Copyright 2005 Gobala Krishnan
It is important that your child gets his or her nutrition early
on, preferably form Grade 1. This is the most important time
for brain development, as they start to learn new things and
create new ideas all the time. Brain development revolves around
getting the right amount of:
1) Glucose – Simply put, it is the blood sugar level. Glucose
provides energy, and is vital in determining attention span.
Lack of glucose can cause your kid to feel sleepy in class. The
most important meal is breakfast, and glucose should be a part
of every child’s breakfast, to ensure that the blood sugar level
is maintained through out the day’s activities. Kids who usually
skip breakfast tend to have a shorter attention span and
difficulty remembering their lessons.
2) Vitamin B – Vitamin B helps to release the energy in glucose.
Lack of Vitamin B can cause aggressiveness and depression. There
are 12 types of essential Vitamin B, so it may be difficult to
get all in a meal. Cereals are a good provider of Vitamin B.
3) Iron – Helps to transport oxygen in the blood system to each
individual cell, including brain cells. Lack of iron results in
anemia, which is common in children who don’t get a balanced
diet. Besides having less attention span, iron-anemic children
are less motivated to participate in challenging tasks that
stretch their imagination and ability. Having a good selection
of red meat, tuna, chicken, or leafy vegetables like legumes and
broccoli, can give your kid all the iron he or she needs.
4) Folic Acid – Important in the formation of red and white
blood cells. Lack of folic acid results in your kid feeling
tired, irritable and forgetful. Food sources like fresh
vegetables and fruits are good sources of folic acid.
5) Zinc – Important to maintain communication between nerve
cells and brain cells. Deficiencies in zinc can cause your kid
to have difficulty solving academic problems, something the
medical world calls cognitive impairment. Zinc in its natural
form can be found in cereals and peanuts.
6) Vitamin A – An important nutrient for the nervous system of a
fetus. Vitamin A is most commonly found in beta carotene, from
dark leafy vegetables and orange or yellow fruits.
How to Ensure Your Kid Gets the Right Nutrition
A healthy, balanced diet, consisting of the right amount of
cereals, meat, fish, vegetables, fiber-rich fruits, and lots of
clean, unprocessed water will provide your child with the magic
formula to succeed in school, both academically and in sports.
Does that mean that the parents of ‘A’ students go out shopping
each day, cook their own food, and sit down with their kids on
the breakfast table to ensure that they eat what they’re
supposed to?
Not necessarily. Parents are discovering the importance of
nutritional supplements to balance out their diet, as well as
their children’s diet. Nutritional supplements provide the
answer to the close the gap created by a busy lifestyle and the
need for better health. Adults can take multivitamins and
mineral supplements out of their own determination for better
health. Children, on the other hand, especially the younger
ones, need to be educated, tricked or forced to take
nutritional supplements. Any way you do it, it has to be done
for the better future of your child.
Kids generally detest swallowing any sort of multivitamin pill,
especially if it’s like really huge ones or if it tastes bad.
Understandably for them, taste is more important than the
benefit of the pill. Educating your kid is important in the long
run, but younger children need to be introduced to supplements
in a more subtle way. one good way is by giving them chewable
supplements, which disguise the fact that they are supplements
by giving a good taste and flavor. Kids are generally more
receptive to taking chewables than regular pills.
Another trend today is taking liquid nutritional supplements.
Liquid nutritional supplements go one step further than
chewables by eliminating the need of pill forms. Liquid
nutrition can be diluted and mixed into our drinks, cereals and
whatever else you eat during the course of a day. Children today
love taking liquid supplements that are mixed into their orange
juice or other beverage. Even adults who hate taking pills are
attracted to liquid multivitamin supplements. Liquid nutrition
is also more readily and easily absorbed by the body.
Start Early to Determine Success
If you really want your kid to grow up smart and popular in
school, you have to start early. Mothers should take Vitamin B
supplements during their pregnancy months to ensure complete
fetal growth. Even though nutritional supplements are generally
not recommended to kids below 2 years, ensure that from that age
on your children are introduced to taking chewable or liquid
nutritional supplements.
Grade A students and kids who excel in school generally don’t
have anything special that your kid does not already have. The
only difference is that they have parents who emphasize the
benefits of good nutrition. Now that you know their secret,
start today by analyzing your kid’s eating habits and take
action to change their life, and yours.
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