Prior Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performances!!

🧠 Do You Properly Plan Your Meals?

Nutrition plays a major role in a child’s ability to focus, learn, and thrive in daily life. As a  key factor, it impacts how well children function. The ability to stay focused, follow instructions, retain multi-step directions, and complete tasks is highly dependent on nutrition.

Among all the factors that influence cognitive challenges, nutrition is a BIG one. You may have heard that your gut is your “second brain.” It’s true! Research continues to confirm a powerful connection between gut health and brain function. When the gut isn’t working optimally, it can negatively impact mood, attention, and learning.

Neurotransmitters like serotonin and melatoninare essential to brain health. Serotonin affects learning, memory, happiness, and sleep, and remarkably, about 95% of serotonin is produced in the gut.Without it, your body can’t make enough melatonin, the “sleep hormone.” Low serotonin means low melatonin, which leads to poor mood, poor sleep, and ultimately poor focus. The gut-brain connection can’t be ignored!

The first signs of poor nutrition often appear as disruptions in the brain’s ability to regulate thoughts, emotions, and behavior, showing up as attention difficulties, hyperactivity, or anxiety. In short, our executive function may be “starved” by foods that lack the nutrients our brains need to thrive.

Unfortunately, the modern American diet,  high in processed foods, sugar, and additives (many banned in other countries), has left our gut health in crisis, directly affecting cognitive function.

To support brain health, focus on:
🥦 Probiotic foods – to boost beneficial gut microbes and immunity
🌾 Prebiotic foods – to nourish those probiotics
🐟 Good-quality omega-3 fats – to support brain cell health
🥑 Balanced macronutrients – healthy fats, proteins, and carbohydrates
💊 High-quality supplements – when needed to fill nutritional gaps
🚫 Eliminating fast food and reducing processed foods
🍎 Increasing properly prepared whole foods
📵 Limiting screen time – especially video games (I know, not a food… but still important!)