The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vegan Eating for Kids - M.s.j., Dana Villamagna [59]
Chapter 12
Breakfasts They’ll Wake Up For
In This Chapter
◆ The importance of breakfast
◆ Fast breakfasts to jump-start their day
◆ Slowing down for a vegan brunch
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day whether your child is vegan or not, because after about 12 hours without food, growing bodies need fuel. But before you start to worry about what you can serve your vegan child when the “usual” eggs, bacon, and pancakes are out of the picture, relax. In this chapter, we give you ideas and recipes for lots of vegan kid-friendly breakfast favorites.
It’s estimated that as many as 48 percent of American girls and 32 percent of boys don’t eat breakfast every day. For most families, it simply comes down to having no time to sit and eat before rushing out the door to before school practices and early morning meetings. In the following pages, we share some ideas for nutritious breakfasts on the run. And for mornings when you have more time, check out our delicious family brunch suggestions. And don’t forget breakfast for dinner every once in a while can make for easy evening meals and fun family memories.
The Most Important Meal of the Day
Wake up and smell the coffee! Breakfast is crucial to a healthful lifestyle for all kids and adults. Skipping breakfast has been strongly linked to the development of obesity, and studies show that overweight and obese children, adolescents, and adults are less likely to eat breakfast than their thinner counterparts.
Kids who don’t eat a healthful breakfast each morning tend to pull lower test scores, and understandably so. It’s hard to concentrate when you’re hungry, and kids who don’t eat breakfast will be hungry. Some breakfast skippers also have behavioral problems in school. Many kids who start the day with nutrient deficits never make up for them in later meals of the day.
Even if your child does eat breakfast, it must be healthful to be effective. If the food he eats first thing in the morning is full of sugar and low on protein and complex carbs, like doughnuts, his blood sugar will take a nasty swing, his mood will likely swing right along with it, and he’ll be hungry again within hours. So prepare in advance. Plan breakfast the night before. Choose a few breakfast options at the grocery store that you can make the night before, pack in a paper bag, and eat in the car on those really harried mornings.
Parent Trap
Don’t rely on the school breakfast option to give your child a healthful morning meal on a regular basis. Even if it may be better than no breakfast at all, many of the at-school breakfast programs pack a sugar punch, with cinnamon rolls and other sugary breakfast “treats.”
If your child doesn’t like to eat breakfast, he still needs to do so. Wake him up earlier, and encourage a shower and maybe a walk with the dog to help wake up his body before breakfast. Maybe he just dislikes breakfast foods, so offer a more traditionally lunch or dinner food at breakfast. If all else fails, toss a vegan snack bar at your child as he leaves for school. He can nibble on it as he enters school or between classes. Younger kids typically have a snack time in the morning at school, so pack a big, calorie- and nutrient-dense one if he doesn’t currently chow down at home in the morning.
Quick Starts
As parents ourselves, we hear you. You want (some might say need!) some speedy breakfasts for those mornings when your child is barely out of his pajamas 15 minutes before the school bell rings. We’ve got you covered.
Smoothies are the fastest, healthiest way to start the day quickly! If you have a blender, homemade fruit smoothies are as vegan, homemade, natural, healthful, and transportable as you can get in less than 5 minutes. Adding extras like flaxseed oil, protein powder, silken tofu, vegan yogurt, or peanut or other nut butters can boost the nutrient benefits