Eating healthy food is a good idea at any age, and one study says eating too much processed food may even lower IQ scores in young children. Five year old Jadon loves fruits and his veggies. That's why shopping with mom is a treat.
They don't rush through the aisles, instead they walk around looking for healthy foods for Jadon to eat.
"I notice he concentrates better, he is more focused. He is more focused on what it is he is doing." says Bonnie Gannet, Jadon's mom.
Researchers with the journal 'Community Health' studied the eating habits of 4000 kids at age 3. They were tested five years later.
Those who ate high processed foods had lower IQ scores. Those who ate whole foods scored almost two points higher.
"It seems what's really going on is those processed foods are a lot more fat and sugar and they don't have a lot of nutrients and nutrition dense. So the issue is the ones that are eating more nutrient dense foods, actually probably that is what is correlating to the better IQ." says Cindy Kepler, a clinical dietitian.
How do you transition your kids from eating lots of junk food and processed foods to eating healthy foods? Experts say it's all about planning ahead.
"Just a little bit of planning, everybody thinks it's going to be so much work and I have three kids so. It is a lot, the mother works, working all day but there's no planning. It doesn't have to take a lot of planning and that's just making little changes." says Kepler.
Some parents are doing just that.
"We write a list, and we eat lots of fruits and lots of whole grains and vegetables and encourage natural yogurts." says Yakirka Machin.
