WHEN The Straits Times showed this food diary to nutrition consultant Anna Jacob for her views, she said the most positive aspect of his diet was that he was eating three main meals that were reasonably well spaced out through the day.
Joe En also scored brownie points for not eating extra sugar, except for the kaya for breakfast on one day.
He also came in for praise for eating deep fried food - the chips - only once in the four days, although Ms Jacob said she was unsure of whether the fish cake was fried or what was in the Japanese meal.
While she was pleased that he was not a big snacker, she identified two areas for improvement:
He needs fruit, either as a snack or as juice.
He should also consume more dairy products, a good source of calcium for people his age.
Ms Jacob described his diet as fairly healthy relative to his peers, who typically skip breakfast, subsist on one main meal a day and then snack through the day or down fizzy drinks.
Sarah Looi, 13, for instance, is aware she needs two servings of fruit and vegetables a day but loves snacking on biscuits in between her porridge lunches and dinners.
Ms Sim Ee Waun, 39, whose daughter Mei Ann is eight, said she takes the girl to a variety of restaurants 'to introduce her to different kinds of foods and give her wider choices'.
Ms Sim added that she does not obsess over Mei Ann's food choices in any particular meal but looks 'at the bigger picture', so if the child eats something not so nutritious for lunch, dinner has to make up for that.
'My husband and I don't forbid her from eating any sort of food. We don't want to take the fun out of childhood,' she said.
But Ms Sim draws the line at fast food. They are a 'last-ditch sort of choice', and the family does not 'make an outing of it'.
This article first appeared in The Straits Times on Nov 28.
