Food and Your Child's Grades

If your child is doing poorly in school, you might want to check their dinner plate. According to many researchers and a growing number of educators, a poor diet can seriously affect a student's academic success. Which means, the groceries you're buying may have a direct impact on how well your child is doing in school.

Poor diet and lack of physical exercise are reaching epidemic proportions in the United States. The ease and convenience of "fast foods" is a lure for both students and parents, and the increase in processed foods loaded with saturated fats and empty calories combines with the lack of basic nutrients to create a high-calorie, low-power diet. In turn, this type of diet can leave a person feeling sluggish, sleepy, and down-right moody. This is a recipe for disaster in any academic situation, from kindergarten to college.

In comparison, a decent diet of nutrient-rich foods on a consistent basis can significantly improve your child's grades and their overall school experience.

Here are the Fast Facts:

"Poor nutrition decreases cognitive functioning and performance in areas of language, concentration, and attention." - Wehler, Scott, and Anderson, 1996

"Students with the highest fitness scores also have the highset SAT-9 scores." - Jim Sallis, 1999

"3rd and 4th grade students who received comprehensive health education had significantly higher reading and math scores." - Schoener, Guerrero, and Whitney, 1988

"Students in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade participating in school gardening activities (had) higher science achievement scores compared to those students who did not have garden activities." - Klemmer, Waliczek, 2005 (Louisianna).

And I feel the correlation between a healthy diet and good health is fairly obvious. Proper nutrition helps support a strong immune system, and students who are feeling well are apt to spend more days in school. More days in the classroom means more days absorbing information, even if they're trying their hardest not to!

Furthermore, as health affects attendance, it also directly affects your shcool's budget. Students with poor nutrition are more likely to be absent or tardy (Murphy, 1998), while very overweight students tend to miss 4 to 6 times as much school then students in the more "normal" weight range (Schwimmer, 2003).

If your school district is anything like the Los Angeles Unified School District here in Southern California, this can amount to big, big bucks. For example, we have somewhere around 350,000 students, which, I realize, is no-where near average. But bear with me. In our district, each single-day absence costs the district an average of roughly $15.00. This means that if just one percent of our total student population (3,500 students) is sick just one day, it costs the district $52,500.00. In One Day. While the numbers may be different in your community, chances are the propotional monies lost would be about the same. Please, check it out yourself. Then get back to me and let me know what you find out.

As always, I wish you health, happiness, and prosperity. See you soon!