我的小孩也能轻松长高10cm

The title of this post is in fact the title of a book "我的小孩也能轻松长高10cm" which means "my child can grow taller by 10cm". I have two boys; my younger child is quite tiny compared to his peers. Although his parents are not very tall, we are not that short either. My elder child is average in height and built, however, he doesn't seem to be growing very much lately..some children of his age have already grown so much taller and bigger. So naturally, this book caught my immediate attention when I saw the title on its spine.

I read with great interest how a child could grow much taller through exercises which involve moving the body through a full range of motions, sports such as swimming, basketball, volley ball, badminton,  are good examples. These sports help to stimulate the bone and cartilage growth. Doing stretching exercises; yoga; maintaining a good posture will also help to strengthen the spinal column.

The next important factor for a child to grow taller is to have enough rest. This means having at least 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep, especially during one's growth period or adolescence. It is during sleep that our body will produce and release growth hormones which causes the thickening and lengthening of our bones. The first couple of hours of sleep is the most critical, this is the time when the pituitary gland produces the maximum growth hormones for release to the body system. Incidentally, while writing up this post, I read from several websites that sleeping without a pillow will be easier for our spine to align (as straight as possible) and allow it to be fully decompress. Sleeping on a firm and yet comfortable mattress also helps flatten our back. Using a pillow will cause the neck to bend forward and arches the back as well. In my opinion, a pillow provides support to our neck, as long as the pillow is not too high, causing the head to bend too much forward, I wouldn't force my kids to sleep without one.

Besides exercising and adopting a good sleeping habit, the third factor to help a child grow taller is through eating a proper balanced diet that contains calcium-rich food and proteins. It is also important to include food that is rich in Vitamin D as it helps to assimilate the calcium for better bone growth.

I would regard this as a cookbook rather than a parenting/child-development book. More than half of the book is covered with simple and yet delicious looking meals which I think most adults would even find them appealing.

The first recipe (which happens to be the first recipe in the book) I followed is this Fried Rice with Dried Anchovies and Vegetables. Dried anchovies or better known as Ikan Bilis over this part of our world, is a good source of calcium. According to the book it is considered the king of calcium (eaten with the bones in tact). A 100g of dried anchovies (small ones) contains 902mg of calcium, whereas a 100g of milk (normal, not fortified with calcium) contains only 120mg.

Besides carrots, green and red bell peppers, I added sweet corns and stir-fried the rice with an egg. Instead of ikan bilis, I used dried silver fish. While I was cooking the dish, the aroma from the dried silver fish reminded me very much of this common hawker fare, nasi goreng ikan bilis (fried rice with anchovies).

Please pardon me for the poor image quality, the photos were taken under florescent lights, as a result, the colours lose their overall balance and appear unnatural. My photos didn't do any justice to this delicious one-dish meal. It is such a satisfying meal by itself that we can have it for week-day lunch or a hassle-free dinner on any nights :)