Staff attended a healthy eating information session last week. Food Additives – one of the many topics covered – are used to maintain and improve shelf life of everyday products. As parents and caregivers we must be proactive in our decision making when shopping.
Listed below are just some of the food additives that should be avoided, especially by those children who are predisposed to hyperactivity:
102- Tartazine 150 – Caramel
104- Quinoline yellow 151 – Brilliant Black BN
110 – Sunset Yellow 155 – Brown HT
142 – Food Green 162 – Beet Red
120 – Cochineal 249 – Potassium nitrite
122 – Azorubine 210 – Benzoic acid
123 – Amaranth 250 – Sodium nitrite
124 – Ponceau 4R 132 – Indigtinea
133 – Brillant blue 620 – L-Glutamic acid
621 – Monosodium L-Gluamate 951 – Aspartame
One of the other important things was about children exercising. It was stated that families should dictate 80% of children’s physical activity. Incorporating exercise into your families’ lifestyle such as: Walking, Swimming, Ball games, Bike riding and Dancing.
The centre will commence the Healthy Together Victoria Achievement Program in the next month. It supports early childhood education and care services, schools and workplaces and workforces to create healthy environments for learning, working and living. Participants receive guidelines, resources and support to help meet statewide benchmarks for health promotion.
As we work through the program we will inform families what stage we are up to. If you are interested in reading more information about the program you can visit their website at www.achievementprogram.healthytogether.vic.gov.au