The Brain By Numbers
by Dr. Pants on Nov.27, 2005, under Life and the Universe
I watched a BBC Documentary on the brain awhile back. It was a three part series hosted by Sir Winston Alabaster the third…actually I don’t know his real name but the one I gave seems like it would fit the man. .. In one of the episodes they followed a case study of problem kids in Great Britain. These kids were pretty bad, lots of TV, bad behavior in class and at home and a common knawing of the elbow.. that kind of stuff.. you know what I mean.
Well, what they did (some Big Shot University types) was give these kids a pill everyday and then, from what I remember, not too much else. Within a short period of time these kids were doing well in class, watching less tv (by their choice), reading more and their elbows healed. What was this magical pill they gave these kids? I’m not telling.. Okay I’ll tell… Omega 3 fatty acids. Typically found in fish, flaxseed and hemp oil. Pretty amazing.
So I got on the internet, because it has the answers to everything EVA! There may be some truth in the report.. Omegas act as the middle man between your neurons and synapses.. The Omega 3 fatty acids also help to balance your fat intake and actually contributes to losing excess fat in the body. Later I discovered a study that found that populations that consume large amounts of fish have low suicide rates.. Norway and Japan led the charge.. I was shocked to read those two countries because I thought, with my puny American, hamburger-fat laden brain, that Japan had a high suicide rate. And Norway…well Norway, being so north, was subjected to long winters with very little sunlight.
So I tried a little experiment. I began to add a small amount of flaxseed oil to Natalie’s juice everyday. Long story short.. I have seen a calmer, happier kid as of late. She also is doing very well with counting and speaking English and Norwegian. She’s only 2 1/2.. Plus she has thinned out and lost a lot of her baby fat.. I also took the oil and have lost some weight and ‘feel’ (I know, very subjective) a little bit more alert and awake..
I know it isn’t, ‘Holy shit! I figured out how to accomplish cold fusion!” but I found it interesting that something so small, like a little oil, can really make a difference.
November 27th, 2005 on 11:21 pm
Now, if you want really dramatic, in addition to adding Omega 3, you should try eliminating one single ingredient — corn syrup. If you look at the ingredients list of just about every processed or pre-prepared food in the Western world, you will find corn syrup. Corn syrup is sugar. Worse, it’s fructose, which can cause digestive problems for some people (myself included).
A few months back, I read a story about a cook who had been put in charge of a school cafeteria, and his one change was that he eliminated corn syrup from the menu. This adjustment outraged a whole lot of people — no corn syrup meant no ketchup, almost no salad dressing, no soft drinks, no pre-prepared Salisbury steaks or other main dishes, no pre-prepared gravy, and so on. But within a couple of weeks, the kids’ behavior improved dramatically. They were able to concentrate on their schoolwork better, and they had far fewer discipline problems.
Ditch the corn syrup, and see what happens.
November 28th, 2005 on 7:31 am
Interesting Carol Anne. We really don’t give the kids too much anyway. In fact, I con’t think of anything at all.. other than ketchup and we barely use that.
Interesting also because they had a school food movement recently in England. Some chef pushed and won the right to change the school lunches.. It would be interesting to see how things are going.
I always believed that food=behavior. Good healthy food=good healthy kids. Junk in…junk out..