Avoiding UPFs at breakfast

[Ayechinnyreckon]

After breakfast we eat virtually no UPFs but the kids breakfast is a huge issue.

They wake early and are hungry. They're 9&6 so can be trusted to go downstairs, get themselves some cereal and occupy themselves in the morning until we get up.

They eat cereal and pastries mainly until we get up and make a more substantial breakfast if they want it) 90mins - 2 hours later.

AIBU to want quick and easy breakfast that the DC can get themselves? So I don't have to get up at 5.30!

Whilst I have no desire to swallow the bullshit pill of artisan sourdough baked by some bearded layabout called Josh, I do think UPFs, i.e. food with a lot of chemicals, preservatives, additives and e-numbers are generally bad for you.

Tortilla is nice hot or cold, I've read through the thread and still can't work out why you've not got a toaster? Do they like toast? Brown toast with peanut butter & banana?

Personally I'd let them crack in with what is working but slowly introduce more healthier cereals

I agree, my DD gives her children snacks if they feel hungry, so then they’re not so ready for their next meal, eat less and ask for snacks again later. Many snacks are appealing food such as biscuits, crisps, muffins or similar, calorie-rich but not good in terms of what they add in nutrition. My kids could have wholemeal toast when they came home from school and were hungry for supper.
My GC are very slim but I wouldn’t say their diet was as good nutritionally as it could be. I don’t discuss DD’s choices with her, they’re her children.

@Ayechinnyreckon

but couldn’t they wait until you and your husband get up and you can all eat breakfast together at 7.30am or something? Rather than eating as soon as they get up at 5.30am, it’s practically the middle of the night to be eating!

Why is 'it won't ruin your life' your standard?

Genuinely, if you were feeding kids today and the science was telling you option A is a much healthier choice than option B, you'd choose option B anyway because 'it won't ruin their lives?'

Again, why is this thread full of people trying to convince the OP not to go with the better choice? I mean, you do you, but why try to drag other people down with you?

I‘m kind of missing the point but just don’t let them get up at 5.30am. That’s the middle of the night in our house. Choose an acceptable time - say 7 and you all get up at that time and then you can make them one decent breakfast.

And them eating at 5.30am is reinforcing the early waking as that meal time will affect circadian rhythms. You’re focusing on the wrong thing here OP. You all get up at 7 or whenever works for you. They are not toddlers.

I'm not focusing on the wrong thing.

We have done lots of work to get DC1 to sleep later and it doesn't work. And that has included not letting him eat until we all get up.

I didn't ask for help in stopping my kids getting up at 5.30. I asked for breakfast ideas.

Ok I’ve reread about the sleep issues. But the problem is the 2 breakfasts (one healthy one together later is ideal). All the ideas are good and healthy and you know better than us. But will they really go from sugary cereals and pastries to a couple of cold hard boiled eggs and some spinach?

Hopefully some of the suggestions will work. But eating at 5.30am isn’t ideal.

OP has said in a couple of posts that she didn’t grow up with a toaster and it never occurred to her to get one, but given all the suggestions here for quick meals involving toast she would probably buy one. It’s not deep.

I joined a UPF-free Facebook group but had to leave it as people were treating it like some sort of religious observance.

Whether or not a food was technically UPF-free seemed to be the only yardstick they cared about - so a ham sandwich on white bread was an ideal lunch as long as it was sourdough with sulphite-free ham. But you could be cast out for eating a multigrain crisp-bread with shop-bought humus..

You can make crisps at home. Correction your 12 year old is old enough to make home made crisps.

He don't need to deep fry them, he can bake them in the oven or in an air fryer.

I don’t get what’s not substantial enough about fruit if they’re getting something else when you get up.

As an adult I never find fruit in any way satisfying or satiating. God knows why people think its a good snack

Just packed my snacks for work, chunks of cheese and nuts. My lunch is my home made braised red cabbage, some slow cooked chicken and roasted cauliflower. All the protein and the highly flavoured veg (theres lots of spices on the cauliflower) keeps me full up

An apple just wouldnt cut it.

I think a banana at 5.30 would put you on until a substantial breakfast at 7ish. And much better to do it that way rather than have cereals and pastries at 5.30am then not be hungry for anything healthy and filing at 7am.

They shouldn’t really be hungry at 5.30am even if that’s when they like to get up. Maybe something before bed would work to delay breakfast.

@Ayechinnyreckon

what about this Op? The kids have a banana at 5.30am then a more substantial breakfast later on when you and your partner are up and about?

Of course, but my point is that there’s compromise and some shop bought choices are better than others.

Also, my son doesn’t want to go to school with homemade crisps lol peer pressure is real!

"Honestly we all grew up eating Coco pops, frosties, and pop tarts and we are perfectly healthy almost 50 something's."

Who is 'we all'. Not the average British 50 something!

I am worried about the increase in cancer (particularly colon) in the under 50s. It’s very complicated but I don’t think the fact we were the first generation to grow up with convenience food with loads of crap in it has helped. I know some people had home cooked meals but some of us were brought up on Frosties and crispy pancakes. I’m trying to undo the damage now!

And hasn’t there been an increase in allergies, gut issues and cancers?