ever wondered why your child craves for a pizza and not an apple when hungry or why does your child say mom i knew that answer but just blanked out it is important to understand why healthy eating is so important for your child especially what heshe takes to school it is important to take a closer look at the food behaviour of kids children in the age group of 1017 years need to be carefully handles as these are the primary growth years of the child both physically and mentally peer group media and body image giving rise to eating disorders like anorexia or bulimia play an important role in determining their food choices says nutritionist karishma chawla few food patterns to take notice of irregular meal patterns no breakfast dependency on junk foods undernutrition or overeating parents influence may become weaker therefore it is imperative to firstly lead by example by making healthy choices yourself and secondly by instilling the same in your child chawla also adds energy requirements in terms of calories for these children are higher than adults keeping in mind the growth and development the body goes through as well as their physical activities it is important to eat adequate protein for growth needs bone development synthesis of hormones and enzymes fat being important for growth spurt should be included in the meals keeping in mind foods low in saturated fats