Is your Child Hungry in School (aka are they Skipping Breakfast)?

The science is crystal clear. Children who eat a healthy breakfast before school are healthier, more alert, have more energy, exhibit better behavior and get better grades.

A recent State of Minnesota Breakfast Study found that students who ate breakfast before starting school had a general increase in math grades and reading scores, increased student attention, reduced nurse visits, and improved student behaviors. (December, 1997)

Researchers at Harvard Medical/Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston found that hungry children are more likely to have behavioral and academic problems than children who get enough to eat. At school, hungry children had more problems with irritability, anxiety and aggression, as well as more absences and tardiness. (Pediatrics, January, 1998; Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, February, 1998)

The recent Tufts University Statement (1998) on The Link Between Nutrition and Cognitive Development in Children cites new findings: "Recent research provides compelling evidence that under-nutrition impacts the behavior of children, their school performance, and their overall cognitive development".

The importance of a healthy breakfast is paramount to your child’s health, behavior, and academic performance. As the new school year begins, we encourage you take a stand for your children and make a healthy breakfast, everyday, the rule in your home.

If you’re on go and don’t have much time, please consider these quick, easy and very nutritious ways that The Wholefood Farmacy foods can help.

Our fruit based Farinas (BeautiPhi, ClariPhi, ElectriPhi, FructiPhi & GloriPhi) can provide a wonderful way to add taste, variety and nutrition to oat meal, cream of wheat, and whole grain breakfast cereals. Simply sprinkle them over these healthy breakfast foods and you’re done! Phi Plus, TropiPhi and Fruitalicious also make a wonderful and very delicious addition to these healthy breakfast foods and they provide a wonderfully sweet alternative to processed sugar.

Breakfast Smoothies are also a quick and easy way to start your child’s day with healthy whole food nutrition. Start with some fresh fruit and your choice of milk, then add any of our fruit based Farinas – hit the button and in 15 seconds it’s ready to go.

Make Phi Plus cookies the night before. Form Phi Plus into the shape of cookies then drizzle with Wholefood Farmacy Organic Coconut Oil and refrigerate. In the morning, you’ll have some very healthy and very tasty treats ready when you’re on the go.

Set the alarm clock a few minutes earlier and give your kids the daily advantage of a Healthy Start – it makes all the difference in the world.

Hook your child up with a healthy breakfast today!
www.hookupwithhealth.wholefoodfarmacy.com

Active kids do better in school

A new study done by researchers from Michigan State University and Grand Valley State University found Middle School students who perform more vigorous physical activity than their more sedentary piers tend to do better in school. The research is published in the August issue of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, the official journal of the American College of Sports Medicine.

For one academic year, the study tracked more than 200 sixth graders. For one semester half of the students took the general physical education class offered by the school, while the other half took part in a non-physical education course. Halfway through the school year they switched. The researchers found that students taking the physical education course did no better or worse in their academic classes.

“Physical education and activity during the school day reduce boredom and help keep kids’ attention in the classroom,” said Dawn Podulka Coe, the study’s lead author who is now an assistant professor in the Department of Movement Science at Grand Valley State University. “We were expecting to find that students enrolled in PE would have better grades because of the opportunity to be active during the school day. But enrollment in PE alone did not influence grades.”

However, the researchers also found that students who took part in more vigorous physical activities – such as organized sports like soccer or football, or non-organized after-school activities such as skateboarding – did approximately 10 percent better in core classes such as math, science, English and social studies.

“The students who performed better academically in this study were the most active, meaning those who participated in a sport or other vigorous activity at least three times a week” added Coe.

The difference between vigorous activity and moderate activity is heart rate. Moderate activities, such as walking or raking leaves, don’t get the heart rate up or make the person breathe harder. Vigorous activities, such as running or swimming for exercise, increase heart rate, causing the exerciser to breathe harder and increasing oxygen to the brain.

With school about to start, we encourage all parents to take this new study to heart. We encourage you consider organized sports as a way to help your child do better in school, be healthier, maintain the proper weight, and to build a foundation of health that can last a lifetime. And remember to Hook Up With Health by having your favorite Wholefood Farmacy foods for practice and game days!

Kids love Cornucopia - a crunchy and amazingly great tasting roasted corn treat.

Hook Up With Health Today and include your kids too!!!

www.hookupwithhealth.wholefoodfarmacy.com