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

At the moment we're having homemade wholemeal bread, toasted with homemade jam (fruit from the garden) and sliced fresh fruit on top.

It's so delicious.

We also frequently have porridge with fruit and peanut butter, Greek yogurt and fruit, toast and nut butter. At the weekend we might have eggs on toast.

My 3 and 1 year old have a combination of: Homemade bread, porridge with peanut butter/seeds etc, bitesize shredded wheat, Weetabix sometimes and homemade no sugar blueberry pancakes.

Have the shreddies and weetabix.

Life is too short to be fussing over foods that are absolutely fine in moderation.

My ds is 16 and absolutely not on board with reducing upf so we compromised and I made homemade nutella with no palm oil and a huge amount of hazelnuts, nutella is only 13%. He has it with pancakes and can't believe how much more filling they are. Dd has homemade bread toasted, fruit or eggs.

@lljkk if you look at the open food facts site both cornflakes and weetabix are list as “processed” rather than UPF. Cheerios is down as a UPF but I noticed that they have some preservatives in the ingredients so maybe the recipe has been updated. Most of the really basic cereals aren’t actually UPF but personally I find that they’re the ones that my children will only eat if drowned in sugar.

Im not knowledgeable about UPF and don’t follow a UPF diet. I only contributed a recipe to the thread and didn’t expect to have to come back to defend it. But the too problems I see with the UPF debate are ignorance of ingredients and food stuffs that people no longer use (eg the barley malt extract example where just because you haven’t heard of it and don’t know what it is, doesn’t mean it’s any more processed than foods you do recognise) and people are overzealous and won’t accept a food unless they could literally make it in a home kitchen.

I am trying to avoid UPF so I no longer use honey as a sweetener because I have found out that it has a lot of glucose syrup added. I’m now using a very small amount of maple syrup because as far as I can see from the label, this is literally nothing other than sap from the Maple tree. Can anybody else help me with a sweetener that could fall into the non-UPF category, and can anyone tell me if I’m misguided about the maple syrup being non-UPF

this sweetener would be used to add to oats or yoghurt. Obviously, I realise stewed fruit and bananas are natural sweeteners, but I was looking for something else.

The honey from our own bee hives is definitely pure!

oooh... good thread and following with interest!

My older one has a range of food issues relating to sensory issues and so our breakfast foods tend to be really simple. He loves full fat greek yoghurt and I usually serve that with some fruit for him and not much else. But for Ds2 and DH and I we will have full fat Greek yoghurt with honey; nuts and a berry compote I make on the hob (froz mixed berries with some sugar and lemon juice). I also add a boiled egg for me because i have blood sugar issues and need the protein or a slice of cheese.

I like the sound of oat flour pancakes.

I really like the mashed banana and egg pancakes. They are delicious with some defrosted frozen mixed berries on top. I sometimes make extra and have them cold the next day, they're still pretty good.

I've made my own granola before but not for years, it's a good idea, so I think I'll hunt out my recipe. Lots of toasted nuts and seeds makes it especially delicious.

Porridge, overnight oats, make up some muesli.
Greek yogurt
Fruit
Smoothies
Eggs
Non upf peanut butter
Local honey
Non upf bread or crosta and mollica wraps.
Leftovers

It's not moderate to be eating these foods for one of three meals a day, five days a week.

Buy some local honey, this also helps with allergies/hayfever.

Failing that the only sweetener without negative impacts on the gut microbiome is stevia although make sure you don't get the one which is mixed with erithyritol which is linked to cardiac problems.

Where are you getting the information about honey from because I just checked the jar of honey in our cupboard and it doesn’t list any other ingredients. Surely any additional ingredients would have to be listed so just check the jar before you buy?

I'd love your recipe for this, please. Most of my kids rejected my first attempt at home-made 'Nutella' 🙄

Definitely Doesn't matter what I think. OP is one who thought weetabix is too much UPF. Getting teens to eat any breakfast can be a challenge, ime. I am wondering if OP wants to revisit whether she thinks Weetabix is too much UPF or not. Because a lot of the alternatives suggested here seem to be about as UPF as the Weetabix is (or isn't).

I imagine I'd be tweeting CV Tulleken to ask him whether Weetabix is UPF or not.