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The 5-2-1-0 rule encourages healthy habits: 5 servings of fruits and vegetabl

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Silent hunger, also called hidden hunger, occurs when people consume enough calories but lack essential vitamins and minerals such as iron, iodine, zinc, and vitamin A.

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Seven commonly recommended brain foods for kids are eggs, fish, berries, nuts and seeds, whole grains, leafy greens, and yoghurt, which provide nutrients supporting memory, learning, concentration, and brain development.

What are the 7 habits of healthy kids?

Healthy kids typically eat balanced meals, stay physically active, limit screen time, drink water, sleep adequately, maintain good hygiene, and spend time outdoors regularly for overall well-being.

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Four commonly recognised types of hunger are physical hunger (body needs food), emotional hunger (feelings trigger eating), sensory hunger (sight or smell of food), and habitual hunger (routine-based eating).

Written by

Neelanjana Mondal

Copy Writer

World Food Safety Day: A Parents’ Guide To Building Good
Food Habits
In Children

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Quick Summary

‘Start them young’ goes the saying for kids, and this World Food Safety Day, this should extend to developing good food habits. After all, growing children need extra care that determines health outcomes that last well into adulthood. Building good food habits does not mean boring and doing away with everything unhealthy; it is about creating a consistent, enjoyable relationship with wholesome, safe food from an early age.

Deep Dive

World Food Safety Day is observed globally on 7 June every year, led jointly by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations. The 2026 edition carries the theme of ‘from burden to solutions, safe food everywhere’, with a focus on preventing food-borne illnesses using data and science to combat that.

In India, where food safety challenges are particularly acute due to the country's vast informal food sector and fluctuating temperatures, especially intense heat during summers, food spoilage is more common than in other countries. So, World Food Safety Day observance carries special weight. With increasing rates of food adulteration and persistent gaps in food safety infrastructure, a national focus on public awareness, starting from the household level, is urgent. It is even more crucial for parents as healthy food habits go a long way to keep your child healthy and free from avoidable diseases, as prevention is better than cure.

Early Food Habits Shape Stamina, Endurance and Focus

Since childhood, dietary behaviours impact wellbeing in adulthood, and food preferences are shaped during school years. A child’s parental figures, repeated exposure and routine meal times are what shape a child’s eating habits, as per research in a peer-reviewed journal Nutrients. The same research shows that involving children in meal preparation and keeping foods that are not good for them, like sugary drinks, away, increases their intake of fruits, vegetables, and whole foods.

Well-nourished children have marked differences in energy, ability to focus, endurance, stamina, mood stability, and consistent growth. India's Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNNS) 2016-18 reveals that 35% of children under five are stunted. Further findings in South Asian populations show that poor nutritional markers in early childhood strongly correlate with adult-onset diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease.

In children, every second child is anaemic, between the ages of 15-19 years and every fourth child, underweight, between the ages of 5-19 years. This is as per NFHS-5 data (2019-21). Obese and overweight children are also on the rise, simultaneously in both age groups. These are extreme ends of one problem – food habits – with undernutrition on one side, and overconsumption of empty calories on the other.

The Ultra-Processed Food Problem

You don’t really need a UNICEF report, that too from 2025, to be aware that you are what you eat. The date reveals exactly that – unhealthy food environments have contributed to the global surge in obesity in children and adolescents. One in five children and adolescents aged 5-19 years is dealing with the issue of being overweight.

Unhealthy diets are a slow epidemic, and if you want more figures, it is contributing to 56% of India's total disease burden. Ultra-processed foods are the main culprit, as these are high in salt, sugar, and fats (HFSS), yet are marketed as ‘tasty’ and ‘affordable’ options, almost tailor-made for fast-paced lifestyles that tend to keep parents busy.

This is something that is aggressively milked by some companies, targeting children and families, something the top court has raised concerns about, linking it to violations of the right to health. The good part is that the government is taking action proactively with the likes of:

FSSAI regulations from 2020 that restrict HFSS foods in and around schools
Ayushman Bharat School Health Programme
Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman meal scheme

But policy alone cannot do the work that parents do at home for three meals a day.

Practical Ways to Build Good Food Habits in Children

Children want foods that are instantly gratifying, and it is hard to blame them, given the aggressive marketing dominating social media, television, papers and everywhere else. Parents fall victim to these, and it’s hard to find fault with the child, with biscuits, chips, instant noodles, and cold drinks available at a moment’s notice, oftentimes being empty in calories. Here’s how to be smart about these things, and it will take conscious effort.

1. Start With the Plate

Feeding your child is easier than being a corporate baddie in the boardroom, trying to win over finicky stakeholders. You know your child, so build their plate in a way that they get their daily nutrients. Forget calorie counting and focus on food groups. A simple daily plate for a school-age child should cover:

Complex carbohydrates: Roti, rice, millets (ragi, bajra, jowar), oats
Protein: Dal, rajma, chana, paneer, eggs, curd, sprouts
Vegetables: At least two to three different coloured vegetables per day
Fruits: One to two seasonal fruits (not juice)
Dairy: Milk or curd, once daily
Healthy fats: Ghee, nuts, seeds in moderation

2. Keep Treats as Treats

One of the most common mistakes parents make is either banning their kids’ favourite foods entirely or using them as rewards for good behaviour. Both approaches can backfire. A ban might activate the rebel in them and make junk food aspirational. Rewards tie food to emotions, establishing patterns that can last into adulthood. The Nutrition Foundation of India (NFI) and FSSAI advise on moderation. Tip: One ‘treat meal’ per week, without a side of comments, is sustainable both emotionally and physically for parent and child.

3. Swap Unhealthy Foods Smartly

The trick here is conditioning, where you don’t rip away the unhealthy snacks but make the healthier ones more available. Get your children accustomed to the healthier swaps. Here are some options:

Your Child's Favourite	Healthier Indian Swap
Potato chips	Roasted makhana, roasted chana, air-popped popcorn
Aerated cold drinks	Nimbu paani, coconut water, aam panna, chaas
Sugary candy	Dates and nuts, jaggery laddoos, fruit with peanut butter
Instant noodles	Poha, vegetable upma, millet dosa, sprouts chaat
Deep-fried French fries	Baked sweet potato fries, baked veggie chips, sweet potato chaat
Packaged fruit juice	Fresh fruit chaat, whole fruits, curd with fruits
Chocolate spread	Almond butter, peanut butter with fruit slices
Cream biscuits	Dhokla, khakhra, roasted seeds
Fried namkeen	Spiced makhana, roasted chickpeas, puffed rice bhel
Ice cream	Yoghurt with fruits, frozen fruit bowls, chia pudding

The trick here is keeping snacks wholesome, so kids get to have some tasty snacks while you also get them to have something nutritious.

4. Involve Children in Food Decisions

Children tend to learn a lot from watching and experiencing things, so involving them while grocery shopping and meal preparation might help them develop a positive relationship with food and make them more likely to eat anything that might be available to them.

Look up different food groups with your child, and discover the nutrients and vitamins the body needs. Letting a child choose between two vegetables at the market, or letting them stir the pot while cooking or assembling their own sandwich, creates a sense of ownership that no amount of persuasion at the dinner table can replicate.

5. Be a Role Model

As research has shown, children tend to watch everything a parent does, including during mealtimes. A parent who reaches for healthy, whole foods and engages in physical activity sets a far more powerful example than one who enforces rules from the outside.

Research shows that fathers who actively purchase nutritious food, enforce consistent food boundaries, and encourage outdoor physical activity play a measurable role in shaping healthier dietary behaviour in their children, especially during adolescence.

This World Food Safety Day, Reshape Food Habits

Parents, schools, and the community play the largest role in educating children about healthy eating, and that doing so will help build a generation with better health. It all starts in childhood, and the food habits developed then carry on into adulthood. With lives getting busier the older they get, starting them young is a sustainable approach to help your kid live longer with better health.