Do you sometimes feel that your work day feels like a Pass or Fail exam? And if so, are YOU exam ready?

You may not realise it, but your breakfast plays a substantial role in your daily results at work. What did you eat for breakfast today? Or are you in the same boat as many of your workmates who skip breakfast or call a cup of coffee, ‘breakfast on the go’.

Would you like to ensure you have the flexibility and agility to function and field challenging questions from your work colleagues?

This too, is an exam; it is an examination of the skills you have developed and refined over many years.

Your child may be studying for a major exam and needs to ensure they show up exam ready. Would you like to ensure your child has an advantage before they even open their exam paper?

Any meeting, presentation, speech, participation, dialogue or essay IS an exam. They each are tasks that test and challenge what has been learnt, considered, analysed, discussed, practiced, refined, or transformed.

Studying for an exam is Step 1 for top performance or exam marks. Step 2 is ensuring that you feed your brain nutritious food as well. Exam success is not just about study but fueling the brain to function and be on point under pressure as well.

We do not want our kids to run out of energy or experience brain fog part way through an important exam. They need the energy both physical and mental to continue when the going gets tough. To that we can add the emotional energy as well.

Do we want to be alert, focused, and calm rather than anxious, overwhelmed, and fatigued? Preparing our brain means fueling our brain rather than starving it of critical nutrients and hydration.

Can we prime the brain for high cognitive and/or physical demands?

Certainly, by planning what we eat ahead of time. How we eat the night before an important occasion, meeting, performance or exam, will have a bearing on how our body functions the next day. This will affect stamina through the hours required which then may lead us to top up our energy rather than try to create it in any moment.

Do you want to maximise blood flow to the brain for thinking?

The simple answer: Do not eat foods that would slow that down. These are high fat foods including pizza and fried and fast foods. Drink more water. Once we start to become aware we are thirsty or may be dehydrated, our body is already taxed and in a lower gear. We are now in catch-up mode.

It is important that you, as an adult, lead by example. As a parent, what are you feeding your brain at breakfast? Eating a healthy breakfast may mean getting out of bed 15 minutes earlier than you normally do. On the job, you might call it a cost benefit analysis; is it worth the investment?

Whenever I have short changed my breakfast, I know I have a price to pay. I owe it to my clients to be on my game.

Did you encourage your children to eat a healthy breakfast or are you falling for the “all my friends just have toast and chocolate spread for breakfast” line? Or the “I’ll just have coffee” line?

STOP, please stop sabotaging your health and that of your children’s health.

Our diet has a way of catching up with us.

What we eat truly does determine how our bodies grow and ultimately how we manage our lives – the health of our eyes, the strength of our bones, the condition of our skin, teeth and hair, the functioning of all our vital organs and of course, the growth of our brains.

And alongside this is the ability to calm our bodies and cope with everyday joys and disappointments. Our microbiome - what lives in our gut - determines almost every aspect of our being. The mix of our microbiome will determine how we fight disease, control our emotions, how clearly we think as well as contributing to a healthy and balanced mental state.

Importantly, what happens when students reach the school gate in the morning with no nutrition in their bodies? Their brain has nothing to work with, or on, throughout the morning and then the brain and their bodies are in catch-up mode all day. Have you ever considered how well you function completing your everyday tasks on an empty stomach? ?Or even worse, a caffeine only breakfast?

Research “findings suggest that neural network activity involved in processing numerical information is functionally enhanced and performance is improved in children who have eaten breakfast, whereas greater mental effort is required for this mathematical thinking in children who skip breakfast.” (Pivik et al. 2012) This research shows through EEG activity that children who do not eat breakfast, who have fasted, must rely more on working memory and mental arithmetic suffers.

If working memory is affected, that will mean almost every aspect of learning will be impacted. Children will fatigue mentally, sooner. The learning of that material will be hindered and consequently, retention of material will be significantly reduced.

Globally many schools offer the opportunity for children to have a breakfast when they get to school. These institutions realise the importance of enabling kids to begin a day with something in their stomachs. This is especially important in areas of lower socioeconomic status. Although, I wish to note that many of the families my colleagues and I have contact are not all in this category. Poor breakfast habits are not postcode centric; they happen in as many affluent suburbs as those in low socio-economic areas. Why is this when 'food security', knowing how to eat a breakfast is a precursor to learning? This is even more essential during the critical morning sessions at school.

Please stop using the excuse, “I don’t have time for breakfast”. It is not a badge of honour to dishonour what your brain requires to function. That demand on functioning can occur at any given time through the day, whether we are driving a truck on the freeway or driving our kids to school, reporting to the board, or attending a lecture, or facing a university qualifying exam.

Parents are Palate Trainers

Before you exclaim, ‘Not another parenting duty, I am too busy already!’ please remember that it is we, as adults, who must train the palate of our children. Train their palates so they can learn to appreciate different flavours and expand the experiences of their tastebuds, as well as what the world can offer in various cuisines.

How do athletes train their minds, as well as their bodies?

They are strict with what they eat They choose the absolute best foods to enrich their performance.

Personal chefs are employed by professional athletes from Rafael Nadal to LeBron James to Cristiano Ronaldo to Olympic competitors – again for all good reason. These people can’t afford to get halfway through an event and lose focus or flag due to low energy.

In the 2022 Australian Open, Rafael Nadal had to sustain energy and performance for the 5.5-hour final to win against his opponent, Daniil Medvedev, who is a decade his junior.

Children need stamina, not just for their energy to play but they need to build up intellectual stamina. Stamina to last a day at school; stamina to face and sustain intellectual focus in any lesson or major exams. Adults need stamina too. Might you be blaming poor health for your foggy brain, disrupted sleep patterns and lethargy at work?

Remember food is medicine. We need to prioritise healthy eating starting with our daily breakfast.

Recommendations:

A simple everyday breakfast allows for protein and energy to prepare the brain for learning. Your aim is to arrange a breakfast rich in protein.

Avoid a high sugar load, high salt, or high fat. Protein includes meat, fish, chicken, or eggs cooked in a low-fat manner. (That does not mean cold leftover pizza or KFC).

Here are the breakfast choices of university students who performed beyond their exam expectations:

·????????Scrambled eggs on toast with coffee (personal favourite)

·????????Salmon and avocado on toast with green tea (loaded with brain food)

·????????Two poached eggs and spinach on toast with mushrooms (very fancy)

·????????Grilled chop and tomatoes (protein for sustainability)

Prepared the night before:

·????????Two hard boiled eggs (add the toast in the morning).

·????????Vegetable and fruit smoothie (lettuce, celery, garlic, ginger, turmeric, apple, avocado, banana, carrot).

·????????Bircher muesli (add the sliced banana in the morning).

·????????Quiche (multiple options for fillings).

Trust me, your child’s concentration, brain development and improved school results will make reviewing your breakfast menus extremely worthwhile. And you will pass your work exam/work day with flying colours, master your workload, maximise your meeting attendance and maintain your energy.

Remember, it’s call 'break fast' (breaking the fast) for a reason. Life is tough enough today without neglecting the potential for a great start to the day.

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For more articles by The BRAIN WHISPERER ?, Jill Sweatman, visit www.jillsweatman.com?

You are welcome to download her latest eBook, ‘What are the Secrets of High Achieving Students’ on her website www.jillsweatman.com

Jill Sweatman is available for presentations and coaching both in the workplace and one-on-one.