Caroline Deacon
Journalist and author based in Scotland, UK

Food and mood

You are what you eat; the evidence is pretty overwhelming that food affects not only your child’s shape, but also his energy levels, mood and behaviour too. Many adults have a complicated relationship with food, and our attitudes affect our children’s eating habits. Caroline Deacon looks at why food is problematic and how to help your child to eat healthily.

Why do we have such issues with food? The problem is that human beings’ access to food has changed dramatically in the last century; our ancestors spent most of their waking hours foraging for something to eat, initially subsisting on roots, berries and leaves with the occasional protein feast when they managed to catch something more substantial.

Why we crave fat and sugar

 The reason we now crave fat and sugar is that these are calorific foods but were generally not that easy to come by, so the more powerful our ancestors’ craving for these foods, the more effort they would put into finding them. Successful foragers survived and passed this craving on to us. They feasted on wild animals or fish when they could; however both of these have a much lower fat content than our domesticated cattle, while any sweet tooth had to be satisfied with fruit, again far healthier than the refined sugar we eat today. So these cravings, which helped us survive in times gone by, now mean we can eat ourselves to death on overabundant, unhealthy forms of fat and sugar. Refined, processed foods are cheap, have a long shelf life and, as the food industry knows, with artificial flavourings, enhanced fat and sugar, they are also tempting to eat.

“I’d been really careful with Alasdair’s weaning diet and he was happy to eat everything we ate, but then he went to a friend’s party where he binged on junk food, and after that all he wanted to eat were chicken nuggets.”

“Convenience” foods

 The evidence is now overwhelming that highly processed or “junk” food is bad for you. Processed food has too much salt, sugar and unhealthy fats, all of which lead to health problems such as heart disease, diabetes and obesity. Colourings and preservatives cause behavioural problems such as ADHD in susceptible children. Even if your child is not overweight, feeding him the wrong types of fat clogs up his insides, creating health problems later in life.

“One of the best things I did was let my kids watch the DVD, ‘Supersize Me.’ They were always clamouring to visit McDonalds, especially as endless friends had birthday parties there, but after seeing that film they squeal with horror when we drive past our local outlet.”

What you can do

Firstly, dump the junk. Buy food as close to its raw state as possible. This does not mean spending hours preparing everything; grilled chicken breast and salad takes the same amount of time to prepare as a microwave dinner for instance. It’s also important to aim for variety in your shopping trolley.

“I found that Chris would not eat a huge plateful of food mixed together, but if I put out a platter with lots of different things he would happily help himself to most of it. So instead of doing a stew I would offer meat, veg and sauce separately and he would take some of everything. Instead of fruit salad I did fruit platter; arranged all the fruit pieces on a large plate and let him select what he wanted.”

Nutrition expert and registered dietician Ellyn Satter has a simple but highly effective strategy: “The parent is responsible for what, when and where. The child is responsible for how much and whether.” 

If you follow her advice, and offer your child a varied and healthy diet at regular intervals you won’t go wrong. What you must not attempt to control is whether your child will eat it and how much he will eat.

Let children choose how much to eat and whether to eat at all

Believe it or not, left to their own devices, children would actually select a naturally balanced diet. They may only eat fruit one day, protein the next, and then gorge on carbohydrates for a few days, but if you average it all out, they are pretty good at controlling their intake, if they are given healthy options in the first place.

Also the first step to tackling obesity is to allow children to regulate their own appetites. Babies are born with the ability to detect when they have had enough to eat; that is why supply and demand breastfeeding works and why breastfed babies are not usually overweight. One reason children become overweight is because parents override their satiation cues, forcing them to finish the bottle or, later on, clear their plates.

Children’s stomachs are much smaller than ours, and eating little and often is a reasonable strategy. In fact our three meals a day habit is not particularly natural. It’s far better to eat when you are hungry and to spread your food throughout the day; this way you avoid overeating and also keep your blood sugar levels stable.  What you need to avoid is eating junk snacks between meals, like crisps or biscuits. So when you shop for your main meals, also plan for elevenses and early tea, with a cup of water or fruit juice and nutritious snacks like cheese cubes and fruit slices.

 “A great snack for out and about with a baby is an avocado. I just mash it up in a bowl; a complete meal.”

Food fights

 If your child senses that you are anxious that he “should” eat a particular food, he may refuse it as a way of asserting his independence. You need to concentrate on offering varied meals that are generally healthy and balanced, and try to be chilled about what how much he eats or whether he eats at all.

Eating should be pleasurable, so encourage him to regard food as something to be explored and enjoyed. Make meals into social occasions as much as you can; eat as a family and talk about your day, ban TV and books at the table.

“I have always talked about food with my family; we discuss ingredients and different regional and national dishes. I think this is why they are keen to try new things when we eat out, and one of the pleasures of going on holiday abroad is to try the local food.”

The problem with sugar

Your child’s early eating experiences are really important and will last well beyond childhood. Early experiences with food create long-term bio-chemical expectations in your child’s brain. Allowing your child to regulate their own appetite, while controlling sugar and fat surges will set up the right regulatory habits.

Scientists believe that many addicts lack regulatory skills, and they use drinking, smoking or drugs to self medicate and that many people use sweet foods in the same way; carbohydrates and sweet foods release serotonin into the bloodstream, which counteracts feelings of depression.  Sugar also stimulates your body to release beta-endorphins which can reduce pain (physical and emotional). The bad news is that if you eat sweet things regularly your beta-endorphin receptors close down, and then you need to eat more sweet things to achieve the same effect. 

Refined sugars makes blood sugar levels shoot up too high, too quickly, which triggers the release of insulin to bring them back down making you “crash” and feel lethargic and irritable, which unfortunately probably makes you reach for more sugar. This yo-yo effect is not only bad for your mood, it can also trigger diabetes. 

“Corny though it might seem, it actually worked when I involved Josie in preparing our food. If she helped me scrub potatoes, stir sauces and generally was involved throughout, she was far more willing to eat the end product.”

Stop dieting

 Dieting in front of your children is probably one of the worst things you can do. Research shows that daughters in particular are heavily influenced by their mothers’ dieting behaviour, even if they are not overweight themselves. Children are becoming obsessed about being thin at a younger and younger age. You are their role model, if you avoid eating or talk about not getting fat, your children will copy you – perhaps with disastrous results.

How to diet successfully

If your family could do with losing a few pounds, be aware that cutting down on the amount you eat does not make you lose weight. As soon as your body becomes aware that it is running on less fuel, it decreases metabolic levels so that it burns less fat. Even a minimal weight loss of a pound a week will trigger this response. If you want to lose weight, you should increase your activity levels, thereby increasing your metabolism, and also eat healthy foods, little and often, so that you never feel hungry. This also keeps your blood sugar stable and will stop any temptation to binge.

Does my child need vitamin supplements?

Dr Alex Richardson of Food and Behaviour Research (www.fabresearch.org) has this to say:

• “Get rid of artificial additives and anything else to which your child may be reacting badly
• Ditch the sugary stuff that’s probably destabilising his mood and behaviour (and setting him up for diabetes too)
• Dump the junk fats – which are found in more processed foods than you’d believe possible.

Once your diet consists of real, fresh foods it should provide all the micronutrients and energy you both need to make the most of life.”

 

Further information

Dr Jacqueline Stordy The remarkable nutritional treatment for ADHD, Dyslexia, and Dyspraxia £14.99 – about the effect of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid supplements
Dr Alex Richardson They are what you feed them £12.99 How food can improve your child’s behaviour, mood and learning. Includes helpful recipes.

Practical recipes

www.eatwell.gov.uk/agesandstages/children/lunchboxsect  - great ideas for lunch boxes

Mary Whiting Dump the Junk! £7.99. Aimed at parents, it is packed with alternatives to junk food, as well as containing lots of tips and strategies to get your child to want to eat healthily.

Michael van Straten Good Mood Food £10.99. Although written for adults, the recipes seem tempting enough for kids too, and focus on changing mood, so there are recipes for waking you up, helping you sleep, giving you energy etc.

This article first appeared in Right Start Jan/Feb 2008