Zest Up Morning Meals for Your Schoolhouse Crew

Incorporate a Modern Outlook to your Traditional Recipes

On a lighter note, the best breakfast for kids during school days is the one they will eat. The main purpose of a morning meal is to fill your stomach with nutrients to keep you energized for the day. It can be cereal, eggs, toast or leftovers like quesadilla, cheese or crackers.

Authentic surveys reveal that many kids skip their breakfast twice or thrice a week.

Such statistics are of big concern to dietitians and nutritionists as they feel that breakfast is the best time of the day to catch up on important nutrients needed by the body, specifically calcium, vitamin D, fiber and potassium. Kids who don’t eat their breakfast usually lack in these nutrients.

Breakfast Perks

After a six-plus hour gap of consuming food, breakfast zaps your hunger quotient and replenishes the body with energy. Further, daily breakfast has a clear-cut impact on us every day and this constant nourishment helps us stay healthy throughout our lives. Skip breakfast and those benefits disappear.

There are conclusive reports on the impact of breakfast in school performance. Children who eat their breakfast are equipped with better concentration skills and show improved results at school. Hence, no child should miss out on the morning meal!

 ‘N’ Many Reasons for Skipping Breakfast

Breakfast time is actually spent on sleeping a little more during morning hours, finishing up homework, television distractions or some other morning chaos. Parents leaving before kids and simply not feeling hungry are other common reasons for skipping breakfast. But renowned RDNs warn that hunger pangs are sure to peep in at some point in the morning, which can be very distracting. Read more on the disadvantages of skipping a breakfast at www.firsteatright.com.

Grab Attention with Smart Breakfast Tips

Try these simple steps to start your daily ritual of eating a healthy breakfast:

• Prepare meals with your kid’s inputs: Foods that can be eaten at another meal can be eaten during breakfast also. Rope in your kid’s attention by getting their input and engaging them in making the meal. When your child is involved in these activities, he/she will automatically take time to eat a healthy breakfast.
• Include foods from all the food groups: A balanced meal should include three or four different food groups. Proteins (peanut butter, eggs, cheese, yogurt, fat-free milk, cottage cheese, beans, lean sliced deli meats, etc.), which help kids to feel full and whole-grain carbohydrates which are powerhouses of energy are ‘must-include’ items in your platter. Carbohydrates should be any hot or cold whole-grain cereal with at least 3 grams of fiber per serving, whole-wheat crackers, whole-grain frozen waffles, a whole-grain tortilla or whole grain bread work. (Authentic whole-grain products are listed with whole-grain or whole-wheat as the first ingredient in the nutrition label with at least 3 grams of fiber per serving). Fruits, veggies and low-fat dairy foods should fill the other half of your food platter.
• Place breakfast fixings in conspicuous places: Keep the cereal on the lower shelf in the pantry for younger kids to have easy access and place fruit bowls over the kitchen counter or on the dining table for anyone to grab a fruit on-the-go.
• Set an example: When parents start to eat their breakfast regularly, kids automatically follow suit. The good results of breakfast on your kids can come your way too, including better weight management.

Get Creative with Breakfast Menus

1.    Banana Dog: Use peanut butter, almond butter or mashed avocado spread on a whole-wheat hot dog bun. Peel a banana and place it inside the bun. Eat it like a hot dog. You can pair this up with a low-fat or fat-free milk.

2.    Pizza Parathas: Use the previous night’s leftover wheat dough to prepare stuffed parathas using veggie stuffing and cut them out into mini triangles to bring on the feel of a pizza.

3.    Uthappam: Make uthappams (fluffy rice dosa) and top them with your kid’s favorite veggies, fruits or nuts. Toppings can be tomatoes, onions, pineapples, raisins, almonds or anything of your choice.

4.    Trail Mix: Trail Mix are healthy, tasty and simple to make. Use whole-grain cereal, shelled pistachios and a dried fruit (apricots, pineapples, mangoes or berries) of your choice. Combine it with a glass of low-fat or fat-free yogurt or milk.