Fruit and vegetables for a happy childhood

Fruit and vegetables keep you fit and slim. This is quite well-known. What is actually new is the fact that children who eat healthily and consume lots of fruit and vegetables are also psychologically quite a bit more stable.

This was found in a study by the research group headed by Dr. med. Louise Arvidsson from the University of Gothenburg. In this study, nearly 7700 children from eight European countries – aged two to nine – were closely examined for over two years. Their parents were asked about the eating habits and well-being of their children at two specific periods of measurement. Two years later, the children, who had eaten a versatile, balanced and healthy diet (lots of fruits and vegetables, fish, whole grains, and limited sweets), turned out to be more self-confident and displayed fewer emotional and social problems than their peers had. Subsequently, the more self-confident kids stuck with a healthy diet. The authors of the study suggested that the reason for this is that positive feelings increase the perception of things that are sweet, while negative feelings impair the perception – so more sweets are consumed. So, the key is the following: start right now with your healthy diet, then the desire for sweets will drop all by itself.