It is a very old saying, but is still as true as it ever was – breakfast is the most important meal of the day, especially for children.
While many adults skip breakfast, and some modern diets recommend doing so, such as intermittent fasting, most people need a healthy breakfast to start the day.
Research shows that one in seven Australian school children skip breakfast. This number is a bit scarily high when we understand that starting the day without breakfast is directly linked to poor school performance and can lead to lifetime battles with unhealthy weight. Our kids deserve better than this.
We may skip breakfast for all sorts of reasons, usually because we are too rushed or distracted by other things. Even if as adults we are vigilant about healthy eating, trying to get a good morning meal into grumpy tired kids every morning is another story!
Nutrition Across the Day
Skipping breakfast leaves us sluggish by mid-morning and starving by lunchtime, which usually leads to unhealthy food choices later in the day.
Skipping breakfast means people are more likely to reach for sugary or fatty foods when hunger hits to give a quick boost of energy. This then leads to sugar highs and slumps again throughout the afternoon, and helps to establish poor food habits in kids that last a lifetime.
Why is Breakfast so Important?
We go without food while we are asleep, which for small children can be up around 12 hours or longer. Breakfast gives us fuel for the day ahead, and also kickstarts the body’s metabolism, reminding it to start burning calories.
Children who eat breakfast are more likely to eat healthier overall and also more likely to participate in physical activity across the day. They are more likely to have a healthy and balanced weight. Having food in our bellies also improves our cognitive skills including focus, memory, and alertness – which is extra-important for kids being sent off to school for the day.
Watch for Hidden Sugar
It is essential not to skip breakfast, but it is just as important not to make poor breakfast choices. Most foods that are marketed towards kids for breakfast are sadly very high in sugar.
The recent trend of liquid breakfasts and other convenient ‘grab and go’ options like breakfast bars and muffins and low-fat yoghurt also leans towards the sugary and sweet. Most commercially made fruit juices and fruit drinks are also incredibly high in sugar – many containing sugar levels as high as soft drinks!
It is important that parents get in the habit of reading nutritional labels on supermarket products and learn to look for sugar in all its forms. It is often hidden under one of these names:
- Malt syrup
- Corn syrup
- Dextrose
- Fructose
- Glucose
- Fruit juice concentrate
- Maltodextrin
- Sucrose, and many, many more names.
Starting the Day Right
A healthy breakfast should provide a variety of foods, giving the body all the vitamins and minerals it needs to start the day right.
Breakfast foundations that are high in whole grains, healthy protein, and natural fibre are best. You should aim for a breakfast that is filling and satisfying, and ideally should contain fruit, vegetables and a source of calcium such as milk.
A dose of healthy fat or protein, such as eggs, nuts, cheese or avocado provides a slow release of energy across the morning rather than the energy spike provided by high sugar breakfast. This slow-release is better to keep children alert and active all day.
If you can introduce and encourage your family to eat a range of fruit and vegetables for breakfast, this would be awesome, but aiming for the basics is a great start.
Try to make breakfast a priority for yourself as well. If you make eating a healthy breakfast an important way to start your day, this kind of modelling behaviour can be one of the best ways to make an impression on your kids.
Making extra time for breakfast in the mornings will help, such as getting everything prepped the night before or getting up 15 minutes earlier to encourage your children to sit down to eat.
If your household is rushed and hectic in the mornings no matter what you do, have healthy options for your children and yourself to grab on the way out the door. Some great healthy options include:
- Peanut butter on whole-grain crackers paired with an apple or banana
- A container of low-sugar muesli topped with blueberries and paired with a squeezie of yoghurt
- Premade cheese and vegetable frittatas, ready to grab from the fridge
- Premade sliced wholegrain bagel filled with sliced hard-boiled egg and tomato
- Wholegrain crackers spread with Vegemite and avocado and paired with a container of cherry tomatoes
- Turkey, cucumber, and hummus in a whole-grain wrap
Making a Difference
Missing breakfast has become so widespread for kids that Bod Pod has committed to making a difference through our ‘Fuel for School’ initiative.
With your generosity and help, Bod Pod is putting together backpacks for children in local schools as well as breakfast clubs in several of them to ensure that our children get the right start to the day, and the perfect start to a lifetime of healthy eating.
Understanding the right way to eat for yourself and the right habits to model for your children is the best place to start making a difference.
You can also donate to our ‘Fuel for School’ initiative to help other children as well, for details see here >> more details
