to think nesquick whole grain cereal, fat free milk and no added sugar juice is relatively healthy for a fussy eater

[twistedsista]

Hi,

My 7 year old Ds is a very fussy eater, tried everything!

I would love it if he would eat kale with cottage cheese on rice cakes for breakfast but get real no child eats perfectly like that.

Today he had a normal sized bowl of whole grain nesquick cereal with skimmed milk.I know it has some sugar in it but its only about the same as a banana and to counter this he has a glass of sugar free orange squash. Both the cereal and juice have added vitamins. Does everyone else agree this is pretty healthy and realistic breakfast?

Thanks

Marie

If I can see it, eat it, and digest it, it's real food....

I have a box of Special K on my bookshelf at work, it's been there 4mths now. I've had one bowl. I just can't bring myself to like cereal, not sure why. I suppose I should throw it out. I eat a non flavoured greek yoghurt for breakfast with a spoon of sugar in it . I think I'd prefer european style breakfasts, more savoury with cheese and hams and what not. I can't be faffing with that at 5am though.

My kids have whatever they can fix themselves for breakfast whilst I'm in the shower. Dd leaves the house at 7.30am before I've even gone downstairs.

It's usually granola, yoghurt, milk or toast but now she's getting older she sometimes does herself beans on toast.

Ds is always cereal & yoghurt.

No point putting sugar on Weetabix unless it's thick enough to crunch. Two dessertspoons per Weetabix or none at all. Two teaspoons in a whole bowl would be revolting.

Takes about 2 minutes to cook omlets though

I bet you can hoover the house in 5 minutes too.

Shit mother alert, I can't do either!

I've got into nut butters lately for the DCs.
I think they're quite good on a bit of toast or bread.

Pmsl cabage

Royal - that's exactly what we do have, every day. Swedish/Norwegian style, meat, (raw) cheese, a handful of berries, leaves(watercress or baby spinach usually) or a few nuts... No cooking involved, it's as fast as pouring a bowl of cereal and it's tasty and nutrient dense.

It's just different, takes a little bit of getting used to but it doesn't actually take any longer...

What is Swedish style meat?

There's a comma betiween Swedish style and meat there, Cheerful - I think Swedish style was referring to the whole breakfast!

Unless your child has stopped growing in all directions and is no longer building nerves, cells and bones, he needs fat. Low fat is an absolute waste of time for your child - our cell membranes are all made up from fatty acids and cholesterol, so limiting those too far in his diet is going to have an impact on his proper growth. What he needs to lose weight is to reduce his refined carb and sugar intake, so knock the sugary cereal on the head if he's a bit "too chunky".

Yes Jadedangel
Cashew butter is lovely and soft. I like almond and hazelnut but the dcs find it a bit grainy I think. They're only small.

I am a full time working mother who manages by benign neglect. I really don't think a quick protein breakfast is at all hard to manage for children. How long does it take to boil an egg? However as I said above people need to work with what they can.60% are now over weight so if you feed children carbs and junk for breakfast you are the normal ones so no one is going to castigate you.

The worst thing we did for the nation's health 40 years ago was say good fats are bad. Good fats are very good for you old or young (as well as being a great way for the overweight to lose weight - eat good fat and get thin).

Agree with jane. A friend recently visited. She declined an avocado with lunch I was serving as said it was too many calories for her diet, so ate a weight watchers sugary cereal bar instead . That's just wrong. Avocado is a great fat like nuts, salmon etc that our body needs. How many calories is irrelevant, 4 spoons of sugar v hand of nuts will be less calories but will make you gain weight more

Proteins are expensive,we save ours for lunch and tea,we eat very little meat.We have a balanced diet.A non protein breakfast as part of a balanced day is absolutely fine.

I'm with you retro.

Would just add that high protein diets have their own negatives eg cancer,heart risks risk,less plant foods and more red meat,ketosis,enhanced work on the kidneys, and poorer concentration to name but a few.The brain likes a bit of glucose to run on.

It's all about balance which is why nutritional table tennis is pointless.

Cheerfulyank, that was "Swedish style breakfast" -comma- meat/cheese/berries. Not "Swedish style meat" iykwim!

I don't think 40 pence for a couple of eggs is expensive for a meal. I also don't think taking 2 minutes to make an omelette counts as 'cooking'.

A genuine question for the cereal eaters:

Do you spend all morning absolutely starving?

I do when you have a family of 5 and buy free range,don't eat vast quantities of meat so use eggs in a lot of other things.

A dozen has to last us a week for all meals.A box of cereal and w/m toast goes further.

Cheese is expensive too.Don't want my kids eating vast amounts of red meat(which is expensive) or too much protein at breakfast anyway,it has been proved to hinder concentration.They may have the odd boiled egg mid week and roasted toms,mushrooms,bacon and soda bread in olive oil at the weekend for a treat now and again.

Happy with our handful of a Weetabix,milk,toast butter and fruit for the maj of the time.It's a balanced breakfast which plays a crucial role in their daily diet as a whole.

2 minutes to make an omelette? Wow your quick.

I like my almost set omelette to go in the top oven of the Aga for 7 minutes so it is nicely risen.

How much does cereal and milk cost? Cereal can be bloody expensive.

Real portion sizes, not 30g, that wouldn't feed anyone but a toddler.

Why not just buy more eggs? You can get a box of free range for a pound from all supermarkets.

We use about 2 dozen eggs a week in our house and there's just me and DP. We spend less than a fiver a week on eggs, but barely a penny on cereal.

Err

1)I don't want to thanks as I'm happy with my choice

2. We'd get through £2 worth a day of eggs for breakfast alone if my dc wanted to eat 2 eggs a day which they wouldn't,cereal goes further and we're happy with small portions supplemented with toast and fruit(we all like variety)

3. I don't want high protein breakfasts thanks,I like my kids to poo and have good concentration

4. we're happy with our balanced breakfast as part of a healthy balanced daily diet.

The brain does indeed run on glucose- that doesn't meant you need to eat sugar (or any high carb manufactured food). The body synthesises what it needs from protein and fat even if you ate 0% carb (which I'm not suggesting!!).

Protein is expensive, but many very good sources of protein and nutrients are not too expensive - eggs, cheese (if you eat dairy), liver and other organ meats, frozen newzealand lamb etc.

A whole chicken, even a free range organic one at around £12 roasted and then jointed up for breakfast/lunch meat to eat cold will cost less per portion than buying cold meats from the supermarket (which almost alway have a long list of additives and sugar in them).

Nuts are good too if you have no allergy issues with them.

Jane, I'm assuming by "good fats" you mean the fats that occur naturally on and in animal products, nuts and avocado, and not heat/chemically processed, structurally altered seed "veg" oils...

Associations between animal products and disease are exactly that - association. Which is not causation. On closer examination these studies rarely say anything like what the headline writers suggest and the association is tied in with consumption of processed meat products, high processed carbohydrate consumption and the use of growth hormones in farming. The studies are often looking at American diet, the growth hormones that are widespread there are banned across the whole of Europe. It's complex.
People eating, for example, a veggie diet might be healthier not because they are eating fewer animal products, but because being veggie is a marker for other life style changes (ie eat lots of unprocessed leaves bad veg, exercise more, avoid processed foods full of synthetic additives).

The book "death by food pyramid" by Denise Minger is a very interesting read about this whole subject - and about the manipulation of us, the consumer, for political (rather than health) reasons.

To sum up "Eat Real Food".
Unfortunately about 80% of the stuff in our supermarkets isn't real food, it's processed, extruded food-like carbohydrate things (cereals, crisps, biscuits take up most of the shelf space). Mutters ....it's The Wheat Industrial Complex...

Steps down from soap box and runs away