Brain Fuel for School

Should we consider our child’s diet as a tool for learning? Absolutely! Leading nutritional researchers are learning more every day about the power certain foods have on growing bodies. A healthy diet helps to build a better brain and a stronger immune system. As well, it can supply school-aged children with the focus needed to sit through math class, enjoy a good book, or have the energy to play a fun game after school.

Breakfast

This is a meal that can make or break your child’s day. A good breakfast will fuel your child’s energy and mind, but a high carb/high sugar breakfast may lead to energy lows and mood swings all day. Instead, start your child off right with a healthy, higher protein breakfast.

A good breakfast includes a good source of protein, whole grains, and is balanced nutritionally. Some examples of great breakfasts include: a poached egg on sprouted grain toast, 5% fat yogurt with homemade granola, and long-cook oatmeal with hemp seeds and berries.

Lunch

The best lunch for your child is always one you pack yourself. A sandwich made with sprouted grain bread, leftover meats, lettuce, and hummus makes a fantastic balanced lunch. Some carrot sticks or an apple rounds it out nicely. Juice packs and sugary drinks can cause an energy dip at the end of the school day. Pack water instead, or dilute 100% fruit juice with water.

After School Snack

Growing kids need more than 3 meals a day and an after-school snack is a must. This is also a great time to give them another serving of fruit or veggies that are a great source of vitamins and minerals to help support a healthy immune system. Vitamin C can help the body fight off colds and infections. Oranges, strawberries, and bell peppers are great sources of Vitamin C. Alternatively, a sugary snack after school may lead to problems sleeping, weaken his/her immune system, and make your child more prone to getting a cold.

Dinner

The best dinner for your child is one eaten with the family. This is a wonderful time to talk and come together as a group. It is also a great way to expand the palate of your picky eaters. It can take 8 – 10 introductions to a new food before your child begins to enjoy it, so be patient and keep trying. Prepare a healthy meal full of quality protein, a variety of colourful vegetables and whole grains, and he/she will get all of the nutrients requires for a strong body.

Overall, spend some time watching how your child reacts to different food choices. What meal choices keep his/her energy steady, mood balanced, and body strong? Provide a healthy variety of food for you and your family and you’ll child with have fewer sick days and better concentration through this school year.

Lisa Kilgour Headshot

Lisa Kilgour is a Registered Holistic Nutritionist. She provides one-on-one consultations and teaches workshops in the Okanagan. To find out the underlying cause of your symptoms, or to find the diet that helps you feel your best, visit www.EatMoreRealFood.com or call 250.869.9434.

Copyright © 2008- 2013 EatMoreRealFood.com. This article is of the copyright of EatMoreRealFood.com and the author; any reproduction, duplication and transmission of the article are to have prior written approval by EatMoreRealFood.com or the author.

Why We Don’t Eat What We “Should” Be Eating

I need to start with a spotlight on the word “should”…it’s a big pet peeve of mine. We’re constantly weighed down with what we “should” or “shouldn’t” be doing. We “should” all over ourselves! This is not helpful. The moment we use the word “should” we judge ourselves.

Look at these two sentences:

1. I should be eating more vegetables.
2. I could be eating more vegetables.

The latter is a statement, while the former has a big weight of judgment added to it. After a while, all of these “shoulds” we fill ourselves with start spilling out and we start to tell others what they “should” be doing.

“Should” doesn’t help us move forward, it holds us down. When it comes to diet we all know what we “should” be eating, but few of us do it. Let’s throw away the unhelpful word “should” and replace it with non-judgmental words like “could”, “can”, or even “will”.

Ahhhh, that feels better :). So, why don’t we eat the healthy diet that we could be eating?

Chocolate chunks

Our daily diet is made up from a collection of decisions, and I feel that to get to the core of our dietary dilemmas we need to look at what drives these decisions. My hypothesis is that our state of mind when we are choosing what to eat drives what we choose to eat. Let me give you some examples:

Scenario 1: You come home from work and you’re STARVING! You could eat almost anything that’s put in front of you. You’re craving a fast hit of sugar or carbs, and you want it now. Your energy is low and the prospect of spending the next hour chopping, cooking, and waiting for dinner is very unappealing. So…what do you do? Make a big healthy meal, or just grab some chocolate from the cupboard? Or, do you just pick up something quick for dinner on your way home?

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Scenario 2: You come home from work and you're feeling a bit hungry. You feel like you could eat in the next hour or two. Your energy is pretty good and you would really like to eat a big pile of vegetables (yes, this scenario is possible). You look in the fridge and put together a gorgeous coconut milk curry full of veggies, chickpeas, served over brown rice. The process is enjoyable and ready in about 40 minutes.

What is the difference between Scenario 1 and 2? You might say #2 is almost impossible, or only happens once in a blue moon…or only happens for super-healthy people who don’t eat anything close to a “normal diet”. …what if I said you’re dead wrong?

What if the difference between Scenario 1 and 2 is simply the difference between an imbalance in blood sugar and balanced blood sugar? What if Scenario 2 was possible for everyone with only a few small changes to your diet?

We tend to think of blood sugar issues only in relation to Type II Diabetes or Hypoglycemia, but the fact is many of us are dealing with mild-to-moderate blood sugar issues every day. These are imbalances we feel, but don’t turn up on blood tests. These blood sugar issues lead to weight gain, low or fluctuating energy, sugar/carb cravings, and a lack of motivation. They affect our life every day and are the driving factor behind poor food choices.

Ask yourself the following questions:

1. Do you feel Scenario 1 at least one time per week?
2. Is hunger immediate? Do you need to eat relatively quickly (within the next hour) when you feel hungry?
3. Do you have energy dips throughout the day?
4. Do you crave sugar, carbs, or sugary drinks throughout the day?
5. Do you carry food with you all the time just in case you suddenly feel hungry?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, your blood sugar isn’t balanced.

Balancing your blood sugar is surprisingly easy and it allows you to make better decisions with your diet. Imagine having one hour or more to make a meal when you feel hungry! If you had this time, what would you make? That big healthy meal sounds more appealing now, doesn't it :)?

The first step towards finding balance is to look at how food makes you feel. How do you feel immediately after eating? How about after one hour? How long can you go before you feel like you're “starving”?

Balanced energy, weight-loss, and a healthy diet are all within reach with just a few small changes! Starting today, stop thinking about what you “should” be doing, and look at how your current diet is affecting your decisions.

Lisa Kilgour Headshot

Lisa Kilgour, Registered Holistic Nutritionist from EatMoreRealFood.com, loves to help others find balance and be happy.

Lisa has clients from all over Canada and consults in person, and via phone and Skype. Contact Lisa today and take the first step towards good health!

KFC Double Down "Healthier" Than an Egg? What!?

According to CTV.ca -

"For anyone watching their cholesterol, Canadian researchers say eating a single egg could be more harmful than munching the current king of fast food indulgences.

According to a new report published in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology, one egg yolk can contain more cholesterol than a KFC Double Down sandwich.

Compared to the 150 milligrams of cholesterol contained in the now-famous sandwich comprised of bacon, cheese and sauce sandwiched between two pieces of deep fried chicken, researchers say a single egg can contain between 215 and 275 milligrams. A Big Mac contains just 75 mg of cholesterol, while a footlong meatball sandwich from Subway packs 90 mg."

It's not just CTV.ca. The Toronto Star and the Toronto Sun have published similar articles calling this incredibly unhealthy sandwich "healthier" than an egg. A nutrient-packed, incredibly healthy, whole food egg.

The way I see it, there are 2 BIG problems with this article -

1. Using only dietary cholesterol as a way of judging if a food is "good" or "bad"

2. Considering dietary cholesterol as an issue when dealing with heart disease risk

Let me start with the first point, using cholesterol as the only comparison....I need to simmer for few minutes before I start into a "cholesterol isn't bad for you!" rant. :)

Many clinical studies, including one by The Harvard School of Health, found that eggs do not raise blood cholesterol in healthy individuals AND has even been shown to raise "good" HDL cholesterol! The KFC Double Down, on the other hand, is FULL of transfat. Transfat has been found, in pretty much every study ever it's been in, to raise cholesterol levels and increase the risk of heart disease.

One is a nutrient-packed whole food and the other one of the most unhealthy fast foods ever created! I'm quite impressed that the writer of this (well, these) articles had the guts to compare such different foods.

I think the biggest problem with this article is the way that we're looking at food and health in general. We're trying to put everything on a "good" or "bad" list. Even worse, we're trying to put single components in food onto a "good' or "bad" list, opening the doors for manufactured foods that are "healthier" than their whole food components. Some of these articles even list egg white substitutes as the healthier option if you're going to eat eggs! How is that possible!? ....I'll get into this topic in more detail in my next post...:)

Back to cholesterol - Why is the consideration of dietary cholesterol an issue? Because it is an essential part of our diet. Our bodies use cholesterol to make Vitamin D and hormones. It also uses it to repair arterial damage.

...wait, I thought cholesterol clogged our arteries?!

Yes, it can, but one of it's main roles in our body is to repair damaged to our arteries - caused by free radicals, heavy metals, and transfats...just to name a few (many of which are in the manufactured foods that have the "Health Check" symbol"). As well, our liver manufactures about 80% of the cholesterol in our body, and it's well-proven fact that the cholesterol in our diet has a very small effect on the amount of cholesterol in our bloodstream.

Instead of trying to reduce the cholesterol in your bloodstream through medication or dietary "products", ask yourself, why is it high? What am I eating that might be causing my body to raise the cholesterol in my bloodstream? Eating a diet that balances YOUR body (a diet unique to you) is the best way to keep you healthy and keep your cholesterol where it should be.

For the full CTV.ca article, click HERE - did I mention, a similar article, bashing the egg marketers even more is posted in their "Healthzone" section !

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go and eat an egg in protest.