As a nutritionist I know the importance of having breakfast because food is what makes our body function. The type of food that we eat is also important on how our body function. As a person and a mother I never thought of skipping breakfast anyway as that was never an option. My mother never let us go out without the breakfast no matter how early she would go out of the house or how much in an hurry she would be. Breakfast was there for us to have.
Now in a modern life, many adults with stressful jobs and tiring jobs or even as non-working mums we do feel that everything is overwhelming and we cannot cope with it. However I am sure many do it is just having the knowledge and the understanding of what happens without that breakfast or healthy meals. I am not going to talk about the sugar content of food or the sugary drink and their damage on the kid’s brain, for now I am just mentioning the breakfast.
As a mother I had the opportunity to see a lesson at my son school and even though the children did want to learn I could see that quite a lot of them could not focus on a simple task and I am just wondering what they had for breakfast and how much sleep they had the night before. There are plenty of studies and research out there which compare children and adults cognitive behaviour and attention span with having breakfast and having no breakfast. Some studies do not mention what kind of breakfast, however the ones with oatmeal or good non sugary porridge where the ones that had more change in attention span and learning at school.
The majority who had breakfast could focus for longer (till lunch time) and their learning was much higher. All children have the capacity of learning and concentrating and each of them might learn in different ways. As I saw a lesson being taught, I can see that all the different variation of teaching and learning where there. I just saw too many of the children not being able to concentrate!
In some of the studies that I read and from my nutritional experience, food, which will becomes glucose, in the body, gives the brain fuel to function at his optimal level. Think of glucose as the woods or coal that keeps the fire going.
Sugary foods will burn very quickly and the body needs to make more in order to get the fuel to the brain again. That will take time, and therefore the brain is left without much fuel to burn and goes down in concentration.
The low fuel will cause dizziness, shakiness, moods swings, unable to calm down or focus on the task in front of them. That is because the body and the brain is concentrating in getting the fuel for functioning and cannot relax and see the task in front of them. Anyone trying to distract them from getting that fuel will become an enemy and therefore they get shouted at.
It is up to the parents or guardian to give guidance to the children to have that breakfast in the morning before they leave the house, and the list below is the type of breakfast that releases that fuel slowly so that they can last till lunch time. Now also sleeping earlier and a good night sleep is important, so that the children can grow during the night, repair what the body needs to repair and feel hungry in the morning so that they can eat.
At the time of my University, which was 14 years ago, there was a study that was being done on behaviour in men in prison. What they did, they had them eat healthy meals instead of rubbish meals for them and the wardens who were as aggressive as the prisoners! The studies showed that the ones with healthy meals stayed away from fights, including the wardens and the one who did not change their diet, still kept fighting!! If that result is so clear on very aggressive adults, think of what achievements can have on a child!
I would challenge any parents and guardians to give their children the best gift they can give this Christmas! I would suggest giving them a good healthy breakfast in the morning before school or if they do not have time before leaving the house, they can have breakfast at school with the choice below if possible.
Some behaviour needs also some extra behavioural learning regarding their feelings, which quite often starts from the adults. Do read also together any of the simple books about anxiety, anger and feelings and work with them in recognising their feelings so that children can express themselves in a non- aggressive way.
The following are just ideas, you can add to them as long they are low in sugar and chocolate and high in nutritional value, the simple the better:
Breakfast
Choose between the following foods: (if your child is allergic nuts, eggs or dairy, choose the alternatives)
1. 1 bowl of organic cornflakes, (or mixed cornflakes from perthwood or in the organic section which have less sugar (no other type of cornflakes). wheat free musli (Perthwood found in Salisbury and health food shop), or 1 bowl oat porridge, with milk (if not intolerant to it) or soya milk, rice milk, oat milk; add at least to pieces of fruits e.g. Apple, pear, banana, blueberry, blackberry, raspberry, melon, orange, clementines, kiwi, etc.; add 4-5 nuts choose between the following or mix the following, eg. Brazil nuts, almond nuts, pecan nuts, walnuts (no peanuts they are no nuts). Or add some seeds, ground sesame seeds and linseeds, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds (please remember that nuts and seeds once open should be stored in the fridge or in air tight container or they can easily go rancid).
2. 1 slice of wholemeal bread with 1 scrambled egg or boiled egg with 1 piece of fruit (banana, apple, pear, orange or Clementine, berries (any a palm full).
3. Live yoghurt (dairy if not intolerant) or soya yoghurt (Yofu) with 2-three pieces of fruits with max 5 nuts or 1 tablespoon of seeds
4. Wholegrain rice puddings with fruits with skin on, nuts and seeds.
5. fruit smoothie (1 banana, 1 apple, with yogurt, pumpkin seeds, or berries mixture with yogurt)
6. Wholemeal bread (two slices) with two eggs.
Reference:
Bellisle F. (2004). Effects of diet on behaviour and cognition in children. Br J Nutr. Oct; 92 Suppl 2:S227-32.
Hoyland A1, Dye L, Lawton CL (2009) A systematic review of the effect of breakfast on the cognitive performance of children and adolescents.
Nutr Res Rev. Dec;22(2):220-43.
Grantham-McGregor S. (2005). Can the provision of breakfast benefit school performance? Food Nutr Bull. Jun;26(2 Suppl 2):S144-58.
Rampersaud GC et al.(2005). Breakfast habits, nutritional status, body weight, and academic performance in children and adolescents. J Am Diet Assoc. May;105(5):743-60; quiz 761-2.
Taras H. (2005). Nutrition and student performance at school. J Sch Health. 2005 Aug;75(6):199-213.
Mahoney CR et al. (2005). Effect of breakfast composition on cognitive processes in elementary school children. Physiol Behav. Aug 7;85(5):635-45.
Helen Sandwell and Michael Wheatley. Healthy eating advice as part of drug
treatment in prisons. Prison service journal; Issue 182. (independent study). http://www.ifbb.org.uk/data/resources/20/Healthy-Eating-as-Part-of-Drug-Treatment-in-Prisons.pdf. (looked at 4.12.14)
Craniosacral Healing /Nutrition NAET/Mindfulness living/ NlP health coach /mind body and soul 