Foods That Will Boost Your Child’s Brain Power
In this report you’ll find everyday superfoods that are recognized to supercharge brain growth and function, especially for children.
Why is this important? Well, brain development is affected greatly by a baby's nutrition intake. Children who are malnourished will experience inadequate brain growth, which results in lower IQ, slower language and delayed or impaired fine motor development.
Anti-oxidant rich super foods for your kid’s brain
Vitamins A, C and E are very beneficial for the brain because they act as natural anti-oxidants. Natural anti-oxidants ensure proper brain development and they help in the development of a well organized network of neurons.
In addition, they decrease brain cell degradation caused by ageing. Vitamin C in addition is needed to produce collagen, which is needed to build new cells and to repair cracks in the veins and arteries. So, as you can imagine, a growing child needs lots of it – plus, it could help protect your child against high blood pressure in the long-term!
Suggestions for including these essential nutrients in your kid’s diet:
Chop fresh fruits into small pieces and pack them in your child’s lunchbox.
Add slices and pieces of fresh vegetables as well. Dry nuts, beans and legumes are an excellent source of natural anti-oxidants.
Get your kids to consume these items regularly until it becomes a habit.
Get creative and add fresh fruit jam into the mix to improve the taste and flavor if needed.
You can also try making vegetable-enriched pasta soups and sauces to give your children more opportunity to consume more of these anti-oxidants.
Dry nuts such as almond, pistachio, hazel nut and cashew nuts can help your child become smarter and improve learning performance.
Omega-3 and Omeg-6 fatty acids.
Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids are the best of the best when it comes to boosting brain and cognitive development in your child. They are most abundant in cold-water fish like salmon and tuna. One of the most omega-3 rich plants (and it can grow just about anywhere) is verdolaga. Other rich sources include avocado, flaxseed oils and nuts like almonds and walnuts. Olive oil is also a great source of Omega-3 fats.
Suggestions for including the Omegas in your kid’s diet:
Many bread spreads and margarines such as Blueband® these days come fortified with Omega-3 and Omega-6, but you want to go easy on these as the best source for your child’s Omega fatty acids – for obvious reasons! Avocados are a good option when you want to introduce Omega-3 fats into your child's diet.
Plain avocado, if your child can accept it, is of course to be preferred.
You may add a touch of salt – some kids may prefer to eat it that way, although raw salt isn’t much recommended. Another option is to cut avocado into circular shapes and put sweet sauce in between two slices of avocado.
Most kids quickly fall in love with the delicious taste of avocado dipped in sweet sauce! Grilled salmon and tuna dipped in a layer of sweet and sour sauce is another great idea to add Omega fatty acids to your kid’s diet. Fresh-water fish that are rich in Omega fatty acids include, bass but talking of fish in general, you have mackerel, trout, herring, tuna, salmon, sardines, and sturgeon.
For the Omega-rich nuts, you could sprinkle small portions of flaxseed (or simsim) powder into yogurt-fruit mixed parfait for afternoon much! If you can get sunflower seeds, these too are a brain superfood because they are rich in tryptophan, a substance which the brain converts into serotonin to boost mood and combat depression.
Talk of a natural mood enhancer!
Brain Foods to Boost Your Child’s Memory
Whole grains have been shown to improve memory function in growing children. Complex and superior wholegrain cereals contain large amounts of Vitamin B that helps improve memory retention and recall in children. These foods are also very rich in dietary fiber.
This means they are great at providing the child’s brain with constant supply of energy all day. This will allow your child to do better in class and outside the classroom. Whole grains are rich in complex carbohydrates, fiber, and some omega 3 fatty acids that will protect the heart and brain from damaging sugar spikes, cholesterol, blood clots, and more.
You can unlock the nutritional power in whole grains if you soak them, ferment them, sprout them, or grow them as microgreens. Some common whole grains grown in Africa include, millet, sorghum, teff (a world-famous superfood now, but traditionally grown in Ethiopia), and maize.
Millet malt drink is an example of a traditional microgreen/fermented whole-grain product. If you want to learn how to create your own microgreens at home,
Suggestions for including whole grain foods in your kid’s diet:
Give your child whole wheat bread for breakfast in the morning (two or three slices with fruit jam spread is considered adequate for most kids).
Boost mental alertness with nutritional iron
Foods rich in iron can help improve your child’s mental alertness and boost energy levels as well.
Nutritional iron is also needed to help transport fresh oxygen and hemoglobin to the brain. This helps to reduce fatigue and weakness, meaning your child will be more attentive and able to concentrate all day.
Suggestions for including iron-rich foods in your child’s diet:
Foods rich in iron include lean meat, red meat, sea foods, clams, whole wheat, dried cherries, golden raisins and almonds. Sprinkle dry fruits and raisins into your child’s lunchbox.
Meat stews made of red and lean meat will help your child develop better memory and cognition. Small portions of sea food are a great idea too, if you can get it.
Water, water, water
Kids – especially if they are playing a lot in the open or in the sun – tend to lose lots of water from their bodies through sweating. Getting your kids to drink water is a very good habit as it will help them concentrate better in the classroom. It will also help them to be more focused and more motivated, because hydration reduces fatigue and weakness.
Suggestions to get your children to drink more water
Get your child to drink water instead of those dangerous sugary sodas and beverages. If you’re packing home-made juice for school, add as little sugar as possible and get them to accept that taste gradually.
You can also try adding a taste of fruit to drinking water – by squeezing a slice of lemon, orange or lime into a glass of water and getting the child used to that – instead of heavily sweetened fresh juice. This will help your child increase energy levels.
Foods that can harm your child’s brain
• Beverages, colas, sugary fruit drinks with artificial sweeteners (chemicals!) are too rich in sugars and carbon dioxide which may cause sugar spikes in your child’s blood stream. This impedes normal sugar metabolism, leading to weakness and lethargy. Plus, this could lead to diabetes in the long term, especially for some of us (Africans and African Americans) who are highly predisposed to diabetes and high blood pressure.
• Snacks and breads that are enriched with refined white sugar. Like the beverages above, these too can burden the body with excess sugar levels, which leads to weakness, lethargy and reduced performance in class.
• Trans-fats and hydrogenated oils. These oils have highly reactive oxidants that can cause premature ageing and sagging physical ability.
• Junk and processed ready-to-eat foods. Junk food can taste great a lot of the time, and its convenient and handy for working class moms and dads. But these foods sold in malls and shopping centers are a slow poison for your children. Junk or “takeaway” foods cause obesity in children (leading to diabetes, heart disease, and all sorts of problems). In addition they also slow down the development of your child’s brain.
Avoid these to speed up your child’s growth and generally to enhance the performance of their bodies.
If you take your time and plan, you should be able to create a diet plan for your child that ensures that the child takes sufficient quantities of these brain superfoods daily to meet the needs of their growing brain and body.
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