Get Back to School in Good Health: 5 Essential Supplements for Kids!

Get your kid’s ready for a successful back-to-school transition with this list of 5 Essential Supplements for Kids, as chosen by Nicole Eckert – Nature’s Newmarket’s Holistic Nutritionist On-Duty!

Childhood is the most formative stage of life. The foundation created, especially in the first 5 years, plays a crucial role in shaping your child’s future health, happiness, growth, intellectual and cognitive development. To maximize their future selves, we owe it to our little ones to invest the time and resources that such an important period demands.

Yet, when it comes to good nutrition for your little Einstein, it can be a real challenge to get them to eat the foods they need most. Plus, with time in short supply for many parents, the difficulty is compounded. Diminishing soil quality, increasing synthetic chemical and antibiotic burden throughout the food chain, plus increasingly processed foods make it all but impossible to ensure nothing is overlooked.

The simple fact is, many of the conveniences of our modern world have made it much harder to obtain the same nutrition that was taken for granted in the past.

Thankfully, we have the luxury of being able to access high quality supplements for children that can help fill any missing nutritional links holding your child back from growing up healthy and strong. The 5 essential supplements for kids, listed in our featured blog post, are our top picks! Read the full post on our  blog at:

PROBIOTICS:

Children are naturally born with undeveloped digestive systems. While in utero, they get their nutrition from the umbilical cord. After birth, they are meant to consume mostly breast milk – and for a much longer period than is typical amongst Canadian moms.  Probiotics as a supplement help to populate the digestive tract with healthy bacteria that may be in deficit due to an early introduction of dairy, wheat, soy, and other potential allergens – as well as with the consumption of processed and low-quality foods. Other factors that may contribute to poor digestive health are: minimal or no breastfeeding, mom’s personal dietary choices or courses of antibiotics from a young age.

While the link between gut health and immune-function, mental health, weight, and skin health is still being established, early research demonstrates the big impact that our gut plays in our overall wellness.  While we recommend probiotic supplementation across all stages of life, we believe that the biggest potential impact lies in childhood.

Our Recommended Brands:

Udo’s Choice Super Children’s Probiotic for ages 4 and up – vegetarian capsules

Genestra HMF Child Probiotic Formula –  for ages 4 and up – chewable tablets

Genestra HMF Neuro Powder – specifically developed for autism, ADHD, and celiac disease

Genestra HMF Natogen (no FOS Infant Probiotic Powder) – for infants and newborns

OMEGA-3 FISH OIL:

Omega fatty acids cannot be produced by the body and must obtained through the diet. Yet, getting your child to eat fish – like Salmon – regularly may be more challenging than simply introducing a yummy tasting fish oil (and yes – fish oils can be YUMMY!).

DHA is an omega-3 fat which is well known for its role in cognitive development and intelligence. Recent studies have indicated that boosting your child’s intake of DHA as an infant and during the first few years of school may be a simple way to generate measurable improvements in brain function. Conversely, low levels of DHA and other omega-3 fats are associated with poor reading skills, and both memory and behavioral problems.

We believe that early supplementation with this important nutrient should play a key role in your child’s daily routine!

Recommended Brands:

Calson Kid’s The Very Finest Fish Oil – comes in both orange and lemon flavour

Botanica Omegalicious High Quality Fish Oil – comes in various yummy flavours with a creamy texture – try before you buy in our supplements department!

Nordic Naturals Junior liquid, Complete Omega Junior – comes in lemon flavour

Nordic Naturals Children’s DHA – comes in strawberry flavour

GREENS POWDER:

Smoothies can be an easy and nourishing breakfast option that the whole family can enjoy. While some kids may not fall for the super green ‘hulk’ smoothie, you can still include quality nutrition without compromising taste by using a high quality greens powder designed for kids.

This whole food supplement can fill the gaps left by the foods your child may not be wanting to consume while in its whole form. Through these delicious tasting powders, your child can get in the nutrition from super greens such as broccoli, sprouts, spinach, kale, barley grass, alfalfa and so much more. These green vegetables are a source of many important vitamins, minerals, fibre and phytonutrients as well as a source of chlorophyll which is unique to plants! The complex nutrients found in greens nourish every system in the body and are absolutely essential for your growing child’s needs.

There are countless ways to get creative with your greens powder. Add it to pancake or waffle batter, make gummies with grass-fed gelatin (which offers its own benefits), add them to ‘green’ scrambled eggs, shape into energy balls, use to bake healthier brownies, add into homemade ice cream, add to porridge or cereal, hummus and homemade chocolate – the possibilities are endless!

Recommended Brands:

Genuine Health Greens+ Kids – Mixed berry flavour and comes in a natural purple colour.

Amazing Grass Kidz Superfood – Chocolate flavour

Macrolife Naturals Macro Coco Greens –  Chocolate flavour

GRASS-FED GELATIN:

The time-honoured practice of making bone broth is back in style, and for good reason!

The natural gelatin found in bone broth is excellent for intestinal health (relevant for those suffering food intolerances and leaky gut) and for nourishing hair, skin and nails. While adding in bone broth to your routine may not be an option, you can pick up unflavoured grass-fed gelatin powder, which you can make into both healthy jello, marshmallows and gummies – providing similar benefit in a kid approved form!

Recommended Brands:

Great Lakes Unflavoured Gelatin

MAGNESIUM

Magnesium is a miracle mineral!

It is found most abundantly in dark leafy greens, nuts, seeds and whole grains. While it may be harder to get in – and attracts less attention – than calcium, it is no less important. Beyond bone health, magnesium supports proper muscle and nerve function. It can also help improve sleep, mood, and promote bowel regularity.

This mineral is known for it’s anti-stress properties – which can be important for youngsters facing diverse and often anxiety provoking situations – and can be introduced in a variety of ways, with both internal and external options.

Recommended Brands:

Natural Vitality Kids Natural Calm – warm drink with a natural raspberry lemon flavour

LifeFlow Pure Magnesium Oil – spray on for absorption

St.Francis Kinomai Magnesium Crystals – add to bath

Build a strong foundation for a lifetime of wellness.

A high quality balanced diet should absolutely be the top priority for building your child’s foundation. However,  supplementation can be very useful in filling any holes in your child’s diet so that your little Einstein can experience life to its fullest potential.

Remember to ensure that your children consume protein from high quality organic sources, an abundance of green veggies in forms that they will enjoy and plenty of healthy fats. Following these simple guidelines – in conjunction with the probiotics, omega-3 fish oil, greens powder, gelatin and magnesium mentioned above – will be sure to support the optimal health of your mini-you!