| My
daughter is in the third grade, and it's a fight to get her up in
the morning. She's often so late she misses breakfast so she can
catch the bus. Will it hurt her to skip this meal? As
long as breakfast consists of fruit with a healthy cereal or multigrain
toast, it is the most important meal of the day for your child.
She needs the energy that these foods give to help her concentrate
and sustain good humor during the day. The most important thing
is that the cereal be low in fat and have no added sugar or salt.
It can be a simple hot cereal like oatmeal or a specially blended,
low fat granola from the health food store. Be aware that many
commercial granolas are very high in fat. However, there are some
new nonfat granolas showing up on supermarket shelves. Read the
labels carefully! The toast can be spread with a little no-sugar-added
fruit conserve. I recommend fruit instead of juice because of
the high concentration of sugar in fruit juice. Fruit, which is
about 90% water, has a fiber framework which slows down the absorption
of sugar in the child's system. I do understand that, for convenience,
juice is often the easiest choice. I would encourage children
and adults always to dilute it by half with water.
Obviously, I would
never suggest that breakfast, or any meal, include eggs, bacon
or sausage. These are greasy, high-fat foods that slow down the
digestive system and pull blood away from the brain and other
organs so it can work to digest the fat. Children who eat high-fat
meals can be very droopy and inattentive. When they eat lots of
sugar, they have to fight the emotional instability of high and
low blood sugar peaks.
In our culture,
mornings are usually a hectic time with family members all rushing
to work and school. This makes it difficult to sit down and have
a family meal. I remember a very well-known actress whose young
daughter was one of my patients. The mother came to me asking
for blood tests and x-rays because her child had chronic stomach
pains. When I inquired about the girl's breakfast, her mother
told me she usually ate in the car on the way to school. The child
was eating the proper food, but the meal was rushed and unsociable.
It wasn't a time to be together as a family. When this situation
was changed, the stomachaches stopped and the girl was fine.
Even if it means
getting up a little earlier, plan an extra 20 minutes when your
family can sit down together and get the day off to a great start
at least a few days each week. |
