits that are low in fat and are not too sweet.

Pre-prepared baby/toddler foods found in the baby aisles of supermarkets contain minimum levels of key nutrients and tend to have low levels of salt, fat, sugar and pesticides. Choose those that have higher amounts of meat, fish, eggs, lentils or other pulses for more iron.

Salt

Salt contains sodium, which is essential for your toddler to grow. However, too much salt in the diet can cause high blood pressure later in life.

Fat

Most food contains some fat. In moderation this is not a problem because fat enhances the flavour of the food and provides valuable energy and essential fatty acids. However, too much fat can cause your toddler to become overweight.

Sugar

Too much sugar can cause obesity and tooth decay. However there is no need to cut out sweet foods altogether. Ideally you should limit sweet food and drinks to just four times a day – that is as part of three meals and one snack.

Additives in food and E numbers

All additives with an E number have been tested for safety. However the Food Standards Agency now advises that toddlers should not be given foods that contain the following:

Some additives are quite nutritious. For instance ascorbic acid is vitamin C. Generally, however, it is best to choose foods for toddlers that contain few additives.