Healthy Eating

Everyone knows the importance of a healthy diet and particularly the importance of eating fresh fruit and vegetables but did you know how important healthy eating is to your child’s success in school? Lots of sugary foods and fizzy drinks full of additives and preservatives can sap energy and leave them feeling sluggish, whereas healthy, nutritious food and plain drinking water can bring real positive benefits. You can help you child to perform to the best of their ability by making sure they do the following:

• Get a good night's sleep. Children need at least 8 hours.
• Make sure that they eat breakfast.
• Think about what they have for lunch and try to make it a healthy option.
• Make sure that their brain has fuel by encouraging them to drink water throughout the day.

Breakfast

It’s not just an old wives’ tale that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. For growing children this is particularly the case and at challenging times such as test or examination time it is vital. Before your youngster sets off for their test or exam, it can really help if you provide a healthy, nutritious breakfast of, for example, cereal (preferably one low in sugar!), fruit juice, yoghurt, wholemeal toast or bread.

• A new report exposes Britain as one of the worst countries in Europe for skipping breakfast.
• Britain isn't taking breakfast seriously, with 1 in 5 adults now skipping it altogether.
• 1 in 5 children are also skipping breakfast, going to school on an empty stomach despite evidence that eating breakfast can help improve concentration and behaviour.
• The University of Reading recently revealed a 12 year old who skips breakfast has the reaction time and mental agility of a 70 year old in the classroom.
• 1 in 4 children who skip breakfast, snack on crisps and chocolate on the way to school and are more likely to snack again at break time.
• Sara Stanner, Nutrition Scientist for the British Nutrition Foundation, comments: "It would be great to see breakfast making a revival. A high carbohydrate, low fat breakfast can make an important nutritional contribution to the diet, particularly for young people. It refuels the body and mind for the day ahead."
• Breakfasts at weekends can provide much needed family social time, time to discuss the week’s events and future plans.

If finding the time for Breakfast is a problem, ask at the School office about our Breakfast Club.

Water - it's brain food!

• Did you know that water regulates body temperature, carries oxygen to all cells in the body and helps convert food into energy.?
• Did you know that the human brain is 75% water and that by being even slightly dehydrated it can cause dizziness or headaches?
• Did you know that by the time you actually feel thirsty it’s often too late? 20% of your brain can have shut down and therefore you’ll find it harder to think and harder to concentrate.

All of these are reasons why Ballifield Primary School encourages all of our pupils to bring a bottle of water into lessons.

Healthy Snacks

Many sweets are full of sugar and fat. To fill that hunger gap that many children feel in the morning and to feed their brains look for things that are more healthy. Fruit makes a good change, bananas are excellent brain food, but there are many other healthy snacks around.

Try:

• Different fruit
• Carrot, celery, pepper sticks and other veggies with dips
• Packets of dried fruit
• Cereal bars – keep an eye on the sugar
• Fruit loaf
• Flapjack

At BPS, every pupil is encouraged to bring a healthy snack to eat around morning break time.

Such healthy habits are not just for school but for life. Why not try some of these tips at home and see if you can notice the difference in your child's concentration?

This page has been adapted from material on the Kirk Lees website

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