Eat Right: Improve your child’s gut health to keep diseases like cough and cold at bay

Did you know that a person’s gut is the foundation of everything? The gut in the human body plays an intricate and significant role when it comes to the body’s overall health. It not only supports the immune system and keeps the heart and brain healthy, but it also helps us to have a good night’s restful sleep leading to efficient digestion. 

In common parlance, the Gastrointestinal (GI) system is called the gut. Problems arise in the body when the unhealthy bacteria in the stomach and intestinal tract increase and in turn impact the gastrointestinal system.

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“Never make eating a chore for the kid. Explain to them why they should eat healthy meals. Don’t punish a child for not eating healthy food. Never make eating healthy food a task that the child must be taught”  

–Dr Pallavi Bainade, associate professor, Department of Paediatrics, DY Patil Medical College and Hospital, Nerul, Navi Mumbai

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According to Dr Pallavi Bainade, associate professor, Department of Paediatrics, DY Patil Medical College and Hospital, Nerul, Navi Mumbai tells you that the food we eat and the nutrition that our body needs eventually goes to the gut. This is the place where everything – good or bad – gets digested. This is also the place where immunity starts to build up. If a person’s gut is not healthy or there is damage to the intestines, the body will become weak and the person will start falling ill frequently. Since it is the focal point of the body, there is so much stress on gut health,” Dr Bainade said.

How do you make kids eat gut-healthy meals?

There is an adage: If you want to teach your child something, don’t teach him, show him. “If you want your child to eat healthy food, the parent must do the same. Take the example of my kids. My elder child didn’t have an idea of what chocolates, ice creams, or candies were until he was two-and-a-half years old. We didn’t want him to eat these foods so it was never bought. We never exposed him to junk food. It was much later when he met other kids that he realised that this food also existed,” Dr Bainade explained.

She also said that never make eating a chore for the kid. “Explain to them why they should eat healthy meals. Don’t punish a child for not eating healthy food. Never make eating healthy food a task that the child must be taught. Eat healthy food in front of him. They may reject it a couple of times, but soon they will understand that this is what is being served and they have to eat it. You can’t prevent a child from eating junk, but what you can do is ensure that his formative years are spent eating healthy foods; one can even limit the amount of junk food the kids eat,” Dr Bainade opined.  

Seconds Dr Priyanka Udawat, consultant, Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Endoscopy, Lifestyle Medicine Physician who is a certified allergy specialist at SRCC Children’s Hospital, (Narayana Health, Haji Ali, Mumbai).

“To keep the gut healthy it is necessary to have a balanced diet; a diet that is more plant-based. It must include four-five servings of fruits and vegetables daily. It must have a portion of legumes and grains like wheat, jowar, ragi, and rajgiri to name a few. These can be eaten in a porridge form. Proteins are a must as well and the child must be given different kinds of daals. Soybean chunks and tofu can also be part of the kid’s diet,”Dr Udawat explained.

She added that most children don’t eat nuts like walnuts, almonds, and cashew nuts. These, she said, can be given after soaking them in water overnight.

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“To keep the gut healthy it is necessary to have a balanced diet; a diet that is more plant-based. It must include four-five servings of fruits and vegetables daily. It must have a portion of legumes and grains as well”  

–Dr Priyanka Udawat, consultant, Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Endoscopy, Lifestyle Medicine Physician, SRCC Children’s Hospital, (Narayana Health, Haji Ali, Mumbai)

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“Children must also be given seeds like sunflower and chia seeds. These keep the gut healthy and if the gut is healthy, the body is healthy. But kids end up eating a lot of junk food. These items not only have bad fats, but they also increase cholesterol. These end up producing bad bacteria in the gut. The fat content in junk food can lead to obesity,” Dr Udawat said.

What is even worse is that the bad bacteria can even lead to mood swings and depression. “The child will become irritable. Junk food is heavy and a lot of energy is spent on digestion. For school-going kids, this will mean that the child will have a lower concentration which affects their studies; it may even disturb their sleep cycle,” Dr Udawat said.

The connection between gut health and lack of concentration

“When a child doesn’t get proper sleep, the body’s overall restoration will not occur. This will lead to a lack of concentration in class, and he/she may feel sleepy in class again affecting his study cycle. Poor results in class may lead to depression. Over a period of time, this becomes a vicious cycle that is difficult to break,” Dr Udawat said.

Exercise must for gut health

The third important thing to keep the gut healthy is to have physical activity. “Outdoor activities keep the body healthy. When the body is healthy, the mind is healthy. When the mind is healthy, the child does well in school which makes his morale and mood upbeat. It all boils down to keeping the gut healthy,” Dr Udawat said in conclusion.