Junk Food and Behavior Problems: Closely Connected?

I adore children and they seem to know it. Often, I can calm crying children in a grocery store with an intense loving look and a smile. Although if they’re really upset, sometimes a frown works best, as it lets them know that they have sympathy.

I can recall once or twice when this hasn’t worked, but most of the time it does, and I do it whenever the opportunity arises. Within a few seconds, the cries turn to sniffles as the child stares back at me, then the child will be calm. Generally, no one but me and the child, who often can’t speak yet, knows what has happened.

There is, however, always the exception to the rule, and I had the experience of babysitting one of these exceptions a few years back. This child was unruly, demanding, and only four. Because I happened to know this child’s preschool teacher, I knew how he behaved with me was not an isolated incident. It was his rule, not his exception.

One of the overtly demanding things this child did was demand to eat (and I do mean loudly demand, not ask or suggest.) He had made this demand a few minutes after he’d done something highly inappropriate, like I don’t know, biting his baby brother. To be honest, I don’t recall the reason that I had told him we weren’t going to do anything he wanted until he had calmed down. And since that hadn’t yet occurred, I wasn’t backing down.

I do remember what he wanted to eat though: hot dogs.

When we did get him something to eat, I gave him a banana. While looking for something to give him, I noticed that there was plenty of food available, but hardly any “real food.” What I mean by real food is food from nature. Food that our bodies are designed to eat – not processed, manufactured foods from a bag, box, or can. Not foods that contain many chemicals and additives. It instantly became clear to me that his unnatural diet was largely, if not entirely, responsible for his behavior.

The child had been consuming chemical and processed foods his entire young life. He likely started with a sugary formula and then graduated to a jarred baby food. Obviously missing from his diet were the foods that nature gave him to eat: large amounts of fruits, vegetables, and nuts.

From the get-go, he may also have been missing mother’s milk, which transfers to the child probiotics, or the healthy bacteria for our gut. These healthy bacteria make up the foundation of our immune system and formula fed kids aren’t getting these healthy bacteria anywhere. (I’d like to raise my child without a properly functioning immune system please…)

My frustration with that unruly child turned to pity. The pity extended to his parents, because I knew they wouldn’t be doing this, if they really understood the consequences. They just didn’t understand how much food plays a role in behavior, especially in a young child. And believe me, they were suffering too. They got to deal with these outbursts more than anyone.

When that child is a little older, someone will likely demand that he be put on Ritalin. Ritalin will only add more unnatural chemicals to his fragile little body, and as some have found, may even create irreversible brain damage.

This is all from a problem that could have been avoided and solved by consistently picking up different foods at the grocery store, and ideally switching to an organic grocery store. Of course, to keep meals simple and pleasurable, you might also need to learn a few simple food preparation techniques, but that’s really not too much to ask. This alone would have kept so many unnatural chemicals out of that child’s body and away from his brain and nervous system.

As a society, and as parents, how can we expect to have healthy children when we’re constantly feeding them unnatural chemicals, while denying them the bounty of nature’s foods which are full of the nutrients they need? Making the simple switch to whole, organic foods from nature can make a world of difference for your children – in their health and their behavior. If you keep it up, especially during their teen years, it’ll also save you a world of headaches.