When school's in session so are germs, and kids bring home bugs as well as school work. Spiking fevers, coughs and colds are standard. 

 

Help is at hand. Lucinda Miller is an eminent naturopath, functional medicine practitioner and author, and is hugely knowledgeable about children's health and wellbeing. She is the founder of NatureDoc - a collective of nutritionists and a store of highly curated supplements for children (where Leapfrog supplements are stocked). Leapfrog founder Stephanie Drax spoke to Lucinda about how we can help parents navigate cold and flu season and the tops tips to keep kids well - starting with breakfast.

 

Stephanie: Nurseries and schools - even universities - are such a petri dish. They bring the germs home and then everybody goes down like dominoes. So let's try and get ahead of it by starting with the basics. What are the foods that we should be swapping in to keep our immune systems supercharged this season?  

 

Lucinda: I think the main one, which everyone's heard of is vitamin C. It's so important for the immune system. It helps the body fight infections more easily and it protects the cells from being damaged. We've all heard of oranges and satsumas being high in vitamin C but some kids don't like those, so it could be a big squeeze of lemon juice or lime juice in their water. It could be blueberries, strawberries, raspberries or kiwi fruit, but also parsley and crunchy red peppers are full of vitamin C. There are lots of foods that do contain vitamin C, so I'd say that is a critical one.

 

 

Stephanie: Are fruits good to eat when you're not feeling well?

 

Lucinda: What we've always done is if our kids are sick is to prepare them a lovely juice. I tend to do freshly made juices and that would be something like orange, carrot, lemon, maybe some ginger, some parsley, all sort of smashed up together. I find that when they've got a bit of a sore throat, and they're feeling a bit run down, they don't have much hunger, so the idea of eating these things is too much. But to sip it down through a straw seems to work really well - and the ginger's really good for the immune system as well. It's known as one of nature's antimicrobials, so it's really good for the throat.

 

Stephanie: Are smoothies healthy or just full of sugar?

 

Lucinda: I think that you can make an incredibly healthy smoothie and it doesn't just need to be fruit. I think the principles of a smoothie are that yes, of course have the fruit, have the sweetness in there, but also add some protein and healthy fats. And it could be anything from a nut butter to some tahini, some milk or yoghurt. Suddenly it becomes much more balanced, not so bad for the teeth or the blood sugar spikes. And equally there are opportunities to get these rainbow foods in there that can help repair cells and protect the immune system.

 

  

Stephanie: Is breakfast important to keep kids healthy?

 

Lucinda: Most of the academic work - the proper brain challenging stuff - is going happen in the morning. Whereas in the afternoon, there tend to be other activities, sport or lighter subjects. So this is when they're doing the key subjects like maths, English, and science. So breakfast is actually probably the most vital meal of the day to set their brain up.

 

Now, first of all, it needs to fuel them all the way through the morning. The second thing is, do those foods contain the nutrients that will help the brain to work efficiently - to give them the mental and physical stamina to get through? So if it's very sugary, or a high carbohydrate or refined carbohydrate meal, then what's going happen is that brain capacity and energy will go up very rapidly, very quickly. Within 15 minutes they'll feel great because of course they've had this sugar rush. But in many children that goes a little bit over the top. So they become a bit hyperactive and disruptive. But then shortly after that, as quickly as that blood sugar has gone up, it also goes rapidly down very quickly too. And that can suddenly mean that they're feeling a bit lightheaded, a bit 'hangry', disorientated, unfocused, and potentially, "naughty". 

 

I'm a big fan, especially for little kids, of berry porridge. But when they're at secondary school age and they're going on a bus for up to an hour each way and leaving the house by 7am - they're often not that hungry in the morning, so they're not getting much breakfast. So a really substantial smoothie that you make the night before and is just waiting for them in the morning, that they could just grab and go in a flask or bottle, is a good thing to have. And you can just pack in so much great nutrition. 

 

Stephanie: What about breakfast cereals?

 

Lucinda: Most cereals are very refined, even if they say they've added whole grains. Or if, if they're not having cereal, it might be white toast with jam. Again, all carb. That's going to have a very short term effect, whereas if they can eat something that has protein - and most natural foods that contain protein also contain healthy fats - it going to make the blood sugars more even.

 

So that could be nut butters, scrambled eggs, greek yogurt with seeds and berries, or cheese. There will be a lot more longevity to their brain capacity and their behaviour throughout the morning. In all three of my cookbooks there are really good muffin recipes and you can take them out of the freezer either the night before or even when they wake up. And they're pretty much defrosted by breakfast time. 

 

Iron is something that so many kids really struggle with getting enough of. A lot of kids are plant-based, so they're looking very pale and pasty. And without enough iron, your immune system can be quite low. The great thing about lactoferrin, which is in Leapfrog IMMUNE, is that lactoferrin helps the transport of iron and helps to really feed the immune system. So it's incredibly clever at making sure that the iron they do have in their system - even if they don't have substantial amounts - get into the right parts. So it's almost like the 'Heineken effect': it gets to the parts that others can't reach, and I really like that!