Posts made in September, 2015
You and your child
Here are some suggestions in order to make breakfast one of the main meals of the day:
- We must set a good example. If a child sees a parent only drinking coffee at home and decides to eat breakfast at work, the child will not consider this meal important.
- We must sacrifice 15 minutes of extra sleep in order to prepare a proper breakfast meal. Also, you should calmly eat your meal while seated at the table.
- We must eat and enjoy breakfast with the children. We must sit together just like it’s done during lunch and dinner. If for some reason the whole family can’t sit together, at least try having an adult nearby when a child eats breakfast. We mustn’t bother or pressure the child to finish quickly, but rather take this time to enjoy with your child and have a nice conversation regarding the day’s activities or comment the news on the radio or newspaper.
- We must offer them variety. Even though their daily serving of dairy is a must, you may provide them with several other options, such as: cereal, fresh fruits, juice, toast with jam, eggs or even cheese.
- If we must go to work before they wake up or have breakfast, leave them a note wishing them a great day along with a served breakfast meal.
- If the child starts school later and we let him/her sleep till 10 a.m., he/she will easily skip breakfast and only eat lunch. This is not recommended. If it’s done regularly, it could turn into a bad habit, and stunt your child’s growth. (For instance, he won’t get his daily intake of dairy).
The importance of breakfast during the school week
What do your children eat for breakfast? How long does it take them to eat their food? Perhaps many of us will answer that during the school week, breakfast often becomes a pitched battle. As we ask our sleepy children to abandon the comfort of their beds in order to get ready, we end up following them around with a glass of warm chocolate milk. We spill the milk along the way and ultimately, they won’t even drink half of it.
Many hours of fasting or an insufficient intake of nutrients at breakfast, will make children feel tired, lack energy, remain unfocused during class, and prevent them from performing well at school. Then, they might resort to eating junk food and candy during breaks. Unfortunately if this becomes a habit, they could end up suffering from nausea, blurred vision, and low hypoglycemic levels that could lead to a development in obesity later on.
On the other hand, a substantial meal at breakfast promotes healthy blood sugar levels and provides the body with sufficient energy for a great performance at school. This will also permit the child to fully develop and grow. In other words, breakfast should include dairy, protein, vitamins, fibers, carbohydrates, and a sufficient amount of healthy fats that are transformed into “fuel,” allowing the body to operate successfully.
Even though, the total amount of calories a child needs depends on their age, height, and weight, it is important to know their appropriate daily calorie intake, and also the calorie percentage intake during each meal. Therefore, the distribution of a child’s calorie intake must be done as follows:
- At breakfast: 25% of calories
- At lunch: 30% of calories
- During a break: 15-20% of calories
- At dinner: 25-30% of calories
Nutritional influences in the development of the brain
Critical and sensitive periods
In terms of cognitive development, we can distinguish several sensitive and critical developmental stages during which a special type of environmental stimulus facilitates the process. A critical stage is a relatively short period that starts and ends at quite precise moments. During this period, the body is vulnerable to influences like those caused by certain aspects of nutrition. Such examples are the negative effects triggered by an iron or iodine deficiency in the initial stages of brain development. During a critical stage, these is an increased sensitivity to environmental stimuli; however, if there is no stimulus, then it is going to be difficult, if not impossible, that an aspect of the brain performance be expressed later in life. Therefore, if malnutrition hinders metabolical processes at a certain age, there is the risk of a long-term side effect on cognition.
On the other hand, a sensitive period is seen as a window of opportunities in which the brain is sensitive to a certain type of stimuli. For example, language is much more easily acquired during the first ten years of life. Although particular functional aspects are gained without difficulty during a sensitive period, an ability can still be achieved at a later age, albeit not as easily and not at the same level of competence and good command.
The alleged differences between sensitive and critical stages of development are usually subtle, and the stated appreciations vary from one worker to another, and according to discipline. Some of them noticed that children fall short at a certain developmental stage if they lack the stimulation characteristic to a critical window of opportunities. At the opposite end, others believe that there are only sensitive periods, and that a lack of stimulation does not produce difficulties which could not be overcome later, even with a greater effort.
At least, as far as nutrition is concerned, there is good evidence regarding the critical stages of development. As the brain develops rapidly during pregnancy, an inadequate diet can limit the development of important aspects related to brain structure. The argument is that, since it is the mother’s diet that provides the nutrient blocks from which the baby’s brain is made, if during a period of fast brain growth an aspect of nutrition is inappropriate, permanent brain damage can occur.
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