Always dreamt of having kids with high IQs? Well…. the key is in what you eat

There’s a French quote that says:” L’éducation de l’enfant commence 20 ans avant sa naissance”, which in English means:” the education of your child starts 20 years before he is born”. This means that if parents are knowledgeable of good nutrition practices, then these parents will transmit all their knowledge to their kids at an early age. Most importantly, this knowledge is transferred to the children through correct eating habits and balanced meals. As such the key here is: avoiding fats and sugars at an early age.

Kids adopt their taste preferences from infancy up to the age of 5. If they are in the habit of consuming fast food meals, biscuits, chocolates, potato chips and ice cream as part of their daily diet, be sure that they will grow up accustomed to these foods and shifting their taste preferences to healthier foods will be difficult. From our personal experiences we can attest to the above ─ we have grown to love such junk foods and although we know stopping those means losing weight and living a healthier lifestyle, we continue on devouring them.  On the other hand, kids who enjoy fruits, vegetables and healthy homemade meals at this early age will grow up loving these healthy foods and will transmit this knowledge to their children!

Start planning your meals in advance so you don’t end up having to eat fast foods or sweets when you are hungry! Start preparing the night before and if you have kids, of course, plan theirs as well!

When pregnant, ladies, please make sure you do not eat trans-fatty acid food sources such as deep-fried foods, cookies, chips. Recent studies portray the relationship between the intake of trans-fatty foods during pregnancy and babies with low IQs!

During breastfeeding the mother is transferring all her immunity to her baby, so it better be a strong immunity built by a healthy balanced diet to fight infections and diseases. Moreover, Researchers found that prolonged breastfeeding is associated with better results in intelligence tests in childhood.

A study by the British Medical Journal reveals that a diet rich in fats and sugars during the first years of life may affect the development of the intelligence quotient (IQ) of children. The team found that children three years of age living on a diet rich in fats and sugars have lower scores on tests than those on healthier diets. Parents now have more arguments to stimulate kids to eat more fruits and vegetables and less chips, chocolates, biscuits, cakes, ice creams, and fast foods!

Yes…who would’ve ever thought that adopting a healthy diet and lifestyle could also have impact on the intelligence of our kids!! Let’s start properly eating as early as possible for a smarter and long-living future generation that we will leave as heritage!

So if you are planning on becoming a mom or dad start eating healthy homemade foods daily from now on. , with plenty of vegetables, some fruits, and a few dairy products to prepare your body to create a healthy baby with healthy food taste preferences since even before being conceived!

Samia Khoury Dietitian