Louise Mercieca, Founder of The Health Kick
Louise Mercieca, Founder of The Health Kick, a multi-award winning business dedicated to helping early years professionals, those working in the education sector and parents learn more about how food and health are linked and their effects on childhood development, has launched the second in a new series of short courses called ‘How Food Shapes Your Child – Shaping Food Relationships’.
The course follows on from ‘How Food Shapes Your Child – Introduction’ and ‘How Food Shapes Your Child – Building a Brain’ and is CPD accredited. Speaking about the course Louise said, “In the early years we are not only shaping the biology of a developing child but also how their relationship with food forms. In this course I will look at your role, the grown-up, and how influential you are to helping shape the health of a generation. The course looks at how taste develops, the way certain foods interact with our brain, the impact we have via our food language and our subtle signs around food and what health concerns exist relating to our current food landscape. I also take a quick look at neurotransmitters and the course comes with a guide to free sugars and Ultra Processed Foods.”
The series of courses are aimed at helping those working with children understand the impact food has on formative development. Louise wrote the courses after studying and working as a nutritional therapist for several years. She is a writer on health and nutrition, has a radio show ‘Food For Thought’ on Teacher Hug Radio and is an Early Years Nutrition Consultant working on menu development and nutritional education. Inspired by her young son as well as the research she was carrying out for her first book, also called ‘How Food Shapes Your Child’, Louise became a passionate educator and campaigner dedicated to helping Early Years professionals learn and understand the direct correlation between food and health. Adds Louise, “Despite specialising and working in this field since 2018 I still cannot get over the fact that this generation of children are predicted to have a lower life expectancy than the generation before them; that’s us! The importance of early years nutrition goes a lot deeper than many people think. Feeding a child isn’t just about filling them up. The food that we eat each and every day has an impact on everything that we do, think and feel. Put simply, the food we eat affects every movement, every decision and every emotion.
“In this series of short courses I cover what I consider to be the key areas of childhood development and the role which nutrition plays. Course titles include ‘Building a Brain’, ‘Building a Skeleton’ and ‘Shaping Food Relationships’. I believe that, as early years professionals, educators and parents we should never underestimate the role that food plays in our children’s health. Children today are exposed to a shocking food landscape that fuels both obesity and malnutrition, shapes unhealthy habits and creates food pathways in the brain that drive addiction. I very much hope that these short courses help those working and supporting young children to understand the subject better, see its vital importance and share what they learn further.”
Each course comes with a linked CPD-accredited podcast featuring an expert guest. Podcast guests include Dr Elizabeth Roberts who examines the science behind developing food relationships, Ben Healey an NHS physiotherapist who talks about early bone formation and muscle movement, Marnie Wills founder of SportyMinis who discusses early movement habits and Lee Connelly the Skinny Jeans Gardener who shares with Louise the importance of knowing where food comes from. The courses are hosted on MYCPDGroup (https://mycpdgroup.com/) with courses costing just £22 each.
Adds Louise, “Personally I feel that the very best way to shape the health of the next generation is via education. Education enables empowerment. As I said before, food doesn’t just fill us up it shapes our every movement, action and emotion. Understanding this is the key to being as in control as you can be of your and our children’s health journey. I hope these courses go someway to helping move this vital conversation forward.”
