I recently received an notice from a school about putting together a healthy breakfast for the kids. The school wanted to have the kids bring in the following: Strawberries, Blueberries, Cantaloupe, Pineapple, Bananas, Grapes, and Watermelon. So far so good right?
Now here’s the kicker : The school also requested 1 gallon of chocolate milk, a tub of cream cheese, large bagels, small muffins, box of cereal. Are these really considered healthy breakfast items?
This is not a healthy breakfast! It’s sad that a school would be promoting such poor eating habits. Put these choices in front of a 10-14 year old what do you think they would choose?
Today, about one in three American kids and teens is overweight or obese.(1) . It is way too easy to eat poorly when junk food is everywhere (even in our schools.) Next time you’re in a school look into the vending machine. You will see chips, cookies, pop tarts, candy. The list goes on and on.
We as parents and our teachers/role models must start looking at ourselves and take the lead. Our brains are wired to like and crave high calorie foods. The choices we make are even more important because not only do we have to fight off those cravings, we also have to set an example of what type of food we should be fueling our body and mind with.
With that being said, this was a great opportunity for the teacher to lead and be creative. Setting up a blender and create a healthy smoothie with fruit , powdered protein , flax seeds and some healthy greens would have been something great to show the kids! There are so many tasty options out there that are also great for our health. There must be thousands if not millions of recipes for kids and adults online that could have been used. (2)
Healthy eating takes some effort and time. Your health and the health of your children are worth it.
If you have any questions or would like to start a healthy eating program, call the office!
We will help and show you a better way to eat.
2: http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/17989/drinks/smoothies/