Dietary Guidelines and Wise Choices to Help Children during Exams

Many children neglect their diet and health during exams to a point of harming themselves and in turn performing badly. Many of them neglect the intake of water and their regular meals and become dehydrated and weak. On the other hand many of them tend to over eat, snack on fatty foods like fried snacks or sweets and keep drinking aerated drinks through the day. All this is very unhealthy and also very harmful.

Drinking 2.5 -3 liters of clean, plain water is proved by research to hydrate the mind and body and this will improve your concentration and your ability to work with figures and numbers is seen to be much better. Skipping meals makes you weak, your haemoglobin levels in your blood will drop and this will result in you being unable to concentrate, forgetful and constantly falling asleep.

All three meals must be eaten. If you stay up at night, don’t wake up late, skip breakfast and eat lunch directly. This is very harmful to your metabolism. Try to wake up in the morning, eat a balanced breakfast of cereal and milk, ragi porridge and milk, whole wheat bread, egg and milk, idli sambar and milk, etc. Then snack on fruits if hungry till lunch. Lunch too must be a balanced meal of either rotis, dhal and sabji or rice, sambar and porial. Curds and fresh salad added to the above makes the meal complete. If you are tired and sleepy you may take a nap of 30-40 minutes after lunch.

At tea time please avoid fried snacks or sweets. Foods rich in fat and sugar take a very long time to digest and scientifically they make you drowsy and lethargic instead of feeling fresh and alert. A glass of milk with Horlicks or Bournvita and a couple of slices of toast and jam or honey or green chutney and sliced cucumber, tomato, etc., is the ideal snack at tea time. Light biscuits like Marie Biscuits or crackers, two to three numbers may be eaten instead of bread. Again this may be followed by fruits in the late evening around 6-6.30pm.

Dinner should be a balanced meal of rotis, dhal and sabji with fresh salad. It is advisable not to eat rice at night as wheat items have more fiber and much more vitamins and minerals which raise your metabolism and keep you fresh to study even after dinner. All those staying up at night must be warned, that the only safe snacks at night are to drink a glass of milk or eat a fruit.

So the formula is 2.5-3 liters water, three balanced meals and plenty of fruits, salads and milk/curds to snack on. Last but not the least, when you want to take a break from the books, don’t just sit in front of a T.V or computer but try to make sure you go out for a 25-30 minutes walk. The walk will help you to de- stress, it also increases endorphin’s (positive hormones) and gets your blood pumping and your heart and mind recharged to go back and battle the books again. Be smart with your body and brains.