Adolescent Development: Why What They Eat is so Important.

AAdolescent Development: Why What They Eat is so Important.

Thriving during the teenage years depends on so many things and a growing body of research is demonstrating the critical role of diet in adolescent development. 

A number of studies have now found a definite link between diet and mental and emotional well-being. If an adolescent in your life needs another very convincing reason to eat healthy, regular meals – here are two of them…

Diet and Cognitive Function

An Australian study, published in Journal of Child Psychology and Psychology, has found an association between dietary patterns at 14 years of age and cognitive function (memory, learning) three years later at age 17. 

The Study. What They Did.

602 participants, all 14 years old, had their dietary patterns identified as either being ‘healthy’ (high fruit and vegetables) or ‘Western’ (high intakes of take-away food, red and processed meat, soft drink, fried and refined food).

What They Found.

When tested on various cognitive tasks three years later, adolescents who followed a more Western diet were found to have diminished cognitive performance. Specifically, they showed longer reaction times and higher errors in a delayed recall task.

High intake of crisps, red meat and fried potato also had a negative impact on cognitive function.

In contrast, a higher intake of fruit and leafy green vegetables was found to be positively associated with improved cognitive performance.

Diet, Depression and Anxiety

Separate research out of Emory University has found that a high fructose diet can also compromise adolescent development by:

  • increasing symptoms of anxiety;
  • increasing symptoms of depression;
  • changing the way the brain responds to stress; and
  • causing long-term changes in metabolism and behaviour.

Fructose is a sugar found naturally in fruits and vegetables but it’s also added to many processed foods and drinks. 

Adolescence is a critical time for brain development so an adolescent brain is particularly vulnerable.

At this stage research has only been conducted in rats, chosen because they have a similar genetic and biological makeup to humans. Results are often replicated in human trials.

 The Study. What They Did.

As part of the research conducted at  Emory University, adolescent and adult rats were given either a standard or a high fructose diet.

What They Found.

After 10 weeks the adolescent rats had a different stress hormone response to a stressful situation. The adult rats who were given the high fructose diet did not show this effect.

In the adolescent rats, a genetic pathway in the brain that helps regulate the brain’s response to stress was also changed.

 

And finally …

Further research is humans is necessary, but there is a strong sign that a high fructose diet throughout adolescence worsens the symptoms of depression and anxiety, and changes the way the body and the brain respond to stress.

The importance of a healthy diet to physical well-being has long been established but we are learning more and more about it affects mental health. Eating well during adolescence can be the edge they need to thrive. 

 

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Too many students are being stifled by anxiety, and this number is on the rise.

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Relationship first, then learning and behaviour will follow. It can’t be any other way. 

Anxious brains can’t learn, and brains that don’t feel safe will organise young bodies (all bodies) for fight, flight (avoidance, refusal, disengagement, perfectionism), or shutdown. 

Without connection, warmth, a sense of belonging, feeling welcome, moments of joy, play, and levity, relational safety will be compromised, which will compromise learning and behaviour. It’s just how it is. Decades of research and experience are shouting this at us. 

Yet, we are asking more and more of our teachers. The more procedural or curriculum demands we place on teachers, the more we steal the time they need to build relationships - the most powerful tool of their trade. 

There is no procedure or reporting that can take the place of relationship in terms of ensuring a child’s capacity to learn and be calm. 

There are two spaces that teachers occupy. Sometimes they can happen together. Sometimes one has to happen first. 

The first is the space that lets them build relationship. The second is the space that lets them teach kids and manage a classroom. The second will happen best when there is an opportunity to fully attend to the first. 

There is an opportunity cost to everything. It isn’t about relationships OR learning. It’s relationships AND learning. Sometimes it’s relationships THEN learning. 

The best way we can support kids to learn and to feel calm, is to support teachers with the space, time, and support to build relationships. 

The great teachers already know this. What’s getting in the way isn’t their capacity or their will to build relationships, but the increasing demands that insist they shift more attention to grades, curriculum, reporting, and ‘managing’ behaviour without the available resources to build greater physical (sensory, movement) and relational safety (connection, play, joy, belonging).

Relationships first, then the rest will follow.♥️
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It says, ‘I see you. I believe you that this feels big. Bring your feelings to me, because I can look after you through all of it.’

Then, we lead. Our response will lead theirs, not just this time, but well into the future. 

If we support avoidance, their need to avoid will grow. The message we send is, ‘Maybe you aren’t safe here. Maybe you can’t handle this. Maybe your anxiety is telling the truth.’ 

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Think about job interviews, meeting new people, first dates, approaching someone to say sorry, saying no - all of these will come with anxiety.

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It doesn’t matter how small the steps are, as long as they are forward.♥️
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New, hard, important, brave things will always come with anxiety. It’s the anxiety that makes these things brave.

The only way for kids to never experience anxiety is for us to never put them in front of anything growthful, new, hard, brave. They’ll never feel the discomfort of anxiety, but they also won’t grow and strengthen against it. 

We’ll never get rid of anxiety and we don’t need to. The key to strengthening young people against anxiety lies in helping them feel safer with it. 

Here are 3 ways to do that. First though, and most importantly, establish that they are actually safe - that they are relationally safe, and that they feel safe in their bodies.

1. Take avoidance off the table. Avoidance makes anxiety worse by teaching the brain that the only way to stay safe is to avoid. Little steps matter - any step, even the tiniest, is better than none.

2. Show them you can handle their anxiety and the big feels that come with it:

‘Of course you feel anxious. You’re doing something big. How can I help you feel brave?’ 

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3. Help them understand why they feel the way they do when they are anxious, otherwise they’ll interpret sick tummies, sore tummies, racy heart, clammy skin, big feelings as a sign of deficiency or potential disaster. It isn’t. It’s a sign of a brain and body trying to protect them, at a time they don’t need protecting. 

As long as they are safe, the need to avoid is often more about needing to avoid the thoughts, feelings, and physiology of anxiety, rather than avoiding the thing itself. This is why the physiology of anxiety will continue to drive anxiety until we make sense of it. ‘Hey Warrior’ will help you do make sense of it for them.♥️

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