“A healthy breakfast cereal for kids? No such thing!”

You must be loopy to serve this for breakfast

I’ll start this article with a lament. How can we have our kids eating good, healthly meals when there’s so much temptation (and advertising) for the fatty, sugary and, admittedly, delicious alternatives?

Well, there are healthy breakfast cereals in a box and some you can create.

It’ll take time to break the breakfast sugar fix. The rewards will be leaner, healthier, energetic. focused and less sick kids.

Pester power

If we parents haven’t heard of this saying, we’ve certainly experienced and relented to it.

It’s the ability of kids to nag us for a treat (usually one of the fatty, sugary kind).

The ‘power’ part is so accurate as there’s no other way we’d allow these foods in the house let alone in our kids mouths. (Mind you, we probably loved them as kids ourselves).

So that’s what we’re up against.

A good start  – mix it up

Rome wasn’t built in a day. A child’s eating habits have also been built up over time. Going cold turkey on sugary, processed cereals will only result in a morning argument. Not a good start to a busy day!

What I’ve been doing is adding some crushed nuts (linseed, almond and meal is healthy, tasty and hard to detect) to their cereal. Adding more and more over a few weeks. Break them of the sugar hit – at least a little.

Next I throw in some wholegrain cereals to increase the healthy ratio.

Adding some fresh fruit is a big but beautiful step in the right direction. Well worth the effort. Most fruits go well with cereal so just try your kids favourite (or least hated) kind.

You get the idea.

A better start – Low GI cereal

A low GI cereal will release it’s energy over a longer period of time than higher GI foods. That means your kid will have less ‘fuzzy’ moments and more energy throughout the morning.

The low GI diet also means your kid will feel fuller for longer. Hopefully, less of those mid-morning snack attacks.

Please note. Not all low GI foods are created equal. Some may still be high in sugar. Keep your eyes open for products with less processed, more natural ingredients.

Enjoy!