Eat your way to Good Marks

By - Dr. Panchali Moitra (Woman and Child nutrition Expert) Parents provide kids with their favourite foods during exams to encourage them to study hard. However, it is essential that your child eats right food during exams so that he can easily combat exam stress, concentrate and be alert. Read on to know about the important nutrients that can help your child improve his memory. Eating right and having a well balanceddiet is always important but it attains utmost importance when your child is preparing for examinations. The nutrients which help in combating stress and improving your child’smemoryand alertness during examsare as follows.Proteins- One of the most important exam nutrientsisprotein. Include good quality protein in the form of pulses, chicken fish, eggs, nuts and milk in your child’s diet. Thinking is a biochemical process and for the signals to get transferred from one neuron to another there are certain chemicals called neurotransmitters in ourbrain. The key neurotransmitters like acetylcholine and dopamine are created by amino acids present in proteins. Therefore, adding proteins in your diet work wonders during the examinations, especially the morning when the child has his paper. You can easily add protein in form of salads (such as sprouts salad,) sandwiches (with chicken or egg white), curds, cheese, soybeans (which can be made into cutlets) by adding soy flour to wheat flour while makingrotis.Carbohydrates-The brain is powered by energy which comes from broken down food. The primarysource of energyfor the brain is glucose which comes from carbohydrate rich foods like breads, rice and chapattis. The brains energy stores are very small, so to keep it functioning at its best, it needs constant glucose as replacement. And the best sources of the carbohydrate would be thecomplex carbs such as whole grains, sprouted beans and fruits. When you eat a candy or drink soft drinks, they break down too quickly into glucose. This sudden increase in blood glucose levels pushes the pancreas to secrete more insulin and this all leads to a sugar spike which is then followed with sugar drop and you start feeling depressed and lethargic. A key neurotransmitter, serotonin is also released after ingestion of starchy foods and vegetables. Good fats- Fats are major component of brain cell membrane and make up the myelin sheath around each nerve. Adequate amount of fat and the right kinds can greatly affect the brain power during exams. The good sources of this right kind offatwould be nuts like almond and walnuts, seeds like sesame seeds (ortilseeds) and pumpkin seeds, oil like olive oil and fish Vitamins- Amongvitamins, the important ones duringexamination are Vitamin C (helps in immunity building) and Vitamin B (which help in the manufacture and release of neurotransmitters).Minerals -Criticalmineralswould include iron (which is required to carry oxygen to thebrain cells) and zinc (which is known to protect you from forgetfulness)Also, we need to ensure that the foods which cause abrain drainand work against our child’s efforts are best avoided. These brain draining and lethargy inducing foods would be sugary drinks, processed foods made from white sugar and white flour, and fried foods. Avoiding too hot and spicy food preparations is also recommended as they might irritate our digestive functions. So, let’s feed our child’s mind with correct dietary options. Pre-exam blues will soon disappear and your child would sail through his exams with flair! All the best!