Cereal alone doesn’t cut it: Fueling kids with a better breakfast

Author: Lori S Brizee MS, RDN, LD, CDE
Lori provides nutrition consultation in the office of Erika Beard-Irvine MD Pediatrics. Patients can come from any provider--they do not need to be followed by Dr Beard-Irvine.

Breakfast just doesn’t fit into our busy schedules!
Does this sound like you?
You’re running late for work or school, and your kids are meandering around the house with one shoe on. They don’t get your need for them to get moving! It’s all you can do to get half bowl of cereal down them before you run out of the door.

The typical breakfast of a bowl of cereal with milk and maybe a little fruit just doesn’t cut it!  We all need more calories, as well as more protein, high fiber carbohydrates and fat to fuel ourselves for the day. Kids who eat a complete meal for breakfast will do better at school in the morning. An elementary aged child needs 400 to 600 calories and at least 10 gm protein. A teenager, depending on size and activity level, will need anywhere from 500-1000 calories and 15-30 gm protein. Eating a relatively high protein and fat breakfast will help your child stay full until lunch time.

1 cup Cheerios with 1/2 cup 2% milk: 160 calories and 7 gm protein is not enough fuel for any child! Add a piece of fruit and 1/2 English muffin with 1 Tbsp peanut butter to bring this up to about 410 calories and 12-13 gm protein. 

If you are like most parents, you need some very quick and easy breakfast ideas for those busy mornings! Our goal is to have a whole grain or other high fiber starch, protein, and vegetable and/or fruit. Think outside the box; breakfast doesn’t have to be made from traditional breakfast foods.

​​Read on to get some good ideas for healthy breakfasts on busy mornings!

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