Have You Made the Link Between Poor Nutrition and Disappointing Academic Results?

Have you ever wondered when a child goes to school without any breakfast or a poor breakfast, what happens to the quality or quantity of learning? What is jeopardised throughout the morning and rest of the day?

Recently, two students I was coaching who struggled with concentration described their usual breakfast. Extraordinarily, their usual meal included two items from this list - a piece of dry toast, Coco Pops, Nutella on a croissant, cheese toasties, an energy drink or hot chocolate. ?No wonder their concentration was limited.

What is the outcome when a child does not eat sufficient vegetables or fruit? Where does the essential nutrition for body and brain development come?

We do not want our child running out of energy or experiencing brain fog part way through an important lesson or exam. They need the energy both physical and mental to continue when the going gets tough. And tough can mean just making it through to lunch for many of our kids who leave home with poor nutrition or no breakfast at all.

‘Everyday’ Foods versus ‘Sometimes’ Food.

Many families with whom I speak talk about ‘everyday’ foods and ‘sometimes’ foods. And that is a good analogy. But what happens when the ‘sometimes’ becomes ‘all the time’? What happens when the ‘treats’ takeover the daily diet and are included on the menu every day, sometimes at every meal. What happens when takeaway pizzas, burgers and sugary drinks become ‘normal’ daily meals?

Children’s Palates Need Training.

Just as we train for road safety, train for good manners, train for soccer, train for ballet, train for .... well, anything, this training also includes the palate. This training must begin in the home.

Children cannot be expected to monitor their own balanced nutrition. It would be a rare child who declares, “I have to stop eating this because it tastes too good!”.

Part of our role as parents, grandparents, carers, and educators is to train our children’s palates. Kids need exposure to different foods for taste variety as well as nutritional value.

Some children will find it difficult in the future to be in other company for parties or social gatherings if they are not willing to try other foods. Just as with any new activity, it takes multiple exposures of a food before a child will realise that they can eat it or, in fact, enjoy it. Some kids (and adults) need 15 -20 exposures to a particular food before they will taste it. That means patience and persistence and effort are required to present that food in a variety of ways to encourage an appreciation for texture, flavour or simply difference.

My observation over many years is that some parents are defaulting to the generalisations like:

- ‘Jack is a super fussy eater.’

- ‘Jack only eats French fries.’

- ‘Jack only eats peanut butter sandwiches ‘.

- ‘Jack won’t eat vegetables’. This is the one that concerns me the most.

A blanket statement, ‘Jack won’t eat vegetables’ is ludicrous, not to mention putting Jack’s mental and physical health at risk.

In life, not everything we do is going to be fun, attractive, pleasant, or palatable; yet with repeated exposure or experience we can grow accustomed to people, jobs, and places which, at first brush, may not have been our immediate choice. So too, with food.?

A Note about Chocolate for Breakfast.

Many families today with children of all ages appear to give Nutella on toast as standard breakfast fare. This is a high sugar, high fat, and high carbohydrate choice. There are 200 calories in two tablespoons of Nutella which makes it a costly caloric choice with very small protein value.

Assistant Professor of Family Medicine at University of Ottawa, Yoni Freedhoff, and cofounder of the Bariatric Institute in Ottawa has a particular interest in what many families are feeding their children for breakfast. Dr Freedhoff states in his revealing demonstration video, “Make no mistake, Nutella is spreadable candy. It is not healthy; breakfast does not love it. You might love it, but this does not help to make a nutritious breakfast fun, it helps to make a nutritious breakfast non-nutritious.”

His short 4.5 min video is genuinely worth watching and certainly food for thought -?https://youtu.be/_qtsBmFK8F4

Watch how many spoonfuls of sugar go into the normal helping of Nutella on every piece of toast in the demonstration. This portion is the equivalent of how many Oreo biscuits? One, two, three, four, five - what did Dr Freedhoff say? Surely not. Sadly so.

Vancouver-based obesity expert and Global National health specialist, Dr. Ali Zentner, said that for her, the bottom line is that kids should not be eating chocolate for breakfast.

We are training our children to go to face a day of learning with dessert. A dessert topping that holds precious little nutritional value.

This is folly for the minds of our young. We are training them to eat only foods that taste yummy. Foods that taste ‘yummy’ are often full of sugar and fat which is a perfect combination for our brains to develop a craving that is not in their, or our, best interests. Cheesecake is an ideal example of the perfect balance of sugar and fat which has a profound effect on creating obesity in laboratory rats.

Children must be given and encouraged to eat a full variety of foods from a nutrition perspective alone.

It is not about what only tastes good or what a child insists they will eat.

To give your children an opportunity to maximise their daily learning why not consider menu planning as an activity that the whole family gets involved in? Creating a fun activity with multiple meal options, preferably with seasonal fruits and vegetables, including a quality breakfast that includes protein.

Your children will reap the benefits from a simple everyday breakfast that 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.

Quick Recommendations:

• The humble boiled egg has a lot going for it. Serve with a slice of wholemeal bread and maybe some fruit in season and a dollop of yoghurt is enough to kick off a solid morning of learning.
• Oats, rather than cereal, with yoghurt and fresh fruit.
• Tuna or left-over chicken/meat on toast with some slices of tomato or avocado.

Don’t be surprised if you and your family benefit not only from the nutritious breakfast food, better body and brain development as well as significant life-long lessons in nutrition.

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

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Select References:

Global News. (2013) Nutella-maker calls doctor’s video on sugar content a ‘gross exaggeration’ – National / Globalnews. Ca. Available at: https://globalnews/880307/makers-of-nutella-suggest-gross-exaggeration-in-doctors-video-on-sugar-content/

López-Gil JF, Mesas AE, álvarez-Bueno C, Pascual-Morena C, Saz-Lara A, Cavero-Redondo I. Association Between Eating Habits and Perceived School Performance: A Cross-Sectional Study Among 46,455 Adolescents From 42 Countries. Front Nutr. 2022 Feb 3; 9:797415. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.797415. PMID: 35187033; PMCID: PMC8852839.

Pivik, R.T., Tennal, K.B., Chapman, S.D. and Gu, Y. (2012). Eating breakfast enhances the efficiency of neural networks engaged during mental arithmetic in school-aged children.?Physiology & Behavior, 106(4), pp.548–555. doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2012.03.034

Rani, R., Dharaiya, C.N. and Singh, B. (2020). Importance of not skipping breakfast: a review.?International Journal of Food Science & Technology. doi.org/10.1111/ijfs.14742

Service, H.E.A. (2019).?The link between food, mood and learning outcomes. [online] heas.health.vic.gov.au. Available at: https://heas.health.vic.gov.au/schools/classroom/food-mood-and-learning#:~:text=The%20research%20suggests%20that%20eating.

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