"Learning about a balanced diet has changed Noah’s behaviour to the better!" A mothers account of how she helped her young son by using food as medicine.
"We joined some of Live Naturally’s healthy eating projects this year and it has been life changing. I have always been interested in doing my best to stay healthy, so when Noah was born, we decided to give him healthy food.
But by age 3, he was extremely fussy so he often refused to eat his breakfast, lunch and dinner and ended up snacking a lot. I didn't want him to eat lots of processed food like crisps and chocolates, so berries and fruit were his most common snacks. Despite trying to feed him healthy food, Noah was a propeller! His energy NEVER stopped. He could run for hours and hours every day and in the evening I was totally exhausted but but he was not at all. It could take hours to settle him. It was so hard to take him ANYWHERE. If we went to someone's house, he would not sit on the floor and play with toys, like many other children his age, but he would run around the WHOLE house. Shopping was a
nightmare, so I avoided it altogether with online shopping or had to arrange a babysitter so I could go to the shop. Coffee dates with my friends were pointless as I would spend most of the time running after Noah in the car park. He was not scared of anything! He seemed completely oblivious of any danger at all and I was always worried he might get hurt.
When Noah started at Wilstock Gardens Childcare they also had some concerns about his behaviour and eating habits. We were recommended to join a healthy eating project Live Naturally was running which had an emphasis on fussy children, funded by Children in Need. My husband and I also joined a course funded by Somerset Skills and Learning 'Food as medicine, to help improve children’s health, behaviour, sleep and learning'.
We learned about the importance of a balanced diet and why too much fruit can make children hyperactive. So, we started to change what food we gave Noah. We added more food that was high in protein and high in natural fats and we swapped fruit for vegetables. As well as this, we gave him some supplements to strengthen his gut (Mindlinx) and some fish oil to support his brain.
These simple changes have absolutely transformed our life! A few weeks after making some changes to our diet, I went to a café with some friends and Noah was sitting quietly on my lap. My friend said: “Is Noah alright today? I have never seen him sitting still before.” He was not ill, he was doing better then ever before. He was calmer and able to enjoy and take in the world around him where before his attention span was almost non existent!
I am so thankful we got the opportunity to learn more about food - it has changed our life as a family and given Noah a better future."
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