Which Foods Give Kids The Best Chance?

Written by: Chandra Zas, Executive Contributor

Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.

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Parents keep ask­ing me what makes my lit­tle one so out­stand­ing. They look at me try­ing to fig­ure out what I am do­ing dif­fer­ent­ly. They ask ques­tions. They want to know. One of my lit­tle one’s teach­ers no­ticed the con­nec­tion be­tween which foods we send her to school with com­pared to the kids who get a bagel. Her teacher, Lisa, asked me to ed­u­cate the oth­er par­ents on which foods give kids the best chance of self-reg­u­lat­ing. The bagel kid was strug­gling while my lit­tle one was show­ing up present.

Food makes a tremen­dous im­pact on the health of our body, our mi­cro­bio­me, our brain, our emo­tion­al state, and our abil­i­ty to show up present. Food af­fects how we feel in all the ways.

The loop that many mod­ern hu­mans are stuck in is over-us­ing food. We use food to com­fort a hard emo­tion, we use food to cel­e­brate, we use food to dis­tract us, we use food when we are bored, we use food to get a dopamine hit, and we use food as a re­ward.

This is the food and mood jour­ney that changes food re­la­tion­ships per­ma­nent­ly

And it is how I feed my lit­tle one. Nine­ty-nine per­cent of the time I of­fer her nourish­ing food or nour­ish­ing food. She gets to choose be­tween av­o­ca­do and egg or flour-free tahi­ni bread and egg.

To serve food for the pur­pose of nour­ish­ing our fam­i­ly is the best gift we can give to every­one. To re­duce the like­li­hood of dis­ease. To gain en­er­gy and time of day. To have a clear and pro­duc­tive mind. To feel and show up emo­tion­al­ly sta­ble. To self-regu­late.

When we eat nour­ish­ing food, we feel good, when we feel good we show up and be­have bet­ter. Hap­pi­ness and mood reg­u­la­tion start with good food.

A new teacher gave our lit­tle one a donut a few weeks ago for Hanukkah. I was so glad she told me be­cause then I knew why my lit­tle one had a melt down. I held her and loved her through her melt­down. Sug­ar makes kids feel and act crazy.

Now, par­ents, you might be won­der­ing right about now if feed­ing your kids nourish­ing foods means food changes for you. It does. Stay with me. Be­ing a par­ent is a spe­cial win­dow of change where we in­nate­ly want to give our kids the best. We want to grow and be a healthy role mod­el.

Once we see how pow­er­ful their de­sire to im­i­tate us is, we get a wake up call, a clear re­flec­tion of what we are teach­ing by ex­am­ple. There is no bet­ter time than being a par­ent to em­body the change. I en­cour­age you to take this gold­en op­por­tu­ni­ty and make the food changes you have al­ways want­ed to make for your­self and for your fam­i­ly.

The trick is to get into your WHY. Why do you eat the way you do? Be­cause you are not clear on what is ac­tu­al­ly healthy? Be­cause every­body else does? Be­cause it's a habit? Be­cause you're ig­nor­ing parts of your life that need ad­dress­ing?

I made a class to share ex­act­ly how to deal with the 'why' and the food prac­tices that I rec­om­mend for every fam­i­ly. https://zen-odyssey.­pas­sion.io/

Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info!

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Chandra Zas, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine

Chandra Zas is helping entrepreneurs prioritize their health with the goal of super-athlete performance and presence; both in their business and their personal life. Her childhood lack of health made her realize at a very young age how crucial health is for being able to fully function and thrive. The same Food and Mood process that Chandra used to heal her health is the very process that her clients use to become their own body and brain expert, empowering them to perform at exceptional levels and achieve their dream work-life. The leader is the one who is able to regulate stress under pressure. A high performing mind starts with a healthy gut.