Importance of Different Vitamins in your Child’s food

“Maanit, finish your vegetables….you need the vitamins…..No fries”

We all have addressed our kids similarly, at some point or the other, haven’t we? So what are these ‘power houses’ and why are these vital for our kids and us? Theoretically, vitamins are crucial for the growth and development of our bodies.

 So let’s talk ‘health and nutrition’. Different vitamins have different roles to play in our anatomy. Our bodies are self sufficient, with regard to the vital nutrients. But with vitamins, we need to be more vigilant about the food we eat. The trick is to eat a wide variety of food products, so that we can consume the necessary amount of vitamins. We need to have a generic idea of the different vitamins, so that we can understand what our child needs. Let’s start alphabetically:

**Vitamin A**: Crucial for our eyes. It helps us to recognise colour, fight infections and enhance our immunity. Our children need a lot of A’s in the food, namely

* Milk , butter

* Pumpkin, papaya

* Carrots and sweet potato

* Spinach, bell pepper

**Vitamin B:** These are quite few- B1, B2, B6, B12, Niacin, Biotin, Folic Acid and Pantothenic Acid. These are crucial for our metabolism. They produce energy for our bodies and also make RBCs. Now here is what I would give my son to eat to get’ B-eed’:

* Dates, pomegranate

* Peas and beans

* Green, leafy vegetables

* Whole grains (wheat, oats)

* Turkey, tuna , liver

* Eggs, dairy products

**Vitamin C**: This has healing powers; it heals wounds. It also helps to maintain our kid’s body tissues, like bones and gums, in great condition. The ‘Big C’ helps our bodies to fight infections. Try and include the following in your kid’s diet, to be blessed with this magical vitamin:

* Cabbage, broccoli

* Kiwi, strawberries, citrus fruits

* Tomatoes, red pepper

* Liver

**Vitamin D**: This, my friends, is the best friend to our child’s bones. It helps to bite better, too (bingo….strong teeth). It is like a backbone for vitamin C, as vitamin D helps in the absorption of C, by the body. The easiest way for our child to get his daily dose is by literally ‘Sun bathing’, our body produces it naturally. A few external sources are:

* Milk with vitamin D supplements, tofu

* Egg yolk

* Fish, liver, mushrooms

* Fortified cereals

**Vitamin E**: This is the ‘knight in shining armour’ for our children. It protects our kid’s cells and tissues and keeps the RBCs healthy. Our child needs the following to improve his ‘E’ intake:

* Egg yolk

2. Wheat, oats and other whole grains

3. Broccoli, parsley

4. Seeds and nuts

5. Vegetable oils ( e.g. Olive, sunflower)

**Vitamin K**: My son calls it the ‘Clotter Plotter’. Yes, this vitamin literally prevents us from bleeding to death. It facilitates clotting. Our children require the following:

* Broccoli

* Eggs and dairy products

* Cereal grains, pasta

* Green, leafy vegetables

The food sources mentioned for each vitamin are just a few, of the many.

As a mother, I have realised that getting vitamins through natural resources is better than supplements. I have always tried to get my son to eat a large array of food, lots of greens, orange, yellow, red, purple. He loves it and I love to watch him grow healthy and strong ☺.