Winter is a worrisome time for parents because of the number of diseases and cold-related diseases that children tend to contract during this time even after opting for online fitness training programs. Parents are always worried that their child may not stay fit and might catch a cold and because of this worry they employ quite a several methods to keep the child safe.? Some parents opt to make the child wear multiple layers of clothing and this is effective but sometimes the child can feel irritated and excessively warm, while other parents choose to use home remedies to keep their child safe and other parents who are more paranoid tend to keep giving their child antibiotics even if they have developed a mild cough and this is harmful.?
In this blog we will talk about a few winter superfoods that have been certified by personal fitness experts as being essential to your child?s health and these foods will keep your child?s immunity strong and therefore reduce the chances of them catching a cold. We would like to state that you should apply these remedies at your discretion and depending upon your own decision and the direction of your nutritionists and offline and online fitness trainers.
- Jaggery (Gur) ? This is a time-tested remedy as well as a delicious food that you can give your child and even the other members of your family. Jaggery is unrefined sugar and contains all the natural properties of sugarcane which get destroyed when the sugar is refined to make regular sugar. Jaggery is excellent for cold and cough and you will have no problem feeding jaggery to little children because it is delicious. You can even add other healthy elements to jaggery like making a drink with jaggery, ginger and tulsi leaves and this will be quite good for the child?s immunity during winter. You can even prepare ladoos from jaggery as well as give them jaggery with rotis and even put jaggery in their milk instead of sugar. Although great for winter, we would suggest you feed jaggery to your children throughout the year instead of regular sugar.
- Vegetable Soup ? There are two simple foods in the world that are healthy and if you combine them, you get vegetable soup. One of the simplest foods to make, the vegetable soup will ensure your children stay hydrated during the cold winters because of the level of water in soup and it will also ensure they get their daily dose of nutrients from the diced pieces of vegetables in the soup. Soup is also great for keeping your children warm and adding some bread to the menu makes it a full-course meal. There are several vegetables you can put in your soup like tomatoes, beets, spinach, carrots, beans, corn and anything else that you want to. Apart from vegetables, you can even add a few small pieces of chicken to the soup if your child really wants some chicken. Apart from being a storehouse of nutrients, vegetable soup is an instant cure for chest congestion and cold.
- Dates (Khajoor) ? Just like jaggery dates are also quite a traditional food for the cold and dates are packed with nutrients like calcium, iron and potassium as well as other nutrients such as vitamins and minerals and dates are known to have healing properties which very few foods have. While other superfoods are packed with nutrients, one thing that separates them from dates is that dates are delicious and this is an important point we have to keep in mind because we are talking about superfoods for children?s immunity and taste plays a huge role in children?s food. This can be made into several ingredients like for example many people like to put dates in custards as well as put dates in cakes which are quite popular in the winter and people also like putting dates in their smoothies and shakes and all these are quite loved by children so you will have no problem in feeding dates to your children. Being an energy booster as well as being packed with nutrients, dates are great for kids.
- Indian Gooseberry (Amla) – Amla is one of the superfoods that can also be classified as a medicine and Amla can be seen greatly used in several ayurvedic recipes for centuries in India. Proven to be great for immunity boosting and body detoxification and Amla is packed with antioxidants that it is great for children. Amla can be made into many savoury dishes and Amla juice can be made into many fruit juices by adding salt and spices to it because children can find it difficult to eat Amla directly because of its sourness. Amla is also great for digestion
- Clarified butter (Desi Ghee) ? In a time where we are seeing toxic oils and foods making it into the market such as palm oil as well as off-brand butter with added fat and other thickening agents to make it more profitable for the company, desi ghee is as pure as an edible oil can be and it has been used in India for centuries if not thousands of years. There is practically nothing bad in desi ghee and it has multiple benefits and especially for children because it is the time their body and mind experiences growth and desi ghee can be that nourishing oil that you can feed them. There are many ways in which you can feed Desi ghee to your children by making laddoos out of jaggery and desi ghee as well as by applying a coating of Desi ghee in roti and also preparing your vegetables in desi ghee. Although there is a misconception that desi ghee can increase body weight, every personal fitness training centre and online fitness coach will tell you that it is the best oil alternative.
These were a few of the superfoods that you can feed your children to boost their immunity during winter and these are quite commonly available in the Indian market and are not exotic or that expensive.
