Do you want your child to excel in school? Examine your nutrition in detail. Certain “brain foods” may aid in a child’s brain development as well as increase memory, focus, and function. In fact, the brain is a very hungry organ the first of the body’s organs to absorb nutrients from the food we eat, explains Bethany Thayer, MS, RD, a director of the Henry Ford Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention.
Key points
- School-age children need to eat foods from all five healthy food groups – vegetables, fruit, grain foods, dairy, and protein.
- Healthy foods have nutrients that are important for growth, development, and learning.
- Limit salty, fatty, and sugary foods, low-fiber foods, and drinks with caffeine or a lot of sugar.
Fruits and Vegetables
Fruit and veggies give your child energy, vitamins, antioxidants, fiber, and water. These nutrients help to protect your child from diseases later in life, including heart disease, stroke, and some cancers.
Encourage your child to choose fruit and vegetables at every meal and for snacks. This includes fruit and veggies of different colors, textures, and tastes, both fresh and cooked.
Wash fruit to remove dirt or chemicals, and leave any edible skin on, because the skin contains nutrients too.
Grain foods
Grain foods include bread, pasta, noodles, breakfast cereals, couscous, rice, corn, oats, and barley. These foods give children the energy they need to grow, develop and learn.
Grain foods with a low glycemic index, like wholegrain pasta and bread, will give your child longer-lasting energy and keep them feeling fuller for longer. Glycaemia index
Reduced-fat dairy foods
Key dairy foods are milk, cheese, and yogurt. These foods are good sources of protein and calcium. Try to offer your child different kinds of dairy each day, for example, drinks of milk, cheese slices, or bowls of yogurt.
Children aged over two years can have reduced-fat dairy products.
If you’re thinking of giving your child dairy alternatives, it’s best to talk to your pediatrician, GP, or child and family health nurse.
Protein
Protein-rich foods include lean meat, fish, chicken, eggs, beans, and nuts. These foods are important for your child’s growth and muscle development.
These foods also contain other useful vitamins and minerals like iron, zinc, vitamin B12 , and omega-3 fatty acids. Iron and omega-3 fatty acids from red meat and oily fish are particularly important for your child’s brain development and learning.
Healthy drinks: Water
Water is the healthiest drink for children. It’s also the cheapest. Most tap water is fortified with fluoride for strong teeth too.
Foods and drinks to limit
It’s best to limit the amount of ‘sometimes’ food your child eats. This means your child will have more room for healthy, everyday foods.
‘Sometimes’ foods include fast food, takeaway and junk food like hot chips, potato chips, pies, burgers and takeaway pizza. They also include cakes, chocolate, lollies, biscuits, doughnuts and pastries.
‘Sometimes’ foods can be high in salt, saturated fat, and sugar, and low in fiber. Regularly eating these foods can increase the risk of health conditions like childhood obesity and type-2 diabetes.
You should also limit your child’s sweet drinks. This includes fruit juice, cordials, sports drinks, flavored waters, soft drinks, and flavored milk. Sweet drinks are high in sugar and low in nutrients.
Too many sweet drinks can lead to unhealthy weight gain, obesity, and tooth decay. These drinks fill your child up and can make them less hungry for healthy meals. If children regularly have sweet drinks when they’re young, it can kick off an unhealthy lifelong habit.
Foods and drinks with caffeine aren’t recommended for children, because caffeine stops the body from absorbing calcium well. Caffeine is also a stimulant, which means it gives children artificial energy. These foods and drinks include coffee, tea, energy drinks, and chocolate.
Source: https://www.webmd.com/add-adhd/childhood-adhd/features/brain-foods-kids