HOMESCHOOLING AND NUTRITION

2010/06/09
Published

Healthy snacking is a major concern for all of us, but is even more important for children coping with ADD, ADHD and those on the autism spectrum of disorders. The purpose of healthy snacking is to maintain healthy blood sugar levels throughout the day. As blood sugar dips, our brain begins to fatigue and attention will lag and aggression and frustration increase. Everyone can benefit from the guidelines in this article from those that home school their children to chronic fatigue, all inflammatory conditions such as eczema, irritable bowel disorders, asthma, and those suffering from allergies of any type because health blood sugar metabolism is essential to a healthy immune system in addition to healthy brain function!

Blood sugar can be low for a few reasons:

1)      Skipping breakfast

2)      Eating a high sugar, high carbohydrate breakfast or snack

3)      Having insulin resistance, syndrome X

4)      Having metabolic problems with sugar metabolism

5)      Having immune sensitivities to foods eaten regularly

Skipping breakfast

Skipping breakfast is bad for anyone but is especially bad for growing young bodies. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that is made by the body generally within the first two hours of waking up. Therefore, skipping breakfast can cause lower serotonin synthesis in the brain. Serotonin helps to calm us, and quite a bit of irritability, moodiness and weepiness can be traced to low levels of serotonin, especially in young teenage girls. Females are more susceptible to low serotonin levels than males.

Skipping breakfast will cause our blood sugar levels to dip, and cause the brain to become deficient in the absorption of glucose its cells need to run in peak performance. Low blood sugar in the body or brain causes the nervous system to be edgy, jittery, and distracted as the body’s focus is on obtaining nutrition not learning!

High carbohydrate breakfast or snacks

Carbohydrate foods are those that contain processed grains, oats, quinoa, spelt, barley, potato, rice, and fruit. When you eat carbohydrates without the presence of protein in the diet, the carbohydrates are quickly converted to sugar and blood sugar can spike. Spikes in blood sugar cause the immediate release of insulin. If excessive insulin is released because of the excessive spike in sugars in the digestive tract, the cells of the body can become “numb” and ignore the effect of insulin in allowing the sugar to enter the cells. This is the mechanism of insulin resistance. What results is an inability to use the carbohydrates we do eat, we crave more carbohydrates as a result, and we gain weight. Fat and tired bodies result with the development of a host of metabolic and immune disorders over time.

Does your child crave carbohydrates of any type and how much? Giving in to these cravings will make your child worse metabolically. Controlling one’s blood sugar by increasing the protein in their diet is crucial. If you cannot severely restrict the amount of carbohydrate consumed by your child you absolutely need to add more protein with their meal. Try to reduce the ratio of carbohydrate to protein to 1:1. For those homeschooling, having the kitchen always available can be a great temptation, however, if you have a game plan as to what to serve your child and when, then the kitchen will not be a constant source of temptation or distraction to your child.

Protein snacks

Protein in the form of egg whites, or whole eggs, high protein grain such as quinoa, slices of turkey breast, chicken, buffalo or ostrich burger. Medical food protein powder is an excellent way to supplement high nutrient content and protein to the diet, such as BioPure (whey protein) by Metagenics (available online at www.immunematrix.com) and through this blog soon. Another excellent medical food protein powder is PaleoMeal-DF by Designs for Health which is rice based.

Making a smoothie with these medical food powders can be an excellent snack or addition to a meal. It is best to avoid cow dairy in children with immune sensitivities, ADD, ADHD and those on the autism spectrum because their sugar digestion metabolism is less than optimum. Inefficient digestion of cow dairy proteins and sugars will cause more mucous in the digestive tract and result in more frequent and chronic sinus congestion and ear infections as well the overgrowth of yeast, dysbiotic bacteria and candida in the digestive tract leading also to bloating and gas and loose stools.

Rice milk, almond milk are good alternatives to use for the smoothie.

Nuts are excellent sources for protein. Avoid peanut because of the mold which to ADD/ADHD and autism spectrum children are especially inflammatory to their brains. The mycotoxins from foods that have mold are neuro-inflammatory. In many cases, one can see increased aggression, distraction, and irritability within an hour or two after eating a meal with too much carbohydrate and/or high mycotoxin/mold content. Alternative nuts and nut butters to give such children are almond butter, cashew butter, or sesame butter. Sesame butter can loosen stools and is an excellent lubricant for children with harder stools, besides the addition of more magnesium to their diet. (Please see our articles on magnesium coming soon.) For those parents homeschooling, it can be an advantage to be able to prepare fresh smoothies, fruits and nuts and use this opportunity to discuss and educate your child on why they are eating what they are eating to be healthy, strong, have alert brains and good energy. They will also learn from you fun ways to prepare and display food to make it a good learning opportunity and a great bonding opportunity instead of a chore.

Fruit

Fruits high in sugar content are considered high glycemic fruits. They convert to sugar in the body very quickly and can spike insulin levels! Please become familiar with high glycemic fruits, such as the banana, and grapes! Fruits containing more fiber such as apple are less sweet to taste and are excellent snacks sliced and eaten alone or with some almond or cashew butter.

The guideline for fruits is:

1)      Only eat low glycemic fruits between meals to avoid insulin spikes and the development of insulin resistance/syndrome X in your child.

2)      Avoid high glycemic fruits or use them sparingly and only with protein. For example, use only ½ banana as a snack and only with almond butter as a spread or in a smoothie, and add low glycemic fruit like ¼ cup blueberry or half an apple to a smoothie. Then if you need it sweeter, add a bit of stevia, as this form is sweetener is least likely to promote yeast overgrowth.

3)      Eliminate all “moldy” fruits. Moldy fruits are fruits that absorb mold and yeast as they grow. Examples of fruits high in mold are: grape, raisins, strawberry, cantaloupe, and honeydew. Other “moldy” food to eliminate are granola because of the oats, oatmeal, corn products because of the corn mold, and peanut.

In summary, without sufficient protein with each meal, growing young bodies cannot maintain optimum levels of neurotransmitters needed for focus, learning and attention. Protein is also needed to “methylate”, detoxify the body through the methylation pathway of the liver. Protein also functions to stabilize blood sugar levels during the digestive process.

It is important to have snacks throughout the day for growing young bodies to help them also to maintain good blood sugar levels necessary for optimum brain function and energy. A small midmorning snack around 10am and one at 2 or 3pm and another at 7pm can help keep blood sugar balanced. A protein snack alone, such as a slice of turkey is a great snack and is to be preferred over a pure carbohydrate snack of cracker or banana! If your child insists on his/her carbohydrate fix, then make sure to add protein to the snack. You can add protein by adding few almonds, cashews, a boiled egg, a protein smoothie, or nut butter spread on fruit, as well as slices of chicken, turkey or other appropriate animal protein.

Last of all, avoid processed foods as much as possible because they contain high salt and more importantly for ADD, ADHD, and autistic children, the food additives and preservatives are neurotoxic to these children. These additives can cause brain fog, irritability, inattention, hyperactivity, or fatigue. Certain cheeses are made by the infusion of mold strains and are to be avoided for this reason and because they are dairy based, such as cheddar cheese or other strong smelling cheeses as a guide. Low fat string cheese, if the child can handle dairy is acceptable as a high protein snack but in moderation. By reducing carbohydrates, increasing protein, avoiding food additives, excessive sugar and molds in the diet, your child will have a diet that fosters good blood sugar and brain function. For parents homeschooling, take the opportunity to educate your child while at the grocery store on shopping the perimeter of the store, where fresh fruits and vegetable are available and avoid aisles where processed foods are abundant. Talk to your children about why you have them eat the foods they do and they will gain in self esteem and education in the process.

Please note:
Information on this site is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional. You should not use the information on this site for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing any medication or other treatment.

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