Food is Foundational

Whenever I set a rule or expectation for a child I want them to succeed. There is a purpose in that rule, and my goal is that they use the rule to acquire a skill or tool that will help them cope with life. In order to succeed I have to give them their best chance.

The best chance of success starts with what their body and brain are capable of learning and applying. Your brain is not separate from your body. Your brain has to be healthy in order to send proper signals to the rest of your body. These signals can be affected by a number of things. 

Not being a pediatrician, counselor or doctor of any kind, this information comes from my experience of over thirty years as a professional nanny, working with dozens of children in a wide variety of settings, as well as interaction with their teachers, relatives and friends.

Food matters.

I wish it didn’t sometimes. I would love to eat Reeses Peanut Butter Cups daily and have zero consequences. Clear skin, a sharp mind, flexible, pain free joints and so on, but that is not how our bodies and food work. And that’s ok, good in fact. 

What is good is that we can control our mind and body health using food. We are not helpless. One of my favorite sayings is ‘Food is Medicine”. I have personal experience with that saying, but I have also seen it to be true while working with children. 

Our food today is compromised on several levels but I’m only going to touch on a few.

1 We are inundated by processed food. Our pantries and freezers are full of foods in boxes and plastic, it often has a shelf life of years. These foods are high in ingredients we can’t even pronounce, or in other words - not food. Our bodies don’t know how to use these damaging preservatives and chemicals. You cannot expect your child to listen with clarity to what you say, let alone carry out those instructions, if they don’t have real energy to spend. Real energy comes from real, very low or unprocessed food.

2 Today’s child (as well as adult) eats more sugar than ever before. Our kids not only have more sugary treats available to them in the form of granola bars dipped in chocolate, yogurt full of syrupy fruit and gummy fruit snacks, but access to tropical fruit and fruit year round. You may be think, “But it’s fruit, that’s natural sugar.” It’s still sugar. Ask your self why we put bananas in bread, on ice cream and in our “Healthy” smoothies. The answer is sugar, around 25g in a medium banana. We even put fruit in packaged squeeze pouches so chewing isn’t necessary. Delivery of that sugar to a child’s system is almost immediate. The earlier your child eats a diet high in sugar the faster and more intensely they will become addicted. Sugar is a substance that many human beings abuse and breaking that cycle is harder than never starting it in the first place. You also risk the onset of diabetes, a disease that takes limbs and eyesight, that causes strokes and heart disease, even in young people. Every year over 76,000 people die from diabetes in America. World wide the numbers have quadrupled in the past four decades. Now is the time to scale back sugar in your child’s life. Check labels for carb content - it’s sugar.

3 Nutrient density is the last thing. In order for your child to succeed their mind and body needs nutrients. That seems obvious, but do we really know what that means? Which foods have the highest protein - a macronutrient your body cannot survive without, let alone thrive? Which foods have the most vitamins and fat - another macronutrient your body cannot live without. Fat is part of a diet that feeds your brain. Omega 3 fatty acids have been found to fight depression and anxiety, increase intelligence, reduce behavior problems and lower risk of obesity.

For right now you are your child’s main food connection. They can’t get in the car, go to the store and pay for groceries, they are dependent on you. Do some research and find the best choices, so your child (and you) have the best chance of growing into old age, happy and healthy. If you want well behaved children, give them a fighting chance at success by feeding them a low sugar diet of real food - it’s foundational.