Children and young people
WELLBEING and development of children
FOOD
One of the most important thing for us parents is to understand that all children need good, nutritious foods, every day. Ultra-processed food, such as crisps ready made meals, sugar and sweets cause nothing but illness, lack of energy, mental and developmental problems. In case of any problems, we must never look for medication as the first treatment, but always, always look at how we nourish our child. Almost always the issue can be found there. A growing and developing body needs lots of natural protein, fats, nutritious food, to get all the building blocks needed.
Children naturally love real food. It is us adults who assume that they need sugar, ultra-processed snacks, such as cereals, crisps, sweets or other non-foods. As a result we then teach them to eat these and make sure they become addicted to these, the same way many adults are.
But children don’t want or need any of these. All they want is real food, that makes them feel good, gives them energy and supports their wellbeing in every way. Getting used to eating real food helps them grow up healthy, with healthy bones and teeth, good mental health and they will know how to make good choices throughout their lives.
I know all this from experience. My three children, all now in their 20s know how to look after their health. They all have strong healthy bones and teeth and are overall healthy and happy young adults. What woke me up 15 years ago, was serious allergies and asthma that my son had. I wanted to help him in any way I could and was extremely lucky to find a doctor who believed in the power of good food. Once I cut out sugar, wheat, all additives and ready-made foods from my son’s diet, his symptoms improved. This happened within days. I realised that the cause of childhood allergies or illnesses almost never ‘unknown’, it is the food they eat.
MENTAL HEALTH
It is extremely important to make sure our children enjoy as stress-free early life as possible.
Childhood experiences affect the formation of neural connections in the brain. These connection, certain pathways control our responses to our everyday life. Positive experiences in childhood usually mean we are able to handle even stressful events better later in life. Exposure to stressful events early in childhood, however, can have the opposite effect and lead to increased responsiveness to stress for example.
For the first 6-7 years of childhood, the brain primarily functions in theta brainwave, below creative consciousness. This way children learn about their life, develop skills to survive in their environment. In this “theta state”, they don’t filter the information like us adults do, but take everything in as it comes. This information then forms the basis of our beliefs we carry all the way to adulthood. Comments such as “you are not smart” or “you are bad” or “you are always ill” are downloaded as truths into the child’s brain. They don’t have the ability yet to intellectually understand that these claims might not be true, but the critique could merely be meant to “coach” the child to try a little harder. This can however lead to the child of having beliefs and feelings about being unworthy or in poor health through their life.
I try to educate parents about this as much as possible. What we say as parents, have a very deep impact on our children and will have an effect on their self esteem, emotional acuity and even social development.
Healthy diet during pregnancy
Coming soon…
breastfeeding
Unfortunately, breastfeeding is surprisingly rare in the UK at the moment. UK has one of the lowest rates of breastfeeding in Europe and it is very difficult to understand why. Compared to Scandinavian countries for example, the prevalence of breast feeding is unbelievably low.
Breastfeeding can have many benefits for both the mother and the baby. Studies suggest that breastfeeding is linked to reduced risk of gastro-intestinal, respiratory and ear infections for example, as well as obesity and diabetes. Breastmilk not only provides vital nutrients to the baby, but is also a source of probiotics and prebiotics, contributing to the healthy gut microbiome and this way, strong immune functions. All these are designed by nature, so everything needed is there. Formula milk is never, ever the same and no baby should have that instead of breast milk, unless absolutely necessary.
All formula milks, even the organic formula milks are made using skimmed milk and vegetable oils (rapeseed oil and sunflower oil), and some even contain sugar, such as maltodextrin. All of these are known to cause inflammation in our bodies. These are fed to small, developing babies as if it is ok! There are situations where medical conditions of the mother prevent breastfeeding. But when this is not the case, breastfeeding should be a priority for all mothers.
A healthy diet if very important for the breastfeeding mama. Mothers need plenty of good protein and fat also.
good food for babies and children
Growing children deserve good food, real food. Us parents, we are responsible in making sure they get it. The most important thing is to cook the food your child eats yourself, from good quality basic ingredients and make sure that they are getting enough good quality protein such as red meat and fish, as well as enough good natural fat such as butter and olive oil. Avoid ultra processed food, additives and preservative, sugar and refined oils as much as possible. Good food supports your child’s mental and physical health and strengthens their immune system. It keeps them healthy and happy, just like you.
Correct nutrition is very important for a small child during the first two to three years of their life when the immune functions are developing fast. Wheat (especially non organic) and processed dairy products (low fat/fat free products such as skimmed milk) are those that should be avoided. This is especially important if there are autoimmune conditions in the family.
Good quality dairy is healthy and important however, dairy products that don’t usually cause problems are fermented products such as full fat yoghurt, kefir and cheese. Also cream or full fat, non homogenised milk is usually ok for many of us.
A growing child needs a good amount of good quality meat, such as beef. Meat is a good and natural source of not only iron, but many B-vitamins, extremely important for the development of nervous system, including the brain. Artificial vegan food cannot compare. Most of the mental problems, depression, anxiety and hyperactivity children and young people have are caused by wrong diet and can be fixed with dietary changes. Most of the neurotransmitter are produced in the gut, we are only beginning to understand the importance of the gut-brain axis. Also lack of many important B vitamins can cause issues such as hyperactivity.
Sugar is a massive problem. It has no nutritional value, so is not needed and only cause difficult addictions for children. You can often see these screaming children having tantrums in supermarkets when wanting sweets. Additives also cause problems; many known causes of behavioural problem in children are MSG (E621), aspartame and many artificial colours.
Another huge problem we are currently facing is obviously smart phones, social media etc, but we’ll talk about that later.
problems with sugar
I have talked about the problem with sugar a lot in the past. Sugar is something that I don’t usually eat myself and I taught the low sugar/sugar-free living to my children who are now grown up and still don’t like sugary foods or drinks.
Sugar is very addictive and very harmful to our overall health. I will try to explain here why that is.
There are many different types of sugar. Some of them are found naturally in many foods whereas others are added to processed foods. Glucose is the main sugar used by every cell in our body for energy. Glucose can also be stored in our body, mainly as glycogen in the liver and muscles, and it can be turned back into glucose if more energy is needed. Starchy foods like potatoes, grains, corn and rice are broken down in the body into glucose. The more we eat these foods during the day, the more sugar is absorbed into our bloodstream. When we talk about blood sugar levels, we mean glucose.
Fructose is a type of sugar found naturally in fruit and berries. The body cannot use fructose directly; only the liver can metabolise it. Both glucose and fructose are called monosaccharides; they are made up of single sugar molecules of one type only. Some sugars are called disaccharides as they contain two different types sugars and they cannot be absorbed by our bodies directly, but break down into glucose and/or fructose molecules first.
Ordinary sugar that we use in cooking or baking is called sucrose. Sucrose contains 50% glucose and 50% fructose. Some manufactured sugar syrups, such as high-fructose corn syrup, contain a higher proportion of fructose compared to glucose, but still have both sugars in it.
Compared to glucose, fructose does not significantly raise blood sugar levels. This is why fructose was once considered to be a healthier option previously and we could see many products containing fructose marketed to diabetics who needed to avoid ordinary sugar. However, studies have found the opposite to be true. Fructose has turned out to be far worse than glucose when consumed in large amounts and it plays an important role in the development of insulin resistance. This is why table sugar and other sweeteners containing fructose are particularly problematic.
Fructose is metabolised only in the liver which can convert it into glucose for immediate use or glycogen for short-term storage, but also into triglycerides (fat) if there is an excessive amount. Some of the fat stays in the liver, leading to fatty liver disease over time which again makes insulin resistance worse. This is possibly because of inflammation present in the liver as a result of fat in the liver, but also possible scarring (fibrosis) in the liver which decreases insulin sensitivity of the liver cells even further. The more fructose is consumed, the more pressure there is on the liver, and the more likely a damage to the liver becomes.
The metabolism of fructose is actually similar to that of alcohol which explains why excess consumptions of either causes fatty liver disease. We only have very limited capacity to metabolise fructose, just like alcohol and any excess causes problems. You have to remember that even children these days are diagnosed with fatty liver because of sugar consumption. Parents don’t know or think about the effects of sugar from this point of view. Most of us would never let our children consume alcohol, but then we don’t realise that we allow similar damage to develop by letting them eat lots of sweets and other sugary foods or drinks, often every day.
Starchy foods cause lots of problems because they contain high amounts of carbohydrates that are composed of sugars and we eat too much of them. It is unfortunately quite normal to start the day with a carbohydrate-loaded breakfast with muesli or cereal, or bread together with fruit juice, for example. Many people eat sandwiches for lunch, often with crisps and different snack bars. The most common family staple meals nearly always contain starchy foods like pasta, potatoes and rice. This breaks down to a lot of sugar. For example, according to the calculations of the Public Health Collaboration, if we have a bowl of bran flakes with milk, a slice of brown toast and a glass of apple juice for breakfast, we have digested 15-16 teaspoons of sugar just over one meal.
Teenagers
Young people and the importance of healthy eating
Insulin resistance and its corresponding effects, such as obesity, are alarmingly common issues in young people. In addition to excess weight, it is less commonly known and acknowledged that effects of insulin resistance can also manifest as depression, anxiety and other mental health issues. This is due to the interconnection between the enteric nervous system, a collection of millions of nerve cells lining the gastrointestinal tract, and the central nervous system. This gut brain axis means that our diet has a substantial influence over our moods. Therefore an unbalanced gut microbiome, hormonal imbalance and chronic inflammation, which are all effects of an unhealthy diet, go hand in hand with insulin resistance and negatively influence our mental as well as physical health. These effects are highly damaging to developing children and young people.
To briefly outline this concept, insulin resistance is where our cells are not responding to the effects of insulin like they should. The main cause of this is the overconsumption of sugary and starchy foods, as well as eating too frequently (e.g. snacking throughout the day). As a result, too much insulin is produced in the body, a hormonal problem also known as metabolic syndrome. A diet consisting of an excess of sugar and starch and a lack of integral micronutrients can also have an adverse effect on the good bacteria in our gut, causing abdominal problems such as IBS as well as mental issues such as depression. An excess of insulin and a deficiency of good bacteria can affect other hormones in the body, causing unwanted hormonal problems such as early puberty, acne and PCOS.
Children and young people are especially vulnerable to the consequences of insulin resistance, and therefore it is vital that parents are educated on its cause and effects, as well as how to reverse it.
Educate your young people on insulin resistance
A common misconception held by both adolescents and adults is that you need to eat less to lose weight. It is important to understand that weight loss does not work that way, and under eating can only do harm. It is essential for children and young people to eat the necessary nutrients (e.g. proteins, healthy fats, etc.) and the right amount of food to fuel their bodies. Excess weight is the result of too much insulin in the body, not too many calories, and exercising more does not solve this problem either. We also need to have understanding of the micronutrients we get from our food, why they are needed.
Education is one of the most important things if you want to bring about a lifestyle change, as cutting out sugar and starchy carbohydrates may be challenging. Educating your children and young people is very advantageous, as building an understanding of the topic of insulin resistance and healthy eating could motivate them to opt for healthier foods themselves. The WHY is very important. Simply making them eat healthier “just because” would not help create long term changes.
Learn to cook a wide variety of tasty and healthy meals
The first thing that comes to mind when thinking about healthy meals is salad. It might be worth reminding young people that healthy meals can actually be delicious and tastier than fast food when cooked right. You can eat all your favourite foods if you just make them yourself, from good ingredients. A fun way to get creative is to make alternatives for your favourite junk foods and desserts. There are many websites online that provide delicious recipes for you to follow and tweak to your liking. Personally, I find that the healthier alternatives taste better and they make you feel great,
Replace fizzy drinks with water, kombucha and herbal tea
Soft drinks such as Coke or Pepsi can be very addictive. Kombucha is a great alternative. Not only is it pleasing for the taste buds, it also provides probiotics, which is essential for gut health. If you can’t obtain kombucha, then herbal tea with some honey should suffice. Now, if you think that replacing sodas with diet sodas is more ideal, you have been misinformed. There are many articles on the Internet that provide valuable insight on the subject, but in short, they are very harmful to the body. Don’t forget fresh water is always the best alternative to hydrate.
Conscious parenting - what is it?
To be conscious means to be aware. This way when raising our children, we can identify the difference between reacting to our children from our egos and from the calmer, centred state of who we are deep down. It is all about the ability to be in the present moment in any situation that arises. Consciousness is a journey, and a moment-by-moment practice to connect with yourself, and your children, from a place of love, authenticity and acceptance, rather than fear, ego and control. Besides letting go the idea that your kid needs to do certain things or behave a certain way, you should regularly let them know how accepted and appreciated they are simply for being themselves. In fact, the most important objective of being a parent is creating space for our children to be in touch with their own spirit.
The conscious approach to behaviour issues focuses on these important ways to manage them: creating clear, consistent and compassionate boundaries so discipline becomes unnecessary. Children easily pick up on our inconsistency, especially when it’s based on fear. When we’re inconsistent with communicating our “non-negotiable” boundaries, such as limiting screen time, washing, getting enough sleep, or tidying up, it may be because we ourselves lack that discipline or we’re unconsciously afraid that if we don’t give our kids what they want, they will reject us. But just like connecting to our children makes them feel safe, healthy boundaries make them feel secure. It is important.