Your child's brain is so busy working 24 hours a day - it needs brain food flowing to it constantly like amino acids from Powerful Proteins; vitamins and minerals from plant foods; Friendly Fats from foods and supplements; and glucose in the form of blood sugar. Unlike all those chipmunks this time of the year, the brain does not have the ability to store food for when it needs energy later.

What does this mean? Your child needs to eat food throughout the day in order for his or her brain to perform optimaly for learning, mood, and behavior. Your child's brain cells are always talking to each other through neurotransmitters. The only raw material available to create these neurotransmitters is through the food he or she eats. Unfortunately, due to all of the heavily processed, nutrient-deficient foods, our children's brains are often lacking in the nutrients needed for their brains to work the way nature designed. Eating heavily processed foods (normaly packaged and including non-food ingredients) can negatively impact your child's health, behavior and learning.

What can you do? Make sure your child is eating as much nutrient-dense food as possible throughout the day. Include fruits and vegetables, unprocessed whole grains, like brown rice and quinoa (pronounced keen-wah and cooks up like rice), good quality proteins, i.e. poultry, organic eggs, beans, grass-fed beef, wild fish, and healthy fats.

Did you know that more than 60% of the brain's structure is made up of fat? Your child's brain needs fat, which is a nutrient. While he or she may be getting a lot of fat, it's often the wrong kind - trans fats and poor quality omega-6 vegetable oils. Many people are becoming more aware that trans fats are bad for us, and the food industry now has to include trans fats on the label, but many children are still eating them.  Even if a food package says 0 trans fats, there may vegetable shortening or partialy hydrogenated oils in the product. Make sure to read your labels. More importantly, add in more of the good fats - Omega 3, 6 and 9 - that the brain and the body thrive on. These include foods such as ocean fish or a high quality fish oil, walnuts, freshly ground flax and chia seeds, avocado, olive oil, almonds, organic eggs, organic butter, and grass-fed beef.