By Haley Bridges
When your morning routine involves not only preparing yourself for the day but your family as well it can make the mornings hectic and rushed. Sometimes it might even be hard to get your kids to eat breakfast and the easy way out is to just hand them a piece of toast or a glass of juice and rush out the door. However breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day and making sure your children eat breakfast is not only vital for their health but it also affects their learning ability.
The Good: There are many options out there for breakfast that are nutritious and delicious! From healthy cereals to yogurt and fruit there are an endless number of options to present your children with in the morning. One of the many good things about children eating their breakfast is that they will be getting the nutrients they need to jumpstart their brain. The nutrients kids get from eating breakfast will give them the energy they need and it will improve their cognitive functioning. In other words it will help them to process thoughts better, it will help their listening skills and improve their memory.
The Bad: If breakfast is skipped children will need a longer time to wake up their brains and bodies, which means they will not be ready to learn by the time they get to school. This will then lead to a lower performance in school and less energy throughout the day.
The Breakfast: There are six main nutrients that are consumed during breakfast: Vitamin A, Calcium, Vitamin C, Riboflavin, Zinc and Iron. These nutrients are apart of the recommended intake that should be consumed during the day and those who eat breakfast will most likely have a higher percent of these in their bodies than those who do not eat breakfast.
So take the time to make sure your children eat breakfast. It will not only help their growing bodies get the nutrients they need but they will also be performing better in school. If your morning is slammed and making breakfast will not work for you then do it the night before or on Sunday make breakfast for the whole week, whatever works best for your schedule. If you are not sure where to start here is a quick healthy breakfast you can try!
Baked Banana and Strawberry Oatmeal
Ingredients
- 1 banana, mashed
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1 egg, beaten
- ½ Tsp. vanilla
- 1/2 cup fat free milk
- ½ Tsp. baking soda
- ½ Tsp. of cinnamon
- 6 strawberries
1. Combine all of the dry ingredients together, rolled oats, baking soda and cinnamon, in a bowl.
2. Mash the banana in a separate bowl and then add the rest of the wet ingredients together.
3. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and slowly mix them together. Be careful not to over stir.
4. Get a small, 8 inch, square baking dish, put some wax paper at the bottom so its easy clean up, and spread the mixture into the pan.
5. Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes. Add the strawberry slices on the top once it is done baking.
*The best thing about this recipe is that you can use any fruit you like, it is very interchangeable and you can add nuts or different fruits on the top once it is done baking.