New clothes, new shoes, backpacks, meet-your-teacher and lunchboxes - another year of school has begun! Besides the new teacher, which of these items in the first sentence are more critical to your child's growth and educational performance, mental concentration, behavior and overall immunity and health?
Yes, it's what's in your child's lunch (as well as what they had even earlier for breakfast). What your child puts into their mouth every day is the underlying foundation to preventing many future problems. Is it a silver bullet? No, but it is the most critical piece to sustaining the very immunity that will keep their health for the rest of their lives.
So why should I care about nutrient-dense foods in lunches, breakfasts, or any meal for that matter?
Most Americans are unfortunately unaware of the direct impact of diet on health - the two are seldom seriously associated, even by pediatricians. Most people view "nutrition" as "filling up the stomach". This also includes American businesses such as the food industry, which has ludicrously done well in making millions off of convenience junk they call "Kids' Food" (wow, the money made just off of goldfish crackers alone...). "Kids' Food" does exactly that - fills up the stomach...with GMO's, highly processed foods, low-grade, pasteurized dairy, sugar, toxic oils, poor-quality, processed meats, "fruit" (sugar) drinks, and processed, bleached wheat...is it any wonder why so many children have allergies, tubes in their ears, chronic illnesses, behavioral problems, ad infinitum? How can their little bodies and brains grow, develop, function emotionally and fight off disease when their diets consist of cookies, crackers, junk meat & cheese, and sugar drinks?
A huge number of families pack these things into their refrigerators for meals and then into their children's lunch boxes every single day. Most school districts cannot afford to serve real foods to our children and only utilize commercial lunch foods, but so many parents rely on schools to attain their children's nutritional needs at lunch time.
Moms, I'm talking to YOU: we really need to become more savvy about feeding our families - American children are NOT getting any healthier! If YOU don't care and make the necessary changes, no one else will. Nutrition is not merely "the filling of the stomach". It is filling that little child's body with nutrients that will give back to the body and increase immunity. It is turning off the "bad genes" and "turning on" the good genes - are you aware that good nutrition is so powerful that it can achieve this?
My daughter often asks me, "Mom, why do we HAVE to be on a diet?" (we're not on a "diet", it's just that everything in our kitchen and her lunchbox doesn't look remotely close to those of her peers, unless it's a raw fruit or vegetable). I have to remind her, "Well sweetheart, if you get married and want to have children someday, this is where it begins," or "Do you see how so many children are sick today?" and "If you do have children someday, this is a good way to prevent..." and yes, I do privately use her autistic, developmentally delayed brother as and example of why we do these things as early in life as possible. Had I known so many years ago about nutrient-density, detoxing the body, and holistic medicine, my daughter just might not have a special-needs brother today.
For a brief, yet in-depth look at real foods, please, please, please read my Nutrition and Nutrient-Dense Foods pages from my website, Whole Brain, Whole Body, as visit my RECIPES page. Of course, PLEASE read the terrific articles below for breakfast and lunch ideas!
American moms, let's take back the health of our families!
ARTICLES AND RESOURCES
Five Days of Kid-Friendly Lunches (from Whole Foods - not the greatest, but a few ideas)
The biggest lies told by the food industry (Natural News)