Eat to Learn - Grapes and Your Brain

The kids are learning about grapes and raisins at school this week.

5 Ways Grapes and Raisins Power Your Brain

• Did you know a raisin is a grape that’s lost its water? Carbohydrates like grapes provide energy to your brain. Thinking, learning and remembering requires lots of energy. The cells in your brain have no pockets, drawers or cabinets to store energy. If you want your brain to be full, you have to feed your brain several times a day. Skipping breakfast, lunch, snack or dinner is bad for your brain!
• A flavonal in grapes named e-pi-cat-e-chin enhances your memory. Can you remember to eat grapes in fruit salad or off of the vine? Grapes help you remember math patterns and facts.
• For a memory boosting breakfast try oatmeal with raisins. Kids who eat good carbohydrates like oats and raisins before school learn the most.
• Your greedy brain needs 10 times more oxygen than your other organs. There is good oxygen that makes your brain cells breathe, and bad oxygen that hurt your brain cells. Micronutrients in grapes help the good oxygen go in and keep the bad oxygen out. Those round light green globes in fruit cocktail are grapes. Your brain is greedy for grapes!
• Raisins are everywhere, in oatmeal and cookies. Boost your memory while having a treat. Next time you have a choice between an M&M cookie and oatmeal raisin, pick the memory cookie with raisins. Feed your brain raisins!

One of our fave ways to eat grapes? Frozen Grapes!

This post is participating in Real Food Wednesday hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop.

What was grape news to you?

I learned that the brain can not store glucose for later use like other vital organs do. Access to food is not just about growth and hunger avoidance. When kids skip meals their brain doesn't have access to power. That explains why hungry kids often make poor choices they usually get right.