Skip Breakfast – at your peril
Making time for a nutritious breakfast can be a challenge.
Take a look at the research around the importance of breakfast for yourself and your kids. Ensure you include Super Foods in your breakfast menu.
Benefits of breakfast
What if you could give your children a magic pill in the morning to make them healthy, smart and well-behaved? This pill would undoubtedly be flying off the shelf of the local pharmacy. While there is no such medication, there is something just as powerful: breakfast. Consumption of this morning meal is one of the most important things a child does all day. Over 30 years of credible research has proven that a healthy breakfast positively impacts brain function and energy level, which is extremely important for school-aged children.
Here are some of the benefits:
Better behavior. Children who skip breakfast are more tired, irritable, or restless by late morning. These symptoms lead to aggressive behavior that causes children to get in trouble in school. Children who regularly eat a morning meal have more energy, are less likely to exhibit aggressive behavior, and have a better attitude toward school.
Higher test scores. A study published in 1998 in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine showed significantly higher math test scores after children ate breakfast. This and other research has clearly shown that children who consistently eat breakfast test higher in most academic areas.
Better class attendance. Children who eat breakfast are absent from school fewer days. They also spend less time in the nurse’s office complaining of stomach pains. Ironic as it may be, children who claim they don’t eat breakfast due to a lack of time in the morning are tardy more often than those who take time for a morning meal.
More nutritious intake. Breakfast eaters generally meet vitamin and mineral requirements for prevention of deficiencies. They consume more fiber, vitamin C, calcium and folic acid. Unfortunately, children who miss breakfast do not make up for lost nutrients later in the day.
Weight control. Eating breakfast helps to establish a normal eating pattern. Eating regular meals and snacks is a key to maintaining a healthy weight throughout life. Increasing childhood obesity is in part attributed to the disappearance of normal eating patterns in many of today’s households.
Source: Erica Lesperance, RD, LD, Diet Channel
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