Avoiding UPF - Kids Breakfasts

[hopingforadvice]

In the process of trying to eliminate, were possible or sensible, UPFs as much as possible from our family diet. Had thought Shreddies and Weetabix were fine until now but now drowning in conflicting information. Obviously know porridge oats/natural yoghurt with fruit are ok … but has anyone got a list of breakfast ideas I could add to our meal planner? Thank you

My own breakfast pot (which I can't tempt them to eat in its full form!) is full fat Greek yogurt or plain Skyr mixed with frozen berries, milled flaxseeds, walnuts, a spoonful of oat bran, unsweetened plant milk, pumpkin seeds, goji berries, cinnamon and roasted hemp seed hearts. And PB2 peanut powder (but I'm sure that's processed, although there's no weird ingredients). It doesn't need sweetening and it is around 320-370 cals depending on what yogurt I used.

I'm really struggling with this. My DC are allergic to dairy oats and eggs which cancels out most unprocessed breakfast choices

We are fine with bread as I mostly make it or buy sourdough but fall down on the cereal front. My dc are teens and love cold milk and cereal when they get in from school.

I do occasionally make my own granola but I need to do this more frequently I guess. Going to try the recipe on previous page.

I’ve started making lentil pancakes, no flour and turmeric, garlic powder, curry powder added. These are served with pickles, yogurt, poached egg, cherry tomatoes gently Frye’s along with mushrooms ( not all the toppings together mind 😂). They have been much better received than I thought they would be.

easy to make and a high protein savoury breakfast

https://www.lazycatkitchen.com/red-lentil-pancakes/

I use this recipe, minus the flour & garlic clove. I don’t follow the recipe toppings

i made them this week with cinnamon and real coco powder, then added fruit and yogurt - they are not sweet but the fruit and yogurt makes up for that - again high protein breakfast and a batch keeps in the fridge, ready to cook

I’ve also started making chia seed jam. I use a bag of frozen fruit, chia seeds and either maple syrup or a dessert spoon of sugar

My DD has never taken to cereal - she has bread (home made) and butter and a boiled egg for breakfast. My DH now has the same as we’ve given up cereal ourselves. I have overnight oats usually - oats, milk, yoghurt and chia seeds with some raisins or a banana or some berries.

Also wondering how best to support my children with breakfast.

DS 15 is about 6 foot and struggles to wake up. Porridge he likes but I think takes too long for him to eat in the morning; overnight oats weren't a success ;this week I've been trying him on a sandwich with 2 slices of bacon that he can take in his hand in a sandwich bag. Bacon is probably an ultra processed food mind you(He has autism and possibly ADHD and I really don't mind putting in the effort to make breakfast for them in the morning!). He's also taking ready made "healthy" oat bars as a snack, though I could also make my own.

My daughter likes marmite on toast but most recently has been asking for 2 or 3 egg omelettes, first with mushroom and now with bacon. - as well as toast. She is feeling very hungry all of a sudden (she is 11). Maybe a growth spurt or puberty? I am giving her fruit if she wants anything else (still hungry in the morning sometimes), and a fruit snack to take to school.

She is not overweight but was just on the cusp of overweight when measured by the school nurse recently, and she did go up the BMI scale a bit in lockdown. She has a 30" waist but toned legs and does quite a lot of dance/ cricket/netball etc. I was overweight at that age, and would far rather she didn't have that situation; I tell her she is beautiful (she is)and try and give healthy food. I have not mentioned weight to her.

I am wondering whether to do more of a healthy eating push on myself and get the kids to taste "healthy options" foods I then make for myself.

We make sourdough and hve with nut butter

Smoothie but not super loads of fruit ( yoghurt , nut butter , protein , banana , leafy greens)

There are some fabulous tiramisu overnight oats and banoffe pie overnight oats recipes https://www.plantbaes.com/linktree

this lady has done the tiramisu oats differently from other recipes & they are simply delicious if you enjoy coffee, soaked oats and yogurt

Just to add, using oat milk will make this UPF so I swap the milk for water, as the chia seeds work anyway to thicken and use cows yogurt

stevalnamechanger. What protein? As protien powder is classsed as UPF, I hadn’t realised until recently

I wonder how long it will be before Chris van Tulleken brings out his own range of bread makers and Thermomix rip offs?

I have managed to get my fussy 3 year old to have apple with peanut butter (peanuts only) for breakfast which is pretty filling. He does still have shreddies though and sometimes porridge with some honey.

Anyone have any good egg recipies for fussy toddlers? I would love to get him to eat them but he keeps refusing.

It can be a bit of a faff to make, but I really like banana pancakes (1 small banana mashed or blended with 1 egg makes 3 palm-sized pancakes ) with a dollop of greek yoghurt on top and grated apple or pear. You can add a drizzle of honey, but I find the fruit makes it sweet enough. If your bananas are too big the pancakes won't set very well

@ducktape Thanks so much, your post came just at the right time. Added a bit of cocoa powder at my 3 year olds suggestion and they were wolfed down.

I did find they burned very easily though. What fat do you use for cooking? (I used butter).

You can make pancakes with just egg and mashed banana. Maybe add a tablespoon of flour to make them less eggy.

Just saw that someone has beaten me to it with the egg/banana recipe! I use coconut oil to cook them and then they don't burn. You have to cook them on quite a low heat.

My DD is not allergic, but she won't eat diary or eggs. A few of her breakfasts are last nights left overs(almost always UPF free), fried rice with peas, favoured with soy sauce and sesame oil, oatcakes with peanut butter, fruit, tinned pulses with salt and pepper and olive oil mixed in, roasted nuts and seeds etc

That chocolate granola has almost 60ml of barley malt syrup.
How is BMS not UPF, by every possible definition of UPF?

The Tiramisu oats recipe has "granulated sweetener" which is apparently "Erythritol, Steviol Glycosides Proprietary Blend (23%)"

But that's Not UPF (?) Which Cheerios ingredient is worse than the Steviol or BMS?

I'm also still failing to completely ignore the claim that simple granulated sugar is a healthy food since it's not UPF.

My kids would disown me if I tried to feed them lentil or banana pancakes.
Note the lentil pancake recipe says shop bought chutney... might be UPF in that.

Barley malt syrup is an ancient food. If you consider it a UPF ten that probably rules out most food beyond unadulterated fruit, veg, meat and fish.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barley_malt_syrup

BMS would absolutely definitely fail the "Would my (great) grandmother know what it is" test.

Your grandmother may not have eaten malt loaf (made with barley malt syrup) but most grandmothers in England would be familiar with it.

If your grandmother was Chinese she might have come across it too. From the wiki link:

Barley malt syrup has a long history, and was one of the primary sweeteners (along with honey) in use in China in the years 1000 BCE – 1000 CE. Qimin Yaoshu, a classic 6th century Chinese text, contains notes on the extraction of malt syrup and maltose from common household grains. Barley malt syrup continues to be used in traditional Chinese sweets, such as Chinese cotton candy.

Barley malt syrup is just a sugar processed (not ultra processed) from barley but does actually seem to have quite a lot of health benefits compared to other types of sugar.
https://draxe.com/nutrition/what-is-malt/

cheerios ingredients:

Whole Grain Oat Flour (31.9%), Whole Grain Wheat Flour (29.6%), Whole Grain Barley Flour (18.2%), Sugar, Wheat Flour (contains Calcium Carbonate, Vitamin B3, Iron, Vitamin B1), Invert Sugar Syrup, Calcium Carbonate, Contains Sunflower Oil and/or Palm Oil, Molasses, Salt, Caramelised Sugar Syrup, Colours: Carotene, Annatto Norbixin, Antioxidant: Tocopherols, Iron, Vitamin C, B3, B5, B9, D, B6, B2

I am thinking that these ingredients are fine, no dispute by any common measure of what is UPF:

Whole Grain Oat Flour (31.9%), Whole Grain Wheat Flour (29.6%), Whole Grain Barley Flour (18.2%),
Wheat Flour (contains Calcium Carbonate, Vitamin B3, Iron, Vitamin B1),
Sunflower Oil and/or Palm Oil

And that these ingredients are fine, or at least not worse than BMS:

Sugar,
Invert Sugar Syrup,
Calcium Carbonate, Molasses, Salt, Caramelised Sugar Syrup,

That means these ingredients are the objectionable ingredients, the ones that make every other calorie from the above ingredients into UPF after all.

Colours: Carotene, Annatto Norbixin, Antioxidant: Tocopherols, Iron, Vitamin C, B3, B5, B9, D, B6, B2

Is that how identifying UPF works, the colour extract from carrots and achiote trees and the artificial vitamins listed at the end are what makes it UPF?

Or do the artificial vitamins (fortification) also make the Wheat Flour into UPF? Would unfortified white wheat flour be considered healthier for you in the UPF taxonomy?

Ingredients for kellogg's corn flakes:

• Maize, Sugar, Barley Malt Flavouring, Salt, Vitamins & Minerals: Niacin, Iron, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin), Vitamin B1 (Thiamin), Folic Acid, Vitamin D, Vitamin B12

Weetabix:
Wholegrain Wheat (95%), Malted Barley Extract, Sugar, Salt, Niacin, Iron, Riboflavin (B2), Thiamin (B1), Folic Acid