teens need a good breakfast everyday
A recent article in Today’s Diet & Nutrition by Heidi Reichenbacher McIndoo, MS, RD, LDN noted young people between 12 and 19 years old were skipping breakfast 30% of the time. The problem gets worse as they get older. By setting the habit of not eating breakfast so early, they set themselves up for poor eating habits as they get older, too. “If teens are skipping breakfast and gaining weight now, later in life it will be harder to instill healthy habits and maintain a healthy body weight,” warns Victoria Shanta Retelny, RD, LD, president of LivingWell Communications, a nutrition consulting company in Chicago.
Fiber and vitamins are important in anyone’s diet, especially teens’, and those who skip don’t get nearly enough. Additionally, those who eat breakfast regularly have more energy to get them through the day and they perform better in school and can concentrate better, McIndoo reports. They get better grades as a result.
Breakfast not only does them good, but skipping breakfast does them harm. The Journal of Pediatrics reports that there is a direct correlation between how often a teen skips and body weight. There are many reasons why teens skip, but significantly, among girls, the reason often given is because they are dieting. Eating their breakfast is better for them in this area than skipping.
There are other reasons why teens skip. “They may be modeling their parents who drink coffee and skip the food,” says Kate Geagan, RD, author of the forthcoming book Go Green Get Lean: Trim Your Waistline With the Ultimate Low-Carbon Footprint Diet. Lack of time is an excuse for many, whether it’s a result of over-scheduling or going to bed late and oversleeping.
Geagan has suggestions for parents. “Talk with your kids; come up with solutions together.” Part of the discussion must include an understanding from the teen about how eating or not eating in the morning affects their performance in school and sports, their energy levels, and their hunger later in the day. They must see a value in eating breakfast.
After they understand and commit to eating breakfast everyday, the parents must work with them to come up with quick and easy meals that will fit their busy lifestyle. Sometimes, the parent must be open to thinking outside the box. The idea is to get good healthy food into them any way possible whether its traditional or a little odd.
Geagan’s ideas include the following:
- Scrambled egg in a pita with cheese or salsa.
- Granola to go: a Ziploc baggie filled with nuts, dried fruit, whole grain cereal, and some chocolate chips, which is great for those who just can’t eat first thing in the morning.
- Homemade muffin sandwiches: a fried egg on toast with cheese, Canadian bacon, and perhaps sliced avocado or tomato.
- Prepare instant oatmeal packets in the microwave with low-fat milk and add a handful of dried or frozen fruit.
- Spread peanut butter on a whole grain tortilla and wrap it around a banana.
- Yogurt sundaes: mix low-fat yogurt with fresh berries and nuts or granola.
- A hard-boiled egg and a glass of orange juice
There should be real involvement with the entire family on getting that morning meal into the teen and the teen out the door well-fed. McInddo suggested:
- Make breakfast a part of the family routine. This may be hard if it’s never been before, but make a commitment for three weeks, every day, and it will have a better chance of becoming a habit.
- Be sure you always have a variety of breakfast foods in the house. That means planning breakfast with the teen. If the food is not to their liking, they won’t eat it. (If you have been reading my posts, you will know my next thing – No Pop-Tarts!)
- Encourage your teens to get to bed and get up earlier and to do as much prep work as possible the night before, such as boiling eggs or cutting fruits and veggies. Getting a teen up earlier is not something for the weak. Getting them up barely on time is a major task. If this is so in your house, night before prep may be your best bet.
- You can help by preparing some or all of a breakfast meal while your teens are getting ready, or everyone can work together to prepare breakfast to make things move even more quickly. That means you have to make the same major commitment, maybe even more so. You have to be the adult. It seems a thankless job now, but it should pay off, remember, in better grades and even a better attitude from the child.
Don’t forget to be a good role model by preparing and eating a morning meal yourself. Just say no to coffee and donut breakfasts. You may even discover that your waistline, job performance, and your attitude will improve.
Here are some other articles:
- About.com has a good article about getting your teen to eat breakfast.
- WebMD discusses the link between teen obesity and skipping breakfast.
- Parentdish even reports of a possible link between teens who don’t eat breakfast having sex at an earlier age than kids who do. I don’t know.A correlation does not necessarily mean that there is a connection, but it may be worthy of some attention.
