During a child’s early years, it’s not uncommon for mealtimes to turn into a battleground, with you trying to coax them to take just one bite of broccoli, while they are determinedly pushing food off the plate or refusing to put anything in their mouth.
Picky or selective eating is a common part of early childhood, and navigating the journey toward balanced, nutritious meals can be challenging.
In fact, it’s partly why we developed the ChampionGold Standard™ for Childhood Nutrition. In addition to providing balanced nutrition, we wanted to nurture lifelong healthy food preferences in children.
We use a variety of creative strategies to guide even the pickiest eaters towards developing a love for a wider variety of nutritious foods, including but not limited to introducing a diverse range of flavours, textures, and cuisines in a fun environment. But that’s a topic for another day.
Today, we wanted to delve a little closer on why nutrition in early learning matters for your child’s growth.
1. Building A Healthy Immune System
Young children have immune systems that are still developing, making a balanced and varied eating pattern essential for strengthening their immunity. This becomes especially important when children start early childhood education, as mingling with peers and adults outside their immediate family increases their exposure to various infections. Consuming a wide variety of nutritious foods supports a strong immune system, helping children to fight off infections more effectively and develop resilience towards certain illnesses.
2. Supporting Physical Development
As your child gets older, their physical bodies develop very rapidly. They grow taller, become stronger and evolve more complex gross and fine motor skills. Our MindChamps whole food menu provides nutritious foods from the 5 food groups to supports children’s bodies to grow, develop and function at their best.
3. Preventing Chronic Illnesses
Choosing a wide variety of nutritious foods in the early has been shown to reduce the risks of chronic illnesses later on in life. These include preventing type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart disease and certain types of cancers.
Teaching nutrition literacy during your child’s early learning phase also sets them up for a healthier lifestyle once they become adults. It educates them about the importance of a balanced approach to nutrition, inspiring children to make nourishing culinary choices which leads to improved well being and disease prevention at any phase of their lives.
4. Building Healthy Cognitive Functions
Children’s brains develop very rapidly, even from infancy. A nourishing eating pattern plays a key role in the brain development of children, and providing nutritional meals has been shown to have a positive effect on cognitive development.
The human brain requires proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and water to grow and develop new functions. We target these nutrients on our whole food menu, so as your child develops, their brain receives all these nutrients to form new nerve connections, which is important for learning, reasoning, logic and more.
5. Sustained Energy Levels
Studies have shown that children who eat a nutritious breakfast have better focus and energy, allowing them to learn and function better at school. This in turn results in better cognitive and physical development, as they’re able to absorb things better.
A nutritious meal at MindChamps contains complex carbohydrates and fibre, which release energy at a sustained rate throughout the day, helping your child remain alert and active, rather than giving them a sudden sugar rush which can lead to lethargy. We prioritise lean proteins in our meals which help children feel fuller for longer, while providing the building blocks for growth and development. We include healthy fats to fuel the growing body and brain, and together with proteins and carbohydrates, provide balanced, filling and nutrient-boosted meals for children which support sustained energy, so your child will be able to enjoy their entire day, and fill it with meaningful activities and interactions.
In Closing
Nutrition literacy benefits your child by instilling in them a lifelong appreciation for nutritious food, supporting their long term personal health and well being. This will encourage them to make healthier choices for themselves, especially when they become independent.
Our MindChamps Nutrition Literacy Programme provides your child with carefully crafted meals, enlisting the help of expert Dietitians and Nutritionists. These meals are designed to meet 100% of children’s daily vitamin and mineral requirements, as well as 75% of their energy requirements. We believe in nutritious whole foods from the five core food groups, with ingredients that are minimally processed and avoid additives and preservatives, ensuring freshness, variety and taste in every nutrient-boosted bite!
Book a tour today to experience the MindChamps ChampionGold Standard™ Nutrition first hand.