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Feature Articles: Eating Well
Breakfast of Champions – not just for the few!Alma Hopkins, M.Ed, R.D., L.D.,
Associate State Specialist,
Nutritional Sciences, |
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Calling all children! Calling all children! Children: Eat breakfast everyday so you can do well in school!
There is a lot of evidence that suggests skipping breakfast makes for a “hard day at the office” if you will. The primary source of fuel for the brain is known as blood sugar or blood glucose. Blood glucose feeds the brain a fresh supply of fuel especially after fasting (or sleeping) through the night. Without a fresh supply of blood glucose to start the day, our children pay the price at school.
Recently, a study was released by Harvard Medical School on the effects of eating breakfast or skipping it on the performance of attention tests by 4000 elementary school children. Short-term memory was tested by asking children to repeat a series of digits out loud – 5, 4, 2 and so on – after they were read to them. The children were scored on how many digits they could remember correctly. In another test, the children were asked to name all the animals they could think of in 60 seconds. Across the board, breakfast eaters performed better than those children who had skipped breakfast.
So if there is little to argue about how important breakfast is, does it matter what the children eat at breakfast?
The answer is: Yes.
It is best to avoid heavily sweetened cereals. Why? Aside from running a risk of dental caries and the affinity to “anything sweet” throughout the day, sugary cereals have a high glycemic index. The glycemic index is a measure of how quickly the carbohydrates in the food are absorbed into the body and converted to fuel. Merriam Webster defines glycemic as the “presence of glucose in the blood”. Sugar in cereals get into the body quickly and cause a peak in blood glucose. But then the blood levels fall dramatically after two hours or so.
So when it comes to sustaining brain power, foods that have a low glycemic index or lower chance of “peak and flow” are the way to go! Oatmeal comes to mind. Oatmeal is absorbed slowly because of the more fiber and slightly more protein it contains. The result is a slower rise in blood sugar and sustained energy to last through the morning. This sustained energy keeps our children from becoming irritable, fatigued or moody and has better chance of carrying them up to lunch time.
But let us not stop only with what is good for our children.
Adults (yes, I am talking to you!) heed this: Eating breakfast
does an adult good too – for all of the above reasons plus it
keeps you trim! A study, in which close to 3,000 people in the
National Weight Control Registry, www.nwcr.ws, have lost 70 lbs
of weight and kept it off for an average of 6 years, found that
eating breakfast every day was a weight control strategy for 78%
of the people in the registry. People who kept off weight
long-term also reported eating a low-fat diet and exercising for
an hour or more each day.
So, here is salute to good ole Breakfast! Take a look at the healthful breakfast choices to you and your child’s liking:
- Whole-wheat or whole-grain toast or whole-wheat English
muffin or whole-grain waffle topped with peanut butter or
honey.
- Whole-wheat tortilla or pita pocket with scrambled egg
with or without salsa.
- Whole-grain toast with melted low-fat cheese and tomato.
- Whole-grain cereals, hot or cold, with low-fat milk or
yogurt. Look for at least 2 grams of dietary fiber per
serving.
- Top cereals with choice of granola, fresh or dried fruit, add milk or yogurt and voila!
Last update: Thursday, January 11, 2007
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