Consumer Report has released a report about the nutrition of cereals.

Here is what they reported:

• that some of the most sugary cereals, over 40% and over 50% in sugar, are heavily marketing to kids

Are we surprised to find that the high sugar foods are marketing to kids? Please. All you have to do is what in a grocery store and see the cereals that are eye level to know. Look at a box and

• read the sugar content per bowl of cereal
• read the ingredients and see what is first or second. (FYI: Ingredients are listed in order of amount. First item is the biggest item in the food)

finally, just turn on the kids channel and see what foods are being advertised. We aren’t surprised. What we need to know is how do we combat it. How do we get our kids to choose the healthier cereal? The one with more fiber and less sugar.

Well, a great deal is really in your control. You and your child could be sleuths when you enter the cereal aisle. Take a little time to read the labels and compromise on a tasty buy healthy cereal. They are out there. Probably on bottom or way up top.

Here is a great tutorial on reading food labels, one for parents, and a food label game for kids.

A great deal of children get their fruit servings from juice. While 100% juice is good and full of vitamins, the problem is there is a lot of sugar. And your child could be getting the same servings with so much less calories.

I know. Can’t we just be happy that they are getting fruit in their diet. Yes….and No. Sugar is just lurking in those juices and you might be surprised if you read the label. Combine that with the sugar they are probably getting from the cereal, and well, you wouldn’t give them candy for breakfast. But guess what, combining the sugar from cereal and juice and they are getting as much as they would if you gave them candy.

Here is a way to move your child from drinking their fruit to eating their fruit.

• First, be patient, change takes time.
• Limit the juice, pour the small glass and put the juice back in the fridge. Out of sight, out of mind.
• Start diluting the juice with some water. You will be surprised how sweet the juice will taste after a week.
• Put cut up, peeled fruit, bite size on table for them to snack on
• Less juice, more fresh fruit options

Mondays are a great day to renew Family Health vows. Every Monday, you will find some healthy tip to help your family start the week off on a Healthy Note!

Don’t let your kids run on empty! Kids who skip breakfast don’t save calories – they feel sluggish and can actually end up gaining weight. A breakfast with good carbs and some protein gives your child the fuel for a clear head read to learn and be active. Try a high-fiber/low-sugar cereal with nonfat milk and a serving of fruit.

Resources:
Printable: Healthy Family- Kids Breakfast Tips (PDF)
Healthy Monday Tips

Mondays are a great day to renew Family Health vows. Every Monday, you will find some healthy tip to help your family start the week off on a Healthy Note!

Set your child up for a successful school week, by making sure they eat breakfast everyday!

I know I have talked a lot about breakfast. But just in case I haven’t quite convinced you, here is some more Breakfast Facts:

People who eat breakfast are also more likely to:

• Develop life-long healthy eating habits
• Miss less school
• Score higher on tests
• Get better grades
• Avoid bad moods
• Maintain a healthy weight
• Develop life-long healthy eating habits

For more tips click to read our nutrition newsletter: healthy breakfast tips

More Healthy Monday Tips

Phelps was certainly one of my favorites from the Olympics and thought a great example for kids. But lately there has been a great deal of controversy following his decision to endorse Frosted Flakes. He will be appearing on their box in the next week or so. This was chosen over the traditional Wheaties box where famous athletes have appeared for as long as I can remember. I can’t speak for what his motivation was to choose Frosted Flakes over a more nutrition high fiber cereal but one can easily imagine…$$$.

But let’s focus on the kids. Should we parents be worried as we look for quick and nutritious breakfasts to feed the kids before they rush out the door. With school here, breakfast is even more important for children. Will this latest marketing move make it even harder to say “no or not today, you had that yesterday” to the kids? Will kids get a message that great champions eat high sugar cereals? Will they make the correlation that in order for them to achieve greatness they need Frosted Flakes? Lots of concern from the healthcare community that this is one more message that will not help the growing childhood obesity problem we face.

He is and will be a great legend for years to come for children all around the world. So, like it or not, he is a role model. But, we parents are role models also. And we parents have a great deal of influence over our children, much more than the box of cereal with Phelps picture.

I think first of all, Phelps does a heck of a lot of exercise and burns thousands of calories a day. So one important message to kids is that you can eat more of this higher sugar foods if they are so active that their body will burn it off. I think this offers a great opportunity for parents to talk about the balance between energy in and energy out. We won’t burn calories the way he does, so we need to be more selective so that we get the calories we need but also all the different foods we need…like fruits, vegetables, whole grains and protein and milk products.

All things in moderation is another topic for discussion. Frosted Flakes once in a while is fine, let’s face it, it does taste good. I enjoy the occasional bowl myself. But not everyday.

One last comment on marketing, we need the high fiber healthier breakfast cereals to make their cereals more fun, add a character and make it tastier. These cereals are not marketing to kids, they are marketing to the health oriented adult. I read one nutritionist disappointed that Phelps wasn’t on Fiber One. Well, even if he was on Fiber One, I don’t think it would draw kids to eat. We always see the “slam” on the high fat, high sugar companies but what about the health oriented companies. Are they making the foods fun? What are they doing to reach out to the kids?

Here are some tips for a healthy Back to School Breakfast:

A nutritious breakfast includes foods from at least three of the five food groups:

• Fruit group; fresh whole fruit such as bananas, apples, oranges. Sliced fruit which can be added to cereal, yogurt or oatmeal.
• Vegetables group; 100% vegetable juice, or mushrooms, asparagus, or green peppers in an omelet.
• Grains group; whole-grain breads, dry cereal, bagels, english muffins, flour tortillas, rice.
• Milk group; low fat or fat free milk, yogurt or cheese. If your child is lactose intolerant, choose lactose-free products that still have the calcium and other nutrients needed.
• Meat and beans group; eggs, lean meat, peanut butter, beans.

Traditional and non-traditional breakfast ideas:

• Whole grain cereal with fruit and low fat milk
• Oatmeal with raisins and low fat milk
• Waffles, turkey bacon and fruit juice
• Whole wheat bagel with cheese or peanut butter
• Breakfast burrito: scrambled eggs, cheese and veggies wrapped in a flour tortilla
• Grilled low-fat cheese sandwich and juice
• Turkey sandwich and a cup of low fat milk
• Rice bowl with chicken and vegetables on top

Nutrition tools

Click here to try our online healthy meal planner nutrition tool for parents- create balanced meals from the food groups!

Click here for our matching nutrition tools for kids- ‘build a healthy meal’  fun and educational tool.

It is back to school time. The summer sure passed by fast!

This may not be new news but certainly worth reminding. I know already blogged about this but here is a new statistic released by the American Dietitic Association

40% of girl and 32% of boys who are school age, skip breakfast on a regular basis

So I think we may need to hear this message again. ‘Cause that is a lot of boys and girls.

Eating breakfast is first and foremost extremely important. It gives your child the necessary fuel that the brain needs to concentrate, absorb information and retain information. …that means better learning, better test scores, better grades.

According to a study done by Boys Town Pediatrics in Nebraska:
– providing energy needed to start the day
– eliminating hunger symptoms such as headache, fatigue and restlessness
– helping them to think faster and to respond more clearly to teacher
questions
– increase mental performance
– making them less likely to be irritable
– causing them to be calmer and less anxious

It makes sense. Children’s last meal is usually 9 or more hours. By the time they wake up their fuel from the previous day’s snack or meal is now used up by the body. Kids are growing so that makes their bodies very different than us adults. They need fuel to not only function but also to grow; every organ, tissue, cell is changing and growing. The brain can only use glucose for fuel. That means any food eaten has to be broken down or transformed into this fuel source so the brain can use it. Breaking down food uses up energy so these kids bodies are in a high state of work all the time!

So, help them off to a good school year with a healthy breakfast. To read more on breakfast, here is an article written by our dietitian.

In general,

• try to have at least 3 food groups represented in the breakfast.
• Look for high fiber cereals, 4+ grams
• include fruit and of course low fat or non fat milk (milk products)

According to a study done at Ulm Unversity, skipping breakfast not only affects children’s ability to stay alert during school but actually may affect boys and girls differently.

Here is what the study found after looking at 104 boarding schools students aged 13 to 20:

• all children reported feeling more alert during testing
• boys reported being in a better mood
• Boys scored better on visuospatial memory

Well the key message is that breakfast is important. Despite the craziness of the morning and everyone getting ready for school and work, we need to make time for breakfast. It will help kids be more alert and help with their memory. Many schools have breakfast programs if you don’t have to time to make it, but you gotta get to school early enough so that they have time to eat their breakfast.

So either way, it means getting up a half an hour earlier so Breakfast is a “must” for the day.

For some helpful breakfast tips, read our Article: Tips for Kids Healthy Breakfasts written by a mother and dietitian.

Children that are skipping breakfast can be headed to all sorts of problems in school.

We talk about this in our Breakfast article in our April newsletter, but this article is a good reinforcement that breakfast is important. It cites the American Medical Association reporting that kids who skip breakfast have:

• trouble with concentration
• hungrier kids have lower math scores
• hungry kids are more likely to have behavioral, emotional and academic problems
• are hungrier earlier (yeah, they haven’t eaten yet!)
• tend to overeat at lunchtime

But this is interesting, at least I thought it was, another study showed that kids who ate high sugar (they refer to it as “fast-release sugar”) breakfasts, like a doughnut- ate more calories at lunch than kids who ate a healthy breakfast.

When you think about it, it makes sense. The brain needs fuel to think. The brain also controls our behavior and emotions. After sleeping all night and doing some growing… well there is not much fuel in those little tanks. That is why kids really need to have breakfast. It really is that important.

So, if your kid is still skipping breakfast, it’s time to step in and work to begin changing their attitudes and habits. Remember, small steps are okay so be patient.

We have a breakfast agreement and tracking tool that you can use. Keep it positive; keep it fun. Change takes time. Okay, I’m done.