Kids love mangoes and that’s great as it’s loaded with vitamins

Since mangoes come loaded with calories, one a day would be ideal. Occasionally if your child wants to indulge and eat more, let them enjoy themselves. After all, this is the age to eat what you like and not worry about it.

Loaded with vitamins

Mangoes come loaded with vitamins and the good news is that most kids love them! But, how much is too much?

By Ritesh Bawri

To get a child to eat anything is close to impossible. You have to develop various tricks to incentivise them to eat their vegetables, nuts, seeds or even something as fundamental as coconut water. This is where mangoes can come in handy.

Loads of health benefits

A cup of mango has about 100 calories, no fat and 25 grams of carbohydrates. It has almost no sodium and about 3 grams of fibre. It has a ton of vitamins including vitamin A, vitamin B6, E and K. It also has potassium, magnesium and folate. While mangoes do come with sugar, it has a low glycemic index, which is due to the presence of fruit sugar or fructose. Besides, it has glucose. Your body can digest both well. Glucose tends to elevate your blood sugar levels quickly, but the low quantity in mango helps.

Make it a part of breakfast

Mangoes are delicious. It can, therefore, be used as the incentive to get your child to eat what you really might want them to eat. “You will get a mango if you drink your soup” might be a strategy that works well. If you do eat mangoes, eat it raw with all the pulp. The pulp has fibre which reduces the amount of sugar you are eating. Try not to juice it as that takes away all the excellent thread. In an ideal world, it is best to get your child to eat the mango in the morning. Therefore, you might want to mix it up with eggs, oats or chilla that should be a part of their diet.

Don’t shake it up!

Sometimes, we end up using the mango as an ingredient for a shake. Be careful when you do that. The real benefit is in eating it with the fibre. Also, if you end up adding other things, especially sugar, it might become too calorie rich. Children have a high metabolism, but even then, you do not want them to be overfeeding. Since mangoes come loaded with calories, one a day would be ideal. Occasionally if your child wants to indulge and eat more, let them enjoy themselves. After all, this is the age to eat what you like and not worry about it.

(The writer is a nutritionist and physiologist, with a degree in Nutrition from Stanford University & Tufts University and a Certificate in Physiology from Harvard Medical School.)