Back-to-school diet advice emphasises steady meals, fish and nuts over quick fixes

A paediatric endocrinologist stresses the importance of regular, balanced meals featuring complex carbohydrates, healthy fats, fish, and nuts for children returning to school, highlighting a shift away from sugary snacks and quick energy fixes.

As children return to classrooms after the summer break, the immediate dietary priority is not a dramatic menu overhaul but a return to structure. Dar’ia Khaykina, a paediatric endocrinologist at SM-Clinic, said the first weeks of term place extra strain on children because their daily routine changes, mental demands rise and sleep can shorten, making regular meals with enough protein, complex carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals especially important for energy and concentration. (360.ru)

Her most pointed advice concerns breakfast. Khaykina said children should start the day with a proper meal rather than relying on sweet tea, breakfast cereal or a quick sandwich. Among the foods she recommended were wholegrain porridge, eggs, cottage cheese, natural yoghurt and wholegrain bread, arguing that these options are more likely to keep a child full and support steady performance through morning lessons. (news.mail.ru)

Beyond breakfast, she said the backbone of a schoolchild’s diet should come from foods that release energy more gradually after the holiday period. Reports carried by 360.ru and Gazeta.Ru said she highlighted wholegrain cereals, bread made from whole grain, durum wheat pasta, potatoes and pulses as staple sources of complex carbohydrates, presenting them as the basis for a more dependable school-day eating pattern. (360.ru)

Khaykina also put fish and nuts at the centre of her back-to-school advice, a point several outlets pushed into their headlines. She said concentration and normal nervous-system function depend on regular intake of full protein sources and healthy fats, recommending fish, meat, poultry, eggs, pulses, nuts and seeds. Sea fish, she added, is particularly valuable because it provides omega-3 fatty acids. Peterburgskii Dnevnik’s version underscored that emphasis with the standfirst: “Речь про орехи и рыбу”. (news.mail.ru)

Fruit and vegetables remain part of the picture, but not as a stand-in for lunch or breakfast. Gazeta.Ru and RIAMO both reported Khaykina’s warning that fruit, vegetables and berries supply fibre, minerals and vitamins, yet should not become a child’s only fuel during the school day. In her framing, an apple or other fruit works best as part of breakfast or as a convenient snack, not as a routine substitute for a proper meal. (gazeta.ru)

That same logic shaped her advice on what to pack or offer between classes. Across several versions of the story, suitable snacks included fruit, natural yoghurt, cottage cheese, a sandwich on wholegrain bread and a small portion of nuts where there is no allergy. Khaykina also told parents to pay attention to plain water through the day, while limiting sweets and sugary drinks, which she said tend to produce only a short burst of energy before tiredness and hunger return. (360.ru)

One syndicated version carried perhaps the clearest summary of her broader point: routine matters more than abrupt dietary correction. Rambler, citing Russian Gazette and RT, quoted Khaykina as saying: “Гораздо важнее вернуть регулярный режим питания: полноценный завтрак, обед, ужин и при необходимости один-два небольших перекуса. Это поможет избежать сильного голода, переедания и резких колебаний энергии в течение дня”. Gazeta.Ru similarly said she advised families to make changes gradually, beginning with a proper healthy breakfast rather than attempting a sudden reset on the first school day. (woman.rambler.ru)

Taken together, the reports present her message as less about a single “brain food” than about making the school week physiologically easier to manage. That reading is strengthened by Peterburgskii Dnevnik’s note that Khaykina had previously warned about the effect of stress on blood glucose: if the school return already means more pressure, less sleep and a tighter timetable, then steadier meals and fewer sugary quick fixes are, by implication, part of helping children adjust. (spbdnevnik.ru)