Eating a diet packed with all the good stuff will help your little one feel their best and learn and grow to their full potential. A healthy diet is one full of fresh fruit, vegetables and legumes, dairy, lean meats, fish and whole grains, plus plenty of water for proper hydration.
The Benefits of Healthy Eating
A healthy, balanced diet can enable your child to:
- Generate enough energy to play, learn and grow to their fullest.
- Build strong bones and healthy brains.
- Even out their moods and prevent or mitigate some mental health conditions.
- Maintain a healthy weight.
By educating your little one about healthy eating from the start, you’re laying positive foundations for their future too. This can help your child avoid preventable diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure down the track.
Healthy Eating in Early Education Settings
ECMS is passionate about giving children the best start to life. This extends to our philosophy on healthy eating and education on nutrition in all our kindergartens and childcare centres.
Children enrolled in our childcare centres receive delicious and nutritionally balanced snacks and meals each day as part of the program. Menus reflect the children’s tastes and dietary needs while providing at least 50% of their daily nutritional intake and meeting all regulatory guidelines.
Read our Nutrition, Food, Beverage and Dietary Requirements Policy to learn more. Or visit the Healthy Eating Advisory Service for information on nutrition in early childhood services.
Things work a bit differently in our three and four-year-old kindergarten programs, where children bring a lunchbox from home to each session.
Healthy Lunchbox Tips
We encourage you to fill your child’s lunchbox with healthy food choices that reflect their tastes, appetite and energy needs. As a starting point, try to include each of the following:
- Water
- Fruit
- Salad or vegetables
- Protein (meat, eggs or dairy products)
- Calcium (cheese or yoghurt)
- Bread and cereal
Sample lunch box 1
Snack: Vegetable cut up into bite-sized pieces and cheese sticks.
Lunch: Sushi, lean meat rolls, and fruit salad.
Sample lunch box 2
Snack: A piece of fruit and veggie sticks with hummus.
Lunch: Wholegrain sandwich with lean meat, cheese and salad, and a yoghurt (low sugar).
The Healthy Eating Advisory Service – Pick and Mix is a handy resource to stick to the fridge when you need some healthy lunchbox ideas from each of the five core food groups.