Название: They Are What You Feed Them: How Food Can Improve Your Child’s Behaviour, Mood and Learning
Автор: Dr Richardson Alex
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Воспитание детей
isbn: 9780007369157
isbn:
Chapter 4 Essential Nutrients And Your Child’s Diet
Whatever his specific difficulties may be, a balanced, varied, wholesome diet that provides all essential nutrients really can make a big difference to your child. Poor nutrition contributes to infections, inflammatory problems (like asthma) and obesity (with all of its knock-on effects); it can also affect your child’s sleep, mood, behaviour and learning. As you saw in Chapter 2, the facts about the food children are eating aren’t good, but until you—the parents—really take charge, there’s little sign that the Government or the big food-producing companies are going to look after you or your loved ones.
In this chapter I’ll outline the basic dietary components your child needs, and point out some of the ones most likely to be lacking. In later chapters we’ll look at some of these in more detail. Briefly, your child must have enough:
water
protein
fats (in the form of essential fatty acids)
carbohydrates (in the form of complex carbohydrates and fibre)
vitamins
minerals
antioxidants
moderate exercise—yes, this is part of a good diet!
A Long Time Ago
Our hunter-gatherer ancestors ate a very wide range of nuts and seeds, edible roots and leaves, wild animals (usually small, and very occasionally a big one), fish, shellfish, berries and wild beans.
So: plenty of protein, vitamins and minerals and complex carbohydrates, little saturated fat, and equal proportions of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids.
Agricultural Revolution
Smaller variety of foods eaten, a much greater proportion of cereals (grains), and less fruit and vegetables. Meat consumption decreased as well.
So: decreased vitamin and mineral intake, and a higher proportion of omega-6s than omega-3s.
Industrial Revolution
This began in the late 18th century, so we needed lots of cheap food for workers who arrived in droves to work in towns and cities. New preservation and production methods were introduced, meaning foods could be transported long distances in bulk quite cheaply. The use of vegetable oils, refined starches and sugars rose sharply. Consumption of farmed meat rose by about 200 times per person per year!
So: white flour goods became the norm…and carried less than a quarter of vitamins B6 and E, magnesium and zinc than their wholemeal counterparts.
Sadly, most of our children eat diets lacking at least some key nutrients. Even for those of you trying to avoid the obvious junk, some of the dietary advice you’ve been getting from governments and their agencies has been positively misleading. In the US, government agencies offered the so-called ‘Food Pyramids’ as guidelines for planning a ‘balanced’ diet. Nutrition experts at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH)1 have pointed out some serious flaws in these—and in the contribution of the food industry in helping to build these dodgy pyramids. In the Appendix you’ll find a more appropriate ‘Healthy Eating Pyramid’ which the Harvard experts have designed. (You may also find it educational to look at their website and play ‘spot the difference’!)
The Twentieth Century
This saw an increase in global food trade, and also discoveries about how to make synthetic vitamins. Foods began to be ‘fortified’ with vitamins and minerals.
The irony was, during the two World Wars, we began to eat more healthily once again! Rationing meant poorer families received more proteins and micronutrients, and richer people ate less fat (from meat and processed foods) and sugar. At the same time, it was discovered how to dehydrate vegetables and eggs, and to produce processed meat.
After WWII, policies were introduced to make sure we could produce our own food, and not rely too much on supplies from other countries. Ready-prepared foods took off.
Buying flour and other ingredients plummeted, and meat consumption rose again. A decrease in the amount of fruit and vegetables eaten began, and there was a dramatic increase in the consumption of hydrogenated (including trans) fats, refined starch and sugar, and numerous artificial additives.
The Twenty-first Century
Where are we now? Well, eating more than ever, and suffering more diet-related problems such as obesity, mental ill-health and behavioural problems. In the last 60 years, there’s been a 34% decrease in UK vegetable consumption, and a 59% drop in consumption of oily fish (omega-6/omega-3 ratios have reached an all-time high).
We are eating far more processed foods (and thus more saturated and hydrogenated fats, salt and sugar, more artificial additives and fewer micronutrients), especially those on low incomes.
If you really don’t feel you need to know about all the details of the different nutrients your child needs, don’t worry. Just use the HSPH guidelines and the plan you’ll find in Chapter 11, and you shouldn’t go too far wrong. But understanding why the different nutrients are so important may help to motivate you, and your child, so in this chapter we’ll take a look at them (and then in Chapter 5 we’ll look at what actually happens to food once your child has eaten it).
Water
Is your child drinking enough water? Fizzy, sweet drinks (or tea or coffee) are not acceptable substitutes; most have undesirable ingredients and may even cause you to lose water. Your body is 50-70 per cent water (and your brain 85 per cent)—but you lose it constantly through breath, sweat, urine and faeces. You can only survive a few days without water, as its remarkable properties help to mediate every function in your brain and body.
Without enough water your child will become dehydrated, which can lead to headaches and tiredness. His concentration and his digestion will be impaired, along with most other functions. Make sure your child drinks enough at home, and that he takes water to school with him if the school doesn’t provide this. Your child can also get water from food, especially fruit and vegetables, or fruit juices (best diluted—by you) or herbal teas. Unfortunately, vending machines that sell fizzy drinks are found in most schools. Most soft and fizzy drinks can upset blood sugar levels, but schools often depend on the income the vending machines generate.
Macronutrients
Macronutrients is the term used for the three main food groups: proteins, СКАЧАТЬ