The Smart Nutrition Program™ principles advocate the following:
 Eat a variety of unprocessed food to ensure maximum daily consumption of nutrients, dietary fibre, phytochemicals, prebiotics and probiotics, so as to support overall nutrition, health, brain function (i.e., essential fats, B vitamins, minerals, etc. should be part of every day eating).
- Emphasize plant food including whole grains, vegetables, fruit, legumes, nuts, and seeds.
- Focus on eating food that maintains healthy blood sugar levels, such as foods rich in protein and complex carbohydrates.
- Choose moderate intake of healthier fat.
- Provide food options for individuals allergic or intolerant to certain foods.
- Avoid eating processed, refined foods.
- Try to eat organic food whenever possible.
- Exercise variety, balance and moderation in your daily eating habits.
Good nutrition plays an important role in promoting growth, development and overall health of children and adolescents. For this reason health care professionals are strongly advocating good nutrition education programs for children of all ages. It has been suggested that many children, including teenage adolescents, may be at risk for nutritional deficiency of essential nutrients such as iron, calcium, magnesium and folic acid. Nutritional deficiencies are known to adversely affect cognitive performance. On the other hand, improvement in dietary intake of essential nutrients with diet and/or vitamin/mineral supplementation has been reported to enhance cognitive performance in school age children. Current studies also show that certain nutrients aid the management of challenging conditions such as autism, attention deficit disorder (ADD) and attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD). These beneficial nutrients include essential fats with particular reference to the omega 3 fatty acids docosahexanoic acid (DHA) and eicospentaenoic acid (EPA).
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Testimonials
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Thank you for the care and guidance you have given [our daughter] over the past year…. We feel that there is no doubt [our daughter] felt cared about and it was this principle that helped her succeed. Thank you again and we wish you continued growth and success at the school.
C.S.
Ontario, Canada
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The Smart Nutrition Program was developed by a team of nutrition experts from the Canadian Centre for Functional Medicine and Rocklyn Academy to improve the regular nutritional intake of essential nutrients in teenage girl students attending Rocklyn Academy. The plan is based on foods (mostly organic) known to be rich in all the essential nutrients, particularly iron, calcium, magnesium, folic acid, vitamin B12 and chromium. Dietary supplements in the form of a smoothie mix rich in vitamins, minerals and essential fats (provided by Natural Factors Nutritional Products Ltd.) will be included as a nourishing snack to improve the dietary intake of essential nutrients and address any potential nutritional inadequacies resulting from dietary intake.
The Smart Nutrition Program calls for student participation, including the preparation of Smart Nutrition meals, input into menu planning, and Smart Nutrition education workshops and projects. The ultimate goal is to provide the best nourishment possible to promote overall health and well being of the students while educating them on sensible nutrition to foster healthy eating habits. The program will be evaluated periodically by the collaborative efforts of both Rocklyn Academy teachers and nutrition experts from the Canadian Centre for Functional Medicine.
Canadian Centre for Functional Medicine
Michael R. Lyon, MD, Medical and Research Director
G. Christine Laurell, PhD., Director of Program Development
Please visit the Canadian Centre for Functional Medicine website at www.functionalmedicine.ca
to understand more about this amazing nutrition program. You can learn more about the work
that Dr. Lyon and his team did with Rocklyn Academy by entering "Rocklyn" in the search window on the website. |
