BREAKing the FAST: Breakfast for Children
For years kids have been hearing “Eat your breakfast. It’s the most important meal of the day!” However as children go down their journey from adolescence to preteen to teen breakfast becomes less and less important. As parents and guardians it is important to stress the importance of breakfast to children of all ages.
So what kind of breakfast is the right breakfast for children?
It varies, but should include protein, whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables. Protein such as deli meet or low fat yogurt help kids stay focus until lunch. Whole grains such as in 100% bread, muffins, or pancakes provide long lasting energy for both kids brains and bodies due to the slow digestion of whole grains. Fruits and vegetables in the morning not only provides the nutrients kids need but it is also a better simple sugar to help jump start your child’s metabolism after a night of fasting. Do you best to avoid refined sugars for breakfast such as doughnuts and pastries. However, sometimes we are in a hurry to feed our children so keep in mind that any breakfast is better than no breakfast!
Breakfast also has other beneficial factors for children such as better behavior in school, helps pay attention, have less absences, could establish healthy habits for later in life and could lower risk of becoming overweight. Studies have shown that eating breakfast resulted in a lower BMI lowering the risk of children becoming overweight in adolescence as well.
http://www.eatright.org/Public/content.aspx?id=6747
http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/breakfast/expansion/benefitsbreakfast.pdf
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23466487
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23465566
http://www.healthyeating.org/Healthy-Kids/Kids-Healthy-Eating/Article-Viewer/Article/171/Are-Your-Kids-Eating-Breakfast.aspx?Referer=mealsmatter
