It's a healthy breakfast thread!

[fuzzpig]

Really determined to finally ditch (or at least reduce) the cereal. The DCs only like really sugary/chocolatey stuff

I'm thinking of switching to cereal only at weekends.

DD (7) is fairly easy going and loves eggs, but DS (nearly 5) won't eat them. Well, he will eat a little bit, but only with dramatic sighs and eye rolling and I don't think it's worth the stress in the mornings.

He likes cheese on toast - decent wholemeal bread with seeds with either Red Leicester or cheddar. That's better than cereal right?

Not sure what else to do really. Neither will eat porridge no matter how I do it.

I like the idea of fruity pancakes and stuff but is that actually any better in terms of sugar?

Americas, I think I would be having a large G&T for breakfast if my DC got up at that hour. As it is, any breakfast preparation has to be fitted around chiselling children out of bed and then keeping them moving so that they are not still sat contemplating a pile of clothes an hour later..

We get up at 7.15 to leave for school at 8.30.
I our boiling water on porridge oats and by the time I've had my first tea they are soft and only need topping up with milk and zapping in the microwave.

I love all these ideas!!
We don't have cereals in our house, never had. But our breakfast are very boring compare to those listed: fried eggs for me, porridge for the dcs.

It makes me want to try other things :)

My kids make their own breakfast - the clear up afterwards is sometimes appalling but we persevere with teaching them to cook for themselves. I make the pancakes, because they still haven't got the knack. I quite enjoy as they eat as I cook, it's relaxing and chatty.

I had a steak salad for breakfast this morning! I always have some sort of salad, usually with leftover meat and at least 5 different types of veg.

DS has a dairy allergy so has peanut butter on toast or corn thins every morning followed by banana and sultanas. He drinks water.

The DDs love greek yoghurt, usually with honey but when they were younger they had it au natural. It's also lovely with stewed fruit. We've got gooseberries in the freezer - I might just have to stew some of them now! Their normal breakfast is porridge ready brek every day.

to put a stirring sppon amongst this thread.the cereals arent all that bad if the kids are getting balanced.we used to eat it as kiddies.and our generation are much bettwer off.why?because the rest of our meals were balanced too.good dinners with fruit and veg etc.so if they need to have the sugary stuff dont worry too much will you.there are worse things.

what about spaghetti hoops on toast.
a fun with is egg and soldiers.
toasting the muesli can make it lots more of a favourite ive found.and if it need some sweetness drizzle with honey.then we top it with some yoghut over fruit almost like a crumble for breakie.its a lovely breakie.
for the really hot days we have frozen yoghurts in the freezer.just stick one of their yoghurts in the freezer the night before than they have them with fruit.and sometimes we freeze some grapes too and they make delish little treats for when they are having a fussy morning.

grilled tomatos on toast they love sometimes plain sometimes with some sprinkled ham or cheese.

to put a stirring sppon amongst this thread.the cereals arent all that bad if the kids are getting balanced.we used to eat it as kiddies.and our generation are much bettwer off.why?because the rest of our meals were balanced too.good dinners with fruit and veg etc.so if they need to have the sugary stuff dont worry too much will you.there are worse things.

Interestingly we are not a healthy generation, we are more obese, have high rates of heart disease, diabetes, auto immune diseases etc. we are raising a generation of fat kids. I'm not blaming it all on cereal but to suggest we are a healthy generation is just plain wrong. Processed cereals are so devoid of nutrients they have to add vitamins and mineral back in again. And while there are many people who are happy to feed their kids cereal every day, many are not and this thread is for those who would like an alternative.

spilttheteaagain I'd like to be a toddler at your house that all sounds delicious...
Ive heard you can make banana pancakes (scotch / american size) using just mushed banana and eggs (maybe drizzle honey on top yum)
We've recently converted to eating these weekdays www.momafoods.co.uk/products/bircher-muesli/ very lazy but very yummy.

Most things have been said already but we have lots of fruit, yogurts and sometimes toasted teacakes or fruit loaf slices.

Yes to the eggs. And homemade milkshake is good.

I am properly surprised that so many people have this variety of food for breakfast. We only have cereal. I don't even make toast because kids normally have bread at lunchtime. They won't eat porridge, so it's usually weetabix/shredded wheat/Branflakes. Is it really so bad to just have cereal? Perhaps I should offer fruit/seeds/natural yoghurt to supplement?

We have a dairy, gluten and egg free toddler and mummy!

Either porridge, vegan pancakes, mixed nuts, or oat cakes is all we have time for but any other ideas very welcome!

DS and I are gluten dairy and soy free between us.

We have hash browns and scrambled eggs/ tomatoes/bacon.

Buckwheat pancakes with fruit

Chicken slices with boiled eggs.

Rice cakes with pate

Bananas, nuts and raisins

kateandme Sweet Poison and similar books are a good place to start in terms of understanding the long-term damage that a high-sugar, childhood diet can cause.

The I Quit Sugar website is also full of useful info.

I bought a waffle maker from Aldi a year or so back. At the weekend we have wholewheat blueberry waffles topped with more fruit (usually defrosted berries, banana or strawberry) and plain yoghurt or quark.

You can find some great low sugar waffle recipes online and make the batter the night before. A little goes a long way.

Congee? Curry and rice? Roti with curry sauce?

We needn't stick to traditional British "breakfast" foods- there is no breakfast police.

My kids enjoyed things like homemade lentil soup, noodles,or a portion of last night cottage pie heated up.

Really interesting thread. I know I'm a bit behind but I am just starting to learn about the effects of sugar and that good fats are better for you.

I would like to cut down on our family's sugar intake but at the moment it seems an impossible task. We all eat cereal for breakfast. My dds all have varying degrees of food fussiness and middle dd has sensory issues/dyspraxia which means her diet is very limited. We are seeing a specialist for this and we are encouraging her to try small amounts of new foods for her. I think to worry about sugar intake too sounds v difficult.

I am very impressed with some of the diets in here. What do you do about treats, eg chocolate, sweets, cake etc? How often do your dc eat those? What about parties etc?

"What do you do about treats, eg chocolate, sweets, cake etc? "

In our house thease are not looked on as "treats". Therein lies a danger.

My children have unlimited access to the biscuits and sweets in our home.

DancerGirl there are heaps of lovely cake recipes, treats etc. in the I Quit Sugar recipe books and on their website.

Also lots of other healthy eating for kids websites and Facebook pages with heaps of greta ideas. Get your google on!

DancerGirl I can't remember where I was reading it, but I'm sure I saw something about coconut oil being helpful for kids with similar issues to your DD. I think it was in an article that was mainly focused on the benefits for Alzheimer's patients. I remember there being positive comments from parents.

combust but they why ban cereals if they are full of processed crap when cakes and biscuits are available freely?

Are cereals really that bad? I know they contain sugar but they also contain whole grains, vitamins and minerals.

Thanks for the tip surf I will look that up.

Here's an amazing (if I do say so myself!) granola recipe. It's only got 5 ingredients and takes half an hour in the oven. Major hit here.
Summer Oats is another good one (but not quite as good as the granola).

dancer
"combust but they why ban cereals if they are full of processed crap when cakes and biscuits are available freely?

Are cereals really that bad? I know they contain sugar but they also contain whole grains, vitamins and minerals."

Sorry I don't get that.

I don't "ban" anything. My children have free rein on the biscuit and sweet cupboard. THey don't choose to eat there very often. I more often than not end up throwing away biscuits and sweets because they have over-run their sell by date.

combust that's really interesting. At what age did you start doing this? I know if I did it now all my 3yo would eat would be biscuits. How does it work for you?