When I was a kid, back in the 60s, we ate breakfast before school every day. Mom would get up with us and make pancakes or oatmeal, sometimes bacon and eggs. By the 70s mom had quit getting up and breakfast had morphed into dry cereal and milk. I added my own teaspoon of sugar to corn flakes or cheerios to sweeten them up, most days. Usually I just added one teaspoon of sugar.
Times have changed.
CHICAGO – APRIL 20: Students eat lunch at Jones College Prep High School April 20, 2004 in Chicago, Illinois. The Chicago Public School system will introduce next fall a new vending policy restricting junk food and a new beverage contract banning carbonated drinks. (Photo by Tim Boyle/Getty Images)
In these busy times for the parents of school kids, they take advantage of the fact that schools now serve breakfast. It’s a great time saver for parents. It is good for the kids to eat a breakfast that is wholesome and healthful. Who could imagine that the schools would serve a breakfast that would be less healthy than what they would serve themselves at home, alone?
Today’s breakfast menu at a public school near you looks like this:
Blueberry Waffles:
| 1 serv | Serving Size |
| 190 | Calories |
| 7 g | Fat |
| 1.5 g | Saturated Fat |
| 0 g | Trans Fat |
| 15 mg | Cholesterol |
| 320 mg | Sodium |
| 30 g | Total Carbs |
| 2 g | Fiber |
| 3 g | Protein |
| 1000 IU | Vitamin A |
| 250 mg | Calcium |
| 0.0 mg | Vitamin C |
| 4.5 mg | Iron |
Cherry Craisins
| 1 serv | Serving Size |
| 110 | Calories |
| 0 g | Fat |
| 0 g | Saturated Fat |
| 0 g | Trans Fat |
| 0 mg | Cholesterol |
| 0 mg | Sodium |
| 28 g | Total Carbs |
| 3 g | Fiber |
| 0 g | Protein |
Apple Juice
| 1 ea | Serving Size |
| 50 | Calories |
| 0 g | Fat |
| 0 g | Saturated Fat |
| 0 g | Trans Fat |
| 0 mg | Cholesterol |
| 10 mg | Sodium |
| 13 g | Total Carbs |
| 0 g | Fiber |
| 0 g | Protein |
| 0.0 IU | Vitamin A |
| 0.0 mg | Calcium |
| 0.0 mg | Vitamin C |
| 0.0 mg | Iron |
Just 7 grams of fat in the whole meal–3 grams of protein. Every other energy-producing gram of this breakfast is carbohydrates.
That is a grand total of 71 grams of easily digestible, processed carbohydrates. They don’t list sugar in the ingredients for some reason. We can assume that all of the carbs in the juice and the craisins are in the form of sugar. Probably half of the waffle carbs are sugar. All of the carbs are highly processed and will have the same metabolic effect on the grade-schoolers as sugar in any case. If so, that would be the equivalent of about 18 teaspoons of sugar in that breakfast, not counting the lactose in the milk they get. Compare that to the 5 teaspoons of carbs in a serving of Cheerios that I ate, and add my teaspoon of sugar for a total of 6 teaspoons of carbs.
Today’s kids are being fed an insulin-spiking breakfast that is three times worse than mine in the 70s. This food is fattening and unhealthy. You are assuming that your babies are being fed a healthy breakfast, but instead they are being drugged and fattened. This food, combined with the lunch they get at school, is going to make them sick and overweight in the long run.
Fortunately, kids are only in school for 13 years. What can you do? Well, there is home-schooling. Alternatively, you could make them breakfast before they leave, so that only the school lunch will be fattening. Chances are though, if you are like most Americans, your breakfast will also be frozen waffles and syrup, maybe a super-sweetened ‘vitamin enhanced’ cereal, and a big glass or two of chocolate milk.
If anyone wonders why school aged children in the US are gaining weight and getting sick, the problem obviously starts at breakfast, continues at lunch, and ends up at the McDonalds between soccer games. Its not how much we eat, it’s what we eat. The problem isn’t too much fat in our foods, it’s too much sugar and starch in our food. Start making it yourself from real ingredients. Take the time, do it right.
One Small Change at a Time 
I like to have oatmeal with cinnamon every morning. It takes just as much time to fix as a bowl of cereal. I throw my teapot on the stove and once my teeth are brushed, its already whistling and ready to pour over the oats. I get Max dressed and then they’re ready to eat. I don’t sit around waiting for my breakfast to be done; i use the time to get everything else ready. Much more wholesome but takes no more time or effort than cereal.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I used to eat a muesli of rolled oats and nuts, but I found that I was getting hungry around 9 no matter how much of it I ate.. I instead eat bacon and two fried eggs in the morning and now am hungry about six hours later. I find that getting my energy from natural saturated fats is way better as far as eliminating the temptation of snacking during the day.
LikeLike