Dietary Guidelines & Food Guides

First of all, we are targeting the children aged between 6year to 12year
old to talk about the dietary requirements. This dietary advice sheet gives
some general information to help you make the recommended changes to
your child’s diet plan. If you need more detailed advice, or if your child is
following a special diet that makes it difficult to make changes, you need to
follow the doctor's instructions and consult with the doctor about what
makes you feel more comfortable for your child. Children require regular
meals and snacks to give them the energy and nutrients that are important
for their growth that they need to grow and fight off illness. Eating family
meals together will encourage them to enjoy a variety of foods. Eating
snacks all day is not good for their body. If they want to be healthy and
happy, they need to take a proper meal plan from their parents. To
encourage good eating habits try to sit down and eat meals as a family
without the distractions of the mobile phone, television or computer games.
Breakfast is essential everyday as it gives children energy for busy morning
school days.
As I said, most children should choose the right dietary guidelines for
their daily eating and healthy body. In Japan, children eat well and healthy
food as dietary guidelines.
 Children from 6-12 years old usually eat all types of food equally and
healthy. The amount of food your child will need from the five food groups,
it depends on their age, gender, height, weight and physical activity levels.
For example, a 9-year old child needs 5 serves of grain foods a day, and a
12 year old child needs 7 servings of grains a day. For the vegetables,
young children must take 5-6 savings a day. Most of the japanese children
love to eat a lot of fish and meat dishes, especially because they prefer
fish and meat more than fast foods. Usually children take 3-5 serves of fish
and meat dishes. For dairy products like milk, children should take 2 serves
only. The most important part of their healthy body is to eat fresh fruits.
Fresh fruits can be good for their digestive system and immune system for
their body. It must take 2 serves per day for their food.

Food Guides
In Japan, children love to eat homemade food, prepared by their
mom. So, what is the food they usually and mostly eat? What was their
mom preparing for them? Let’s take a look.

1. Onigiri
It was a very good dish, an onigiri filled with bonito fish flakes
flavored with soy sauce for a bold, salty, smoky fishy flavor. It tastes
salty and sour. But the kid must really like to eat it. They usually take
it as a snack during their lunch time break.
 2. Edamame
Edamame is a preparation of immature soybeans in the pod,
found in cuisines with origins in East Asia. The pods are boiled or
steamed and served with salt or other condiments. In Japan, they are
usually blanched in 4% salt water and not served with salt. It was a
bean product, so it can help the kid grow for their body and height.

3.Udon
In Japan, every kid loves to eat udon. The thick noodles have great
textures, taste and are attractive among the children. With the prime
ingredients being wheat, water and salt; udon noodles don’t offer a
nutritional goldmine and are not a significant source of vitamins or minerals,
but they can fill your little one easily and make them enjoy their lunch.
4.Miso Soup (with Tofu, Wakame and Rice)
This is the best soup in Japan, which every childrens loves to eat for
dinner. It’s a healthy favorite with good protein and nutritious seaweed. This
is also the most widely eaten dish found in restaurants.

5.Curry Rice
Another multi-functional dish, curry rice is an easy to find and famous
food in Japan. It’s fun, too. The kids can use a spoon to dip the rice into the
curry, mix it all up, or however else they might like it. Curry rice usually
comes with toppings such as fried cutlets (pork or chicken), making it
appealing to children wary of unfamiliar foods.
Reference

https://www.wsh.nhs.uk/CMS-Documents/Patient-leaflets/Paediatr
icDepartment/6296-1-Healthy-eating-for-6-12-year-olds.pdf
http://www.fao.org/nutrition/education-nutritionnelle/food-dietary-g
uidelines/regions/japan/fr/
https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/sites/default/files/content/The%20
Guidelines/n55f_children_brochure.pdf
https://livejapan.com/en/in-hokkaido/in-pref-hokkaido/in-sapporo_
chitose/article-a0001179/
https://matcha-jp.com/en/2700
https://asianinspirations.com.au/food-knowledge/10-facts-about-ja
panese-curry/
https://www.justonecookbook.com/kitsune-udon/
https://www.acouplecooks.com/easy-edamame/
https://www.byfood.com/blog/travel-tips/onigiri-fillings-guide
https://savvytokyo.com/kid-friendly-japanese-food/
https://www.bmj.com/content/352/bmj.i1209
Analysis
In my analysis children between the ages of 6 years old and 12 years
old should eat and drink as per the ratio.

Food Group Age 6-12 (Boy) Age 6-12 (Girl)

Grains 5 - 7 sv 4 - 6 sv
Vegetables 5 - 6 sv 5 - 5 sv
Fish and Meats 3 - 5 sv 2 - 4 sv
Milk 2 sv 2 sv
Fruits 2 sv 2 sv