Eating for A’s

Breakfast is for Champions.

Three-quarters of American children decide what—if anything—they’ll eat every morning. That’s a problem.

“Even nutritional deficiencies of a relatively short-term nature will influence children’s behavior, ability to concentrate, and to perform complex tasks,” Tufts University researchers find.

Starting the day with something as easy as a cereal bar can improve memory, mood, and recall, another study shows.

Research among junior-high girls find that those who got iron and vitamin B3 (niacin) at breakfast had better memory scores. And vitamin B12 intake was linked to better grades at school.

There’s more: Eating breakfast also means kids are less likely to be overweight.

Consider the dramatic rise in type 2 diabetes. Any American child born from 2000 on has a one-in-three chance of developing what was only a few years ago known as adult-onset diabetes.

Starting the day off right with a good breakfast has been linked to a healthy body mass index (BMI). With one-third of today’s children either overweight or fast becoming overweight, that’s important since packing on the pounds leads to type 2 diabetes.

For young people with a family history of diabetes, a healthy breakfast stalls surges in blood sugar. Recent Swedish research finds that whole-grain breakfast cereal helps balance blood sugar throughout the day.

Boys who eat cereal for breakfast have lower total and LDL (bad) cholesterol levels, as well as a lower BMI. And college women who skip breakfast experience irregular periods and menstrual problems.

Dr. Ann Louise’s Take:

Parents need to talk with their kids about the importance of good nutrition. It’s essential for children to understand why they need a good breakfast—and to have plenty of healthy foods from which to choose.

With today’s hectic lifestyles, it’s critical to have a comprehensive plan in place with a detailed shopping list of healthy foods your kids will actually eat. Navigating through the thousands of products on store shelves can be a daunting task, but a few simple tips can help:

• Buy fiber-rich cereals with no added sugar and provide fruit (bananas, berries, sliced peaches) and flax seeds or nuts to toss on top.
• Read labels: 4 grams of sugar = 1 teaspoon.   (The American Heart Association recommends no more than 6 teaspoons of added sugar a day. I think 2 teaspoons is plenty!)
• Keep almond, rice, or soy milk on hand to add to cereal or as boxed drinks for kids’ lunches.
• Hard boil free-range eggs for quick breakfasts and healthy snacks.
• Whip up smoothies with protein powder, fresh or frozen fruit, and yogurt with live, active cultures.
• Keep energy bars that are low in sugar and high in fiber on hand. Some brands are beginning to add essential fatty acids.
• Not every child likes standard breakfast foods. If yours doesn’t, offer him soup or a sandwich with whole-grain bread instead.

Making time to buy and prepare quality food does take effort—at least initially. But the payoff is enormous.

Well-nourished children have more robust immune systems. Their concentration is sharper and they head to school ready to learn. Kids’ moods remain more stable—something parents of teens can especially appreciate. And children are less likely to have problems with constipation.

As parents, you put great effort into raising healthy children. When you make healthy eating a priority, those efforts pay off by giving your kids important ingredients for success!

Sources:
https://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/v33/n4s/abs/ijo2009114a.html
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19709412
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