Eat Smart: A Delicious Way to Optimize Academic Performance
Are you tired of falling behind in school and constantly burning the midnight oil?
Are you a college or university student constantly stressed, fatigued, and feeling out of control?
Are you worried about competing against your classmates for that perfect job in the future?
Would you like to improve your concentration in class and maintain better focus when studying?
Would you like to learn how best to fuel your brain so that it will perform better than ever, giving you the edge you need to get ahead?
You can gain that competitive advantage by eating smart!
The right foods eaten at the right times can help you get where you want to be and excel at school or in the workplace.
What you eat impacts learning
Having been a teacher for over a decade, I have seen what students typically eat for lunch, and have witnessed firsthand how student’s food choices affect their academic performance and behaviour in the classroom.
I know how challenging it can be to get a child to make the right food choices, especially if the school offers bake sales, fast food hot lunch days, or cafeterias that cater to what students want, as opposed to what nutrients students need.
This starts in elementary school and typically gets worse at the high school and university levels, where students often venture off-campus to partake in nearby fast food options. The cinnamon buns, pizza, muffins, or hot plates purchased for lunch (or breakfast) are more common than salads, healthy protein, and homemade options.
Yes, students may think a sugar-laden soda or vente frappuccino will help them “get through” the day, but the negative consequences these choices have on their young brains isn’t considered at all.
So if this sounds familiar and mimics what your life is like, then I hate to brake it to you, but your grades and future may suffer as a result.
Unhealthy food choices can spell disaster!
What you eat can have a huge impact on your mental health.
The Brain Health Plan incorporates whole foods designed to optimize your mental health in order to clear mental fog, stabilize moods, improve memory, concentration, and focus, increase performance, provide mental energy, and help you stay sharp.
Disaster for your ability to concentrate. Disaster for your short- and long-term memory. Disaster for your sleep. And disaster for your grades and academic performance.
Why? Because all these unhealthy food choices are designed around one toxic ingredient - sugar!
As many of you know, sugar causes a rapid rise then subsequent drop in blood sugar levels which can lead to insulin resistance, weight gain, and inflammatory diseases. Inflammation can affect every part of your body - including your brain.
Cerebral inflammation results in slower processing speed, delayed reaction times, a weaker memory, and a reduced ability to learn. [quote]
Sugar is also destructive, addictive, and creates habits that are hard to break. Moreover, it causes our brain function, learning, memory, sleep, and attention span to suffer.
The same can be said about highly refined and processed carbohydrates, as they are quickly turned into sugar by the body. So wether students gnaw on sugary candy or pizza, their ability to learn is definitely affected.
The aftermath of eating ultra-processed or sugary food is very noticeable on our brain’s ability to function. So if you’d like to up your game and out-perform in both school and in life, you can start by eating the right foods.
The benefits of neuronutrition for students
What is neuronutrition? In a nutshell, neuronutrition involves feeding the brain certain nutrients it needs while avoiding non-nutrients that it finds toxic. It boils down to practicing brain-healthy eating (and lifestyle) habits that help the brain while avoiding things that hurt the brain.
The benefits are wide and far-reaching.
For students, eating eating the right foods can:
Improve your academic performance
Help you maintain your focus longer
Keep you alert and clear-headed
Help you get better grades, and
Ultimately help you achieve your dream job!
If you’d like to get started today, here are my best tips to help you eat smarter so you can improve your academic performance, regain your focus and energy, and fuel your brain so that it can work better for you.
Delicious ways to improve academic performance
Ditch the refined starches and sugars - White refined sugar not only provides zero nutritional value, it but wrecks havoc on blood sugar levels and is highly addictive. It creates moodiness, irritability, fatigue, and an inability to focus. It also robs your body of valuable B vitamins needed for optimal brain function and to sustain attention.
Choose nutrient-dense whole foods instead - Spend most of your time shopping around the perimeter of the grocery store where the fresh fruits, veggies, and quality meats are. This means you’ll spend less time in the middle aisles where the boxed, pre-packaged, refined, and processed foods lurk. Dark green and colourful fruits and vegetables are your best choice to provide nutrients that will keep you going - without that caffeine!
Add brain-healthy fats to your plate daily - If you feed your brain the healthy fats it needs to thrive, it will work much better, provide more clarity, and improve your focus. The best brain-healthy fats include omega-3 fatty acids found in foods like avocado, avocado oil, extra virgin olive oil, and grass-fed butter. If you really want to kick things up a notch, try Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCT oil). MCTs readily pass through the blood-brain barrier to provide quick fuel for your brain, support your energy systems, and boost metabolism.
Eat [sustainable]fish at least once per week - Fatty fish, especially wild Alaskan salmon is loaded with the same healthy omega-3 fatty acids that drive brain health. The omega-3s work to reduce brain (and body) inflammation to help memory, improve focus, and increase attention span. So when heading off campus to eat, opt for sushi rather than a burger and fries. Your grades will thank you for it!
Eat the rainbow - Choose a variety of antioxidant-rich colourful fruits and vegetables daily. These are your body’s cleaning crew that work to rid your brain and body of dead cells and debris. A clean brain is a healthy brain - able to process information faster and help you think more clearly. TIP: Organic blueberries are one of the best fruit choices for powerful antioxidant-protection.
Your brain, the only one you’ve got, is what will give you the competitive edge in today’s marketplace - both at school and in the workforce. So fuelling it with the right nutrients will help you and your brain go further, reach higher, and achieve your goals more efficiently.
Get neuronutrition working for you
If you’d like help optimizing your diet to get the right foods working for you, instead of against you, there’s no better time to act than the present. Contact me today.
As a Brain Health Coach and Natural Nutritionist, I can help you determine:
Which foods may be slowing you down and preventing you from reaching your potential
Which foods may be triggering your child’s outbursts, misbehaviour, or challenges in the classroom
How you or your child should eat to combat ADHD, autism, or other learning disabilities
How to overcome your food addictions and cravings so that they do not take over your life
Regardless of your or your child’s age, there is no better time to take action. And with a new school year underfoot, there’s no better time to get started then now!
So if you are a college or university student who “needs” caffeine to help you get through the day, who must eat on a budget (translation: who resorts to fast food most of the time), or who has no time to cook a healthy meal, I can help.
We can look at a realistic eating plan that can provide powerful nutrients to optimize your brain function so that you can concentrate and focus on what’s important. Part of that can include caffeine alternatives so you do not need to feel dependent on coffee to get you through the day.
With a focus on proper neuronutrition for you and your needs, you will have more energy, more focus, your ability to retain new information will improve and you may just get the leg-up on your competition. In today’s competitive school and work environments, this can make the difference between landing that dream job or not.
The benefits of neuronutrition at any age cannot be understated. [quote]
It all starts in childhood.
Make sure your child is receiving the right nutrients to fuel his brian to keep him ahead of the curve.
For more information about neuronutrition, to receive brain-healthy meal plans, or to set up an appointment to discuss how I can best help you optimize your child’s ability to learn, contact me or visit HappiHuman.com today.
As always, I’d love to hear from you. Comment below with ways you keep your child eating right to optimize their brian function and learning.
