Send your kids back to school with a well-nourished mind, self-esteem and energy to learn. Healthful eating, along with daily physical activity, helps kids get fit – and stay that way.
Health professionals and educators have long recognized that severe nutrient deficiencies, marked by improper growth, late mental development and very low energy levels, hinder learning. Studies show, for example, that iron deficiency among children leads to poor behavior, difficulty concentrating, and poor performance.
Mild under-nutrition isn’t as easily recognized, but it too can affect how children learn. Mild under-nutrition tends to be more a matter of poor food choices and/or skipping meals.
Skipping breakfast on a regular basis, for instance, is linked to lower school achievement and performance. Conversely, children who include this important morning meal succeed with learning (because they have energy to learn).
Although I am still amazed to hear that, still, there are many kids heading off to school without breakfast, I am even more amazed to hear what some children are actually eating.
As a nutritionist, I ask parents to please recognize that the notion that giving your child ‘anything’ to eat is better than nothing at all.
If you provide cookies, sugary fruit drinks or soda for breakfast in a mad rush to school (don’t be surprised, I am using examples from my own practice), then the message you are sending is that breakfast is not an important meal, and that we need not consider how some foods affect our bodies – such as blood sugar, weight, energy levels, and oral health.
Easy breakfast ideas
To help set your child in a healthful, nutritious direction this school year, consider the following easy breakfast ideas:
• Two per cent cheese slices served with (or melted on) whole wheat toast, and glass of 100 per cent orange juice.
• Iron-fortified cereal and low-fat milk with banana slices.
• Peanut butter spread on toasted whole wheat bread or waffle (or rolled inside a whole wheat tortilla and banana).
• Fruit – banana, strawberries, raisins, sliced apple/applesauce – and milk on instant oatmeal.
• Cold (leftover) pizza slice and glass of orange juice or milk.
• Part-skim cheese string wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla, and peach fruit cup.
• Bite-size whole-grain cereal (like corn bran, oat squares, cheerios) and a yogurt cup.
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