Eating Breakfast: Yes and No

National School Breakfast Week was last week.  I had this post scheduled, but somehow it slipped my mind.  Unfortunately, this happens quite a bit.  But even though NSBW is over, breakfast eating goes on!  I can take some comfort in that.

The word on the street is that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but it’s also the most likely to be skipped.  Is eating that morning meal–literally breaking the fast–really necessary?

Here’s the lowdown:

YES:

• Children  The research is clear that kids who eat breakfast do better in school, have better concentration and more energy.   And children who eat breakfast are healthier overall.  Breakfast is a great time to get in more fiber by way of cereals and whole grain breads.  A 2008 study in the journal Pediatrics found that adolescents who ate breakfast daily had a lower body mass index than teens who never ate breakfast or only on occasion.

• Adults  The big issue for grown-ups is weight management.  Breakfast skippers are more likely to eat larger amounts at the next meal or snack on high calorie convenience foods.  As with children, breakfast is a great way to get in all the fiber, vitamins and minerals we need in a day.  And while studies show adults don’t suffer dramatically from decreased concentration and focus the way kids do, short-term memory doesn’t hold up well.

NO:

What if you’re just not hungry in the morning?  Maybe a cup of coffee and you’re good to go.  Is it really necessary to choke down something to eat simply because you’re supposed to?  I wondered about this because, honestly, sometimes a latte is all I want.

After consulting the Nutrition Diva, however, I learned that while breakfast is an important meal for most people, skipping (adults only) isn’t much of an issue as long as you observe these two rules:

1.  Eat good food.  Uh, no stopping at the donut drive-through.  And that grande mocha frappuccino?  That won’t work either.  If you’re eating out, look for healthier options like fruit or a sandwich.  I keep nuts in my car for “hunger emergencies”.  That way I don’t end up answering the siren call of a passing candy bar.

2.  Don’t wait too long.  If you’re at all like me, then you might actually reach the point of no return.  The all-consuming hunger that isn’t satisfied with a banana.  Rethink your morning food plan and recharge sooner rather than later.

Breakfast is personal.  Make the choice that works for you, but make sure your children are eating—and eating healthy foods that will support their brain function.  Perhaps my memory mishaps are part of the biology of aging—or maybe I should just eat up in the a.m.  It certainly couldn’t hurt.

I’ll take some oatmeal with that, thanks.

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Nuts: The Nutritional Powerhouses That Are Good For the Waistline

A reader chastised me for leaving something very important out of last week’s almond butter post.  And she was right.  This is a family nutrition blog after all.

Besides making great nut butter, almonds–and other nuts–pack a nutritional wallop.  Small but mighty!

Can you identify this nut in its shell?

Lot’s of good stuff, including:

• Vitamins
• Minerals
• Antioxidants
• Omega 3 essential fatty acids
• Fiber
• Protein
• Folic Acid
• Magnesium

That’s quite an impressive list.

I have to admit that, even knowing this, I kept my distance from nuts. Because, while they’re healthy and all, they also contain a sizeable amount of fat.  Up to 80% of a nut is fat.  And while these are predominantly good fats (the heart healthy unsaturated kind), the calories do add up.  I was sure I could get more bang for the buck elsewhere.

Lucky for me, and anybody else who thought nuts would make them fat, the evidence proves otherwise!  For more information on studies that show nuts actually can help you lose weight, check out Dr. Michael Gregor’s post.

Here’s the catch.  You knew that was coming, right?  Nuts are really good for you–in a heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and cholesterol lowering way.  In moderation.  We’re talking about an ounce or so.  Depending on the nut, that could be a small handful, or it could be just a few.  It also means you have to eat them in place of other fats–not in addition to them.

There is a lot to be happy about:

• They’re filling!  My typical breakfast these days is an ounce of nuts and a piece of fruit to go with my morning tea.  I find I don’t need that mid-morning snack anymore.
• Nuts are portable.  Grab an ounce and you’re out the door.  Nothing to prepare and nothing to clean up.
• There’s lots of variety.  You’ll never get bored.  I switch from one kind to another day by day to mix things up. 

Here’s some useful information from the North American Vegetarian Society:

What about feeding nuts to kids?

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, babies as young as 6 months can eat nuts ground up and in other foods–as long as they aren’t showing signs of any food allergies or have a family history of food allergies.  And whole nuts are fine for children age 4 and up.  They are filling and provide greater nutrition than snacks like crackers and pretzels which contain refined carbohydrates.  Parents magazine has a great article on safely feeding nuts to children which includes several kid-friendly nut recipes.

So, yeah, I’m feeling liberated.  I’m eating nuts, guilt free (!), and life is good.  My current nut of choice?  Pistachios.

What nuts are you eating?

Nuts get most of a shelf at our house.

Baby Meets Butternut (and alternatives to rice cereal)

There’s a new baby in the house!

OK, so she’s not my baby.  But we are related.

Mia is my grand-niece.  7 months old and full of personality.  Just like her mother, Alex. They drove up today to pay me a visit.

Time to make baby food.

Admittedly my “baby” is now 13.  It’s been a while since I had to feed an actual baby. Today was my lucky day.

And with all the hoopla over baby rice cereal, it’s good to know that there are other stand-in grains that make good first cereals.  They’re easy to make at home.

All you need is a blender.

Pearl barley ground to a fine powder.

We adapted a couple of recipes from The Baby & Toddler Cookbook by Karen Ansel and Charity Ferreira.

We made grain cereal from pearl barley which is similar to a plump rice and packed with fiber.  I had some millet on hand as well.  It’s easily digested and loaded with B vitamins, amino acids and minerals.

Simply mix the cereal (created from blending a 1/4 cup of grain to a fine powder) into a saucepan with a cup of boiling water.  Reduce heat and whisk until smooth and water absorbed, about 5 minutes or so.

These cereals are wholesome first foods, but the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests that partially breastfed babies–who get more than half of their food from breast milk–receive an iron supplement of 1mg/kg per day if they aren’t eating other iron fortified foods.

We also whipped out a butternut squash puree.  Making baby food is so ridiculously easy and requires so little work that it’s hard to see how Gerbers has stayed in business as long as it has.

So here’s a perfectly roasted organic butternut squash.  It was so large that I had to cut it in quarters to get my knife through it.  It was as easy as scraping the flesh out of the shell (after it cools!) and running it through the blender.  It was a perfect consistency although it could be thinned if necessary with water, breast milk or formula.

It’s a great first food for babies–full of lots of vitamins and beta-carotene.  Keep it stored in a covered container in the fridge for up to 3 days or freeze in ice-cube trays and store in plastic freezer bags for up to 3 months.

Mia is known for her discerning palate and is quick to send food back to the kitchen if it is not prepared to her liking.  We waited anxiously while she examined it for texture and color.

First encounter with butternut squash.

OK so far…

She loves it!

Meet the new poster baby for butternut squash everywhere!

What first foods did your baby(ies) love?

Rice: Proceed With Caution

Due to the tremendous interest in Monday’s post on arsenic in rice, I felt it needed a follow-up.  There’s a rumor going around that organic rice has no arsenic.

I wondered about this too–but thought it odd that Consumer Reports wouldn’t have noted that in their findings. That would have been a simple way to deal with the problem, right?Just eat organic.  The truth of the matter is somewhat different.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration weighs in on this issue in an FAQ section about arsenic in rice on their website:

Do organic foods have less arsenic than non-organic foods? 

The FDA is unaware of any data that shows a difference in the amount of arsenic found in organic rice vs. non-organic rice. Because arsenic is naturally found in the soil and water, it is absorbed by plants regardless of whether they are grown under conventional or organic farming practices.

Currently, there is no federal maximum on arsenic in food. The FDA said it hopes to complete its assessment by the end of the year to set science-based limits.

That said, based on the current data, the FDA is not recommending changes by consumers regarding their consumption of rice and rice products.  They encourage consumers to eat a varied diet that includes other types of grains for the best possible nutrition.

From what I have read, however, there are no long term studies of low doses of arsenic. That would be something well worth knowing.

And because young children and infants are quite vulnerable the American Academy of Pediatrics has this to say:

While additional research, including the results of the ongoing FDA study, will be needed to provide detailed recommendations, the American Academy of Pediatrics believes that at the individual level, offering children a variety of foods, including products made from oats and wheat, will decrease children’s exposure to arsenic derived from rice. In addition, if parents raise questions about arsenic in juice products, they can be reminded that it is not necessary to offer children any juice in a well-balanced, healthy diet; and that for years the AAP has recommended limited intake of all sweet beverages, including juice.

Another finding is that rice grown in California has lower levels of arsenic overall than rice grown in south-central states where arsenic was used as a pesticide in the cotton fields.

Personally, when I buy rice in the future, I’ll purchase it from an environmentally conscious California based company from the San Joaquin Valley–Lundberg Family Farms.  They’ll be implementing a 3 year arsenic testing plan to not only measure levels of arsenic in their rice but also to determine what that means for the health of the consumer.  That’s means something to me.

There are no absolutes at this point.  I’d like to hear what other families plan on doing.  What do you think?

The Dirty Dozen and the Clean 15

With the cost of organic fruits and vegetables often twice that of their conventionally grown counterparts, is buying organic worth it?

 

There was a big brouhaha a couple of months ago over a study put out by Stanford University about the benefits of buying organic food.  According to the study, there was no significant difference in nutrition or disease prevention between organic and conventionally grown foods. 

 

So, can you skip buying organic?  Especially when it could save you money at the market?

 

Yes and no.

 

We still don’t know about the long term impacts of pesticides over the course of a person’s lifetime, and according to Joel Forman, MD, a member of the AAP Council on Environmental Health, “We do know that children – especially young children whose brains are developing – are uniquely vulnerable to chemical exposures.”

 

So what’s a concerned parent to do?

 

Take a look at the Environmental Working Group’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce.

 Get your own clippable guide to the “Dirty Dozen” to use as a reference.

 

The bottom line?

 

Get your daily requirement of fruits and vegetables, period.  Eating these nutrient dense foods is more important than worrying about how they were grown.   If you want to buy organic, but are watching the budget, then spend your money where it really counts–on the most heavily pesticided produce.

 

Apples, a fall favorite at our house, are at the top of the Dirty Dozen list.  While they may look tasty, neither you or Snow White can count on low levels of pesticides unless they are organic. Kids love apples so maybe this is where you can prioritize an organic purchase.  Remember this when buying juice, applesauce, or any other apple products.

 

And don’t forget, there are other reasons for choosing organic.  Organic practices protect soil, water and air quality.  They also protect the health of farmworkers.  In the long run,organic is good for everyone.

 

 An (organic) apple a day–and 4 or more servings of fruits and vegetables will  not only keep the doctor away but any wicked queens as well…