Unhealthy childhood eating habits can lead to childhood obesity, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and an earlier onset of heart disease. Children often consume foods high in saturated fats and trans fats without thinking about how these fats negatively affect their heart. It is important--even for children--to make heart-healthy food choices.
Cereal
While eating cereal is common for kids, some cereals provide more heart-healthy benefits than others. Read the product labels on cereals your child enjoys to avoid giving your child cereals containing trans fats. Avoid giving your children cereals with a saturated fat content above 2 g per serving, reports Shape. Trans fats and saturated fats are unhealthy and can contribute to an increase in heart disease.
Make sure the cereal is made with whole grains, as this will provide your child with fiber, which helps keep cholesterol levels low. Whole-grain cereals will have whole grains or oats listed as the first ingredient.
Fruit and Nuts
Getting children to eat heart healthy nuts may be difficult depending on what the child is used to eating. However, by adding dry fruits and dark chocolate chips to the mixture, children may be more likely to eat nuts. Mix a variety of raw nuts, such as almonds, pecans, cashews and walnuts, with dried fruit such as cranberries, cherries, blueberries and raisins. Then, add in a small number of dark chocolate chips. The amount added will depend on the size of your fruit and nut mixture, but when mixed together it should be hard to find the chocolate chips.
Nuts help provide children with high amounts of proteins and healthy unsaturated fats, which helps reduce their risk of heart disease, reports MayoClinic.com. Also, nuts--especially almonds and walnut--are high in omega-3 fatty acid, which helps keep the heart healthy. The dried fruit will not only add flavor to the mixture, but will add beneficial fiber. Using dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate will provide children with the healthy antioxidants that dark chocolate, not milk chocolate, contains.
Soy Milk
Provide children with soy milk to drink and use on cereal. If they do not enjoy plain soy milk, try giving them flavored types such as chocolate and vanilla. The Center for Science in the Public Interest reports that despite the healthy amounts of calcium and vitamin D found in dairy milk, for children, dairy milk is the number one source of unhealthy saturated fat. To decrease a child's intake of saturated fats and cholesterol, replace dairy milk with fortified soy milk. Soy milk also provides children with a significant source of protein and omega-3 fatty acids.
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