Healthy Eating Policy

Keeping up a healthy diet is a major factor in children's growth, physical and psychological development and overall function. A correct nutrition is the key to gain nutrients and energy essential to life.. The development of healthy eating practices and physical activity can prevent disease and support a lifetime of good health. Good nutrition is critical to optimising each child’s potential for success. Meeting the necessary nutritional requirements throughout childhood is essential to reach a full intellectual development. Research has shown us that mal-nutrition in children can have a serious impact on their behaviour, performance and overall level of development. Children require the necessary energy and nutrients each day to concentrate on accomplished learning tasks. Even mild under nutrition and short term hunger are barriers to learning. Meals and snacks served should meet children’s nutritional needs, models of healthy eating and lifestyle should be taught, and helping children understand and establish a healthy eating pattern in their daily life.

 

Our Objectives:

At SportsCool Cheshire we are looking to constantly improve our children’s well-being and health, with our Healthy Eating Policy we look to:

• To encourage children with positive healthy eating experiences in order to promote their well-being.

• To respect the different dietary, cultural, religious and health needs of all children.

• To encourage children to develop a positive attitude towards healthy foods through daily learning opportunities provided by our staff at our clubs.

• To promote an understanding of a balanced diet in which some foods play a greater role than others.

• To help children develop an understanding of the importance of the social context in which eating takes place.

• To raise awareness with children and carers in developing a positive approach to food and nutrition, while also encouraging responsibility in carers in offering healthy food choices to their children.

 

 

The Importance of Healthy Nutrition for Children:

A nutritionally balanced diet is extremely important in a child’s daily life to ensure optimum development at a time of rapid growth. A balanced diet in childhood is not only important for physical and mental growth but for learning and promoting positive habits towards healthy eating. An inadequate or unbalanced nutritional intake may not only affect growth and development in childhood but may also impact on health problems, such as heart disease and obesity later in life. It not only depends on the type of food, but also on the variety ingested, a good balance of these will ensure nutrient requirements are met and that their diet is nutritionally balanced. Children’s diet must include an appropriate intake of foods from the four main food groups:

• Bread, other cereals and potatoes

• Fruit and vegetables

• Milk and dairy foods

• Meat, fish and alternatives

 

Being Healthy:

In SportsCool Cheshire we encourage children to lead a healthy and strong life. We do this by giving importance and encouragement to follow to some of the key factors in a healthy lifestyle :

• Eat breakfast every day.

• Eat fruit and vegetables daily.

• Choose snacks that will provide nutrients to compliment meals.

• Avoid snacks and drinks with a high sugar content between meals.

• Drink plenty of fluids to avoid becoming dehydrated.(Most importantly water)

• Be physically active every day.

• Brush teeth twice a day and visit your dentist regularly.

Our aim is, by children following our key factors, they will begin to develop and create their own personal healthy lifestyle, they will also adopt new healthy habits and encourage others who don’t follow such a nutrition packed life.