If we are what we eat, then American kids are Fritos. That’s just one of the major findings from the new USDA Dietary Guidelines. Fries and chips are the only “vegetables” on the list of top 25 calorie sources; fruit juice is the sole “fruit” to make the leaderboard.

如果我们是我们吃的东西，那么美国的孩子就是油炸食品。这只是美国农业部新的膳食指南的主要发现之一。炸薯条和薯条是排在前25名的热量来源中唯一的“蔬菜”;果汁是制作排行榜的唯一“水果”。

The prevalence of these foods plays a big role in the childhood-obesity epidemic, which affects far more than our children’s waist sizes. Many chronic conditions are on the rise among kids, including asthma, allergies, diabetes, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). And all of these conditions have been linked to what kids eat. Improving children’s diets in the following three areas that were addressed in the report would go a long way toward helping our kids stay healthy:

这些食物的流行在儿童期肥胖症流行中扮演着重要的角色，其影响远远超过我们孩子的腰围。许多慢性病在儿童中呈上升趋势，包括哮喘、过敏、糖尿病和注意力缺陷多动障碍(ADHD)。所有这些条件都与孩子们的饮食有关。在报告中提到的以下三个方面改善儿童饮食将有助于我们的孩子保持健康:

Go low when it comes to salt. Most kids over 2 consume too much sodium, which can lead to high blood pressure. White bread is kids’ biggest source of salt because they eat so much of it. Excess sodium is also hidden in many processed, frozen, and restaurant foods. The fix: Go with low-sodium whole grains when choosing bread. Eat at home more often, and choose fresh foods over frozen or processed products.

当涉及到盐的时候，要低一点。大多数的孩子都摄入过多的钠，这会导致高血压。白面包是孩子们最大的食盐来源，因为他们吃的太多了。过量的钠也隐藏在许多加工、冷冻和餐馆食品中。解决方法:选择面包时要用低钠全谷物。经常在家吃饭，选择新鲜的食品而不是冷冻的或经过加工的产品。

Get off the SoFAS! This acronym may be the next buzzword in the childhood obesity discussion. SoFAS—“solid fats and added sugars”—make up a whopping 35 percent of our calories and have almost no nutritional value. These unhealthy fats, which are solid at room temperature, are found mostly in butter, stick margarine, and red meat. That means they’re in many children’s-menu staples: pizza, hot dogs, bacon, French fries, and desserts. The fix: Whenever possible, avoid these foods and use oils to replace solid fats when cooking.

快离开SoFAS!这个缩写词可能是儿童肥胖讨论中的下一个流行词。“固态脂肪和添加糖”——占我们卡路里的35%，几乎没有营养价值。这些不健康的脂肪，在室温下是固态的，主要存在于黄油、人造黄油和红肉中。这意味着他们有很多孩子的菜单:披萨、热狗、培根、炸薯条和甜点。解决方法:只要有可能，避免食用这些食物，在烹饪时用油脂代替固体脂肪。

Watch the added sugars. Sugars are healthy in whole foods like fruits and milk because these foods also contain nutrients that signal the body to use the sugar correctly. But when they are added to nutritionally empty foods (like many desserts), the natural process is thrown off. The fix: Make sweets an occasional treat in your family. Most important: View these findings as a road map to dietary change. Your children’s health depends on it.

看添加糖。在水果和牛奶等天然食品中，糖是健康的，因为这些食物中也含有能让身体正确使用糖的营养物质。但当它们被添加到营养丰富的食物(如许多甜点)时，自然的过程就会被打乱。最重要的是:把这些发现看作是改变饮食习惯的路线图。孩子的健康取决于它。

Alan Greene, M.D. is a pediatrician and the author of the bestselling Raising Baby Green. He lives in Danville, CA.