Fuel the Mind and Body for Healthy Kids!
By Angela Wright, RNCP – Nutritional Consultant
As a Holistic Nutritionist, it’s my job to help educate people in making some of the most important decisions in their lives – what to eat! Your body is made out of the materials we provide it; not just your physical body, but your emotions, your hormones, and your ability to learn and retain. Take a look at what you are feeding yourself and your children – is it healthy, whole, nutritious food that will support a healthy, whole, productive body?
Whole foods, foods that can be grown, raised, or harvested, contain all the bits and pieces that we need to properly digest that food and absorb its vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, proteins, fats, water, fiber, and phytonutrients. As we start to process and refine, remove this and add that, the food gets father and farther away from whole. It’s harder and harder for our body to gain anything useful from it. If there is nothing useful left in the food-stuff, it becomes work for our body to have to deal with and get rid of this non-food. More often than not, this leads to overeating, as our body is looking for the nutrients this non-food is lacking.
What are you eating right now? Would you be able to tell me the recipe your great-grandmother would have used to make this food? Can you grow or raise all the ingredients if you so chose? Paying attention to what’s going in your and your family’s bodies will go a long way in preventing illness, reducing symptoms, increasing learning ability and sharpening attention skills. It can be overwhelming to make all the changes you want to increase the health and well-being of your family through nutrition – there is a lot to consider! But here’s one topic to focus on for this month – the value of eating breakfast.
Breakfast – Sleep is when your body gets to rebuild and repair the damage that occurs daily within it. It uses its stores of energy and resources, and these need to be replenished upon waking. At breakfast you are literally ‘breaking-the-fast’ that has occurred since dinnertime. Studies show that breakfast eaters are more likely to achieve higher grades, pay closer attention, and participate more in class than breakfast skippers. This is because their bodies have been supplied the energy needed for proper blood sugar levels that allow good behavior and concentration to occur. What is eaten is equally important. Sugar cereals set the day up for a roller coaster ride – a surge of refined sugar when they first get to school (causing hyperactivity and lack of concentration), then a crash and fatigue when that energy runs out. A balanced breakfast like oatmeal with raw almonds, diced apples, and rice milk, or whole grain toast with nut butter and a banana will provide a steady flow of energy until the next meal – an ideal environment for optimal learning.
Take this month to pay attention to breakfast. What is everyone eating? Are they getting healthy carbohydrates, proteins, and fats? Are they getting fruits or vegetables, and some water? This will set up the rest of the day for success. A healthy diet leads to a healthy mind and body!
