What makes balanced daily nutrition for your kid? Simple framework to meet your kid's daily goals

How much daily nutrition does your kid need?

Sept. 18, 2021 | Deepak Gaikwad, Co-Founder, Alemeno

Every parent wants their kids to eat nutritious food every day to help them grow big and strong. But, what exactly makes the balanced daily nutrition? So many words - different vitamins, minerals, carbs, proteins etc - get tossed when one learns about daily nutrition requirement. It could be daunting task just to remember each one of it; forget about measuring intake of each of the nutrient. Is there are simple way to remember what your kid needs so that you can support their needs? Fortunately, answer to this question is an YES. Here is a simple charts that will guide you on kids' nutrition requirements across the age group.


Here are simple charts to help you understand your kid's daily requirements :


Daily requirement for age 1- 2 yrs
Food groupExamplesTotal daily serving
Veggies and FruitsVariety of vegetables and fruits1.2 - 2 cups
Grains (or carbs)Wheat, Rice, Barley, Oats, Corns etc2/3 - 1.5 cup
(or equivalent grain)
ProteinNuts, Beans, Peas, Lentis, Eggs, Meat etc0.5 cups (beans, peas, letils)
or
2 egg or equivalent meat
DairyMilk, Yogurt, Butter, Cheese etc.1.66 - 2 cups



Daily requirements for age 3- 4 years
Food groupExamplesTotal daily serving
Veggies and FruitsVariety of vegetables and fruits2 - 3.5 cups
Grains (or carbs)Wheat, Rice, Barley, Oats, Corns etc1.5 - 2.5 cups
(or equivalent grain)
ProteinNuts, Beans, Peas, Lentis, Eggs, Meat etc0.5- 1.5 cups (beans, peas, or lentils)
or
2- 3.5 eggs or quivalent meat
DairyMilk, Yogurt, Butter, Cheese etc.2 - 2.5 cups


Daily requirements for 5-8 years
Food groupExamplesTotal daily serving
Veggies and FruitsVariety of vegetables and fruits2.5 - 4.5 cups
Grains (or carbs)Wheat, Rice, Barley, Oats, Corns etc2 - 3.5 cups
(or equivalent grain)
ProteinNuts, Beans, Peas, Lentis, Eggs, Meat etc0.75- 1.5 cups (beans, peas, or lentils)
or
2 - 3.5 eggs or equivalent meat
DairyMilk, Yogurt, Butter, Cheese etc.2.5 cups


Some salient features of these charts

  • This framework is easy to remember and implement. 
  • Helps in making your weekly meal plan 
  • Recommended by renowned organisations across different countries

Follow these guidelines to ensure your kids get their daily dose of nutrition. 

If you would like precise nutrition requirement based on exact age of your kid, I would recommend you take our healthy eating habits test designed for kids. We send exact nutrition requirements to the parents who take this test. Additionally this test helps you identify how healthy your kids' eating habits are and helps you take appropriate measures to ensure your kids develop into a healthy eater. You can take this 2 min test here - Does your kid have healthy eating habits?

At Alemeno, we worked with hundreds of parents in last few months to inculcate healthy eating habits in thier kids. In this journey, we also worked with parents who identified their kids as picky eaters. We incorporated successful strategies in form of an app that makes healthy eating a joyful time for kids. Our application also uses the guidelines above to ensure kids are motivated to have their balanced nutrition needs. Will highly recommend you try out the Alemeno applicatoin for your kid. You can download the app here : Alemeno app for healthy kids