These days, kids love to eat junk food such as burgers, pizzas, soft drinks, pastries, etc. Parents too oblige as these are affordable, easily available and tasty too. But did you know your kid’s food choices could affect their intelligence levels? By giving your child unhealthy foods, you are risking not just their physical health but also their brain development. Junk food has excess calories but hardly any nutrition. We ask Dhvani Shah, a nutritionist who has authored the book, ‘Don’t Just Feed…Nourish Your Child’ how food choices can affect your kid’s mental health.
These days, kids love to eat junk food such as burgers, pizzas, soft drinks, pastries, etc. Parents too oblige as these are affordable, easily available and tasty too. But did you know your kid’s food choices could affect their intelligence levels? By giving your child unhealthy foods, you are risking not just their physical health but also their brain development. Junk food has excess calories but hardly any nutrition. We ask Dhvani Shah, a nutritionist who has authored the book, ‘Don’t Just Feed…Nourish Your Child’ how food choices can affect your kid’s mental health.
Does the food kids eat impact their intelligence?
Yes, a child’s eating habits greatly affect his brain development and intelligence. Slow memory, lack of concentration, lethargy, sleepiness – are all a result of a child’s eating habits. As rightly proven, food can make or break an individual. Good nutrition comes from good eating habits. It fuels the brain and keeps it active enough to function optimally throughout the day. Also, the right nutrition promotes optimal growth of brain cells, nerves and tissues in turn enhancing a child’s concentration, memory and intelligence.
What foods promote better brain growth?
For healthy brain development and nervous system, make sure your kid eats the following foods regularly:
- Natural sugars like honey, dried fruits, banana, custard apple
- Nuts like almonds, walnuts, cashews, peanuts
- Milk and milk products like yoghurt, paneer and cheese
- Green leafy vegetables like spinach, methi, spring onions
- Turmeric
- Seafood
- Ghee and fresh white butter
Which foods affect brain growth adversely?
Artificial sweeteners, white sugar and other commercially used sweeteners directly impact the development of brain and nervous system. Overdose of candies, chocolates, desserts, sweets, sugary cereals, aerated beverages, packaged juices, sherbets are shown to cause loss of memory, lethargy, irritability in children. Also read how India’s top junk food joints are ruining your kid’s health.
How can one make sure their kids are not eating these foods?
The trick to get children to eat healthy is to ‘minimise and not avoid’. Always restrict harmful/junk foods to once a week so that they do not develop a craving for the same.
Another way is to substitute packaged foods with equally interesting home-made goodies. Baked potato wedges made at home v/s French fries or home-made jaggery-whole wheat cake v/s store-bought cakes or fresh fruit juice v/s packaged drinks – the options are endless. Here are 4 healthy recipes for kids.
What should be included in a kid’s daily diet to ensure the development of their brain is on the right track?
- Banana + walnut + honey smoothie during exams work wonders for many children.
- Include almond milk on a daily basis to boost your child’s brain development.
- Include a mid-meal snack of fruit + nuts.
- Add green leafy veggies to roti/paratha and use ghee for cooking pulses/rotis/parathas.
Originally published on www.thehealthsite.com
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