I have two teenagers (girl, 17 and boy, 14) and two little ones (girl, 4 and boy, 1).
We are a pretty healthy and active family. The three older ones are in competitive dancing and train a minimum of 4 hours a week, plus, on weekends, we love to do stuff as a family, like hiking, swimming, playing basketball at the park, etc. We get creative on ways to stay fit.
As far as eating goes, we're in a good spot too. We very rarely eat out, and when we do it's either a sit-down restaurant or Subway. I've never had a problem getting them to eat vegetables/fruits, which is about half of their diet. We eat mostly lean meats like chicken, fish, and lean ground beef, but we do have red meat usually once a week. We always do one meatless night a week too (beans or something instead). We switch up our dairy between 1%, skim, soy, almond, and rice. (Everyone has a different favorite, so we rotate, so as we're not wasting or spending more money than necessary.) We eat mostly multigrain and whole grain things, but I will admit I let them make grilled cheese with white bread on occasion.
My problem is breakfast.
My teenage daughter would rather not eat it, so I compromise with her by making her eat a little bit of something extremely healthy (like a high fibre breakfast bar or oatmeal with flax, berries, and almonds, etc).
My teenage son needs something hearty as well... he's a boy.
My younger daughter is in her picky stage.
Thank goodness my husband and my toddler will eat anything.
I don't have time to make 4 different breakfasts in the morning. We rotate to make everyone happy. Something that means they get Cheerios (or Special K or Honey Bunches of Oats) with fruit. Sometimes it means scrambled eggs. Occasionally it's whole wheat pancakes with sugar free syrup and fruit. I find that by changing it up every few days, it keeps everything happy.
My friend who is a nutritionist frowns upon the way I do breakfast. She says I should be forcing them to only eat highly healthy breakfasts, like scrambled tofu, Kashi cereal, and multigrain toast with almond butter.
Which is more important: fighting with my kids in the morning to give them this high fibre high protein breakfast or having a smooth and peaceful morning with no fighting?
Anyone with knowledge about nutrition, is what I'm doing really that bad?
Thanks for all your opinionsWhat's the deal with breakfast?
I think you should only buy healthy breakfast cereals and just have them eat those. I would stress that they eat breakfast but you can't make breakfast for everyone. In fact, I've never really cooked breakfast in the morning before school so your daughter and son are probably in a hurry most of the time in the morning. Just only buy those healthy cereals (I don't consider special k healthy in any way but I'm not sure about honey bunches of oats) . You seem like you are really doing a good job though. The best breakfast for someone who doesn't like breakfast is probably fruit or a glass of milk. Just hand your daughter an apple in the morning and hope she eats it. If you're really concerned, explain why breakfast is important and that it starts your metabolism. Not eating breakfast will probably lead to the person making up for it at another meal and possibly binging. Every meal you skip releases and chemical in your brain and all of that builds up after awhile. She might not understand it now because most teenagers don't think it's a problem because most teenagers do it. Just let your son eat something with protein. Once again I wouldn't make eggs all the time or cook unless you have some serious time on your hands. Boxed cereal or fruit/nuts can be just as nutritious as cooked food if not better. Plus, I'm not sure what's in the sugar free syrup, but especially for kids, I would just let them have real maple syrup. Sugar free usually contains additives and artificial sweeteners. Focus on fresh and you won't have much trouble
Edit: I just thought of something. Not sure if you kids like these or not but maybe meal replacement shakes like spiru tein which has a bunch of protein and vitamins. I don't know what other ones to recommend but these would do wonders for them especially if they like them. You can mix them with milk or water.
I think you're doing great. Have you seen the way most kids eat today? You don't want to start each day fighting.What's the deal with breakfast?
Breakfast is something to start you off...let them eat what they want for breakfast
since your two older kids are old enough to know their own body then i would say just let them do what they want. but its important to start good habits with your two younger ones because hopefully you wont have this same problem with them!
don't listen to your nutritionist. the way you are doing it is working for your family.
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