As summer vacation winds down and the new school year approaches, breakfast becomes more important than ever for kids heading back to the classrooms. Starting the day with breakfast is a smart lesson for everyone.

“Breakfast literally means the breaking of the fast from the night before. Everyone needs to fuel up with nutritious food in the morning to kick-start our bodies and brains for the day, and eating breakfast is even more important for children heading back to school,” says Chef Joey Altman, a master taster with the American Culinary Institute (ACI), an organization of independent professional chefs that determines the best tasting food products in America.

We’ve all heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, as it helps replenish blood glucose levels, which is important since the brain itself has no reserves of glucose, its main energy source. However, a Gallup Poll co-sponsored by the American Dietetic Association, found that an alarming 51 percent of the 400 children surveyed did not eat breakfast.

Why is breakfast so important for kids?

Research by the State of Minnesota Breakfast Study shows that students who eat breakfast before starting school have a general increase in math grades and reading scores, increased attention spans, reduced nurse visits and improved behavior.

In addition, according to the American Dietetic Association, children who eat a healthy breakfast meet their daily nutritional needs, keep their weight under control, have lower blood cholesterol levels and attend school more frequently. They are also more likely than children who skip breakfast to consume foods with adequate levels of minerals, such as calcium, phosphorus and magnesium, and vitamins, such as riboflavin, vitamins A, C, and B12 and folate.

Mornings can be hectic and getting your children to take a moment to eat before heading out the door to school can be a challenge. However, if you offer them tasty foods, getting them to eat breakfast may not be as difficult as it seems.

“Make morning meals fun for kids. Eating really tasty foods not only wakes up their palate, but gives kids the opportunity to wake up their minds for a day of learning,” says Chef Altman. A father of two, he knows that kids sometimes are picky eaters. “Kids can be finicky and don’t want to eat when they first get up, so make sure to offer them two or three food choices to entice them to eat in the morning,” he says.

“In addition, don’t limit breakfast items to just the common foods normally eaten at this meal. For example, if my daughter wants a tuna melt for breakfast, I have no reservations about making it.”

Finally, to help the morning run smoother, Chef Altman suggests parents start making breakfast the night before: pour the cereal into bowls on the counter, have the juice in glasses in the refrigerator, or slice the fruit before going to bed. For a morning without the rush, it’s all about being organized and doing as much as you can ahead of time.

To help busy parents find the best tasting foods at the grocery store, the taste-certified chefs from the American Culinary Institute (ACI) make it easy to identify the best tasting choice in just about every food category, from everyday favorites, to gourmet and organic products. The organization of independent, professional chefs has provided shoppers with a fast, effective way to select the best tasting foods by awarding its Chefs Best Taste Award. The organization taste tests thousands of food products every year in their rigorous, unbiased judging process among a competitive set of widely distributed products, and awards only one overall winner in each product category based on the quality of taste. Today, over 1200 products bear the ACI Chefs Best Taste award in the grocery store.

Looking for the brands bearing the prestigious Chefs Best award is a convenient and reliable way to buy the best tasting food products, saving parents precious time and money at the grocery store by avoiding the routine of trial and error.

To get kids off to a healthy and tasty start, here are some serving suggestions for those early morning meals. They include foods that have earned ACI’s Chefs Best Taste Awards in their respective categories.

Easy Ideas for Tasty Breakfasts

* Eggs are a good start to anyone’s day. Eggs contain all the protein, vitamins (except vitamin C) and minerals essential for good health, which can help your child gear up for the busy day of learning. Prepare them scrambled, fried, poached, hard-boiled or as an omelet. But don’t stop with breakfast. Send your child off with an egg salad in their lunch bag, or even a hard-cooked egg as a morning snack. Fresh Egg Chefs Best Taste Award winner: Eggland’s Best.

* Tuna sandwich on whole-wheat toast. Not your traditional breakfast fare, but if your kids love tuna, then why not? It’s a nutrient-packed and a low-calorie food to kick-start the morning for a day of hitting the books. Canned tuna Chefs Best Taste Award winner: Chicken-of-the- Sea.

* Hot Wheat Cereal is always a tummy warmer and a palate pleaser. Serve your child a bowl of hot wheat cereal with a sprinkling of brown sugar or a drizzle of honey. Hot wheat cereal Chefs Best Taste Award winner: Malt-o-Meal.

*Waffles or French toast are always crowd pleasers. Available in the freezer section, waffles and French toast can easily and conveniently be made for breakfast quickly. Try serving them topped with sliced fruit like apples and bananas, or serve them with a side dish of delicious applesauce. Organic frozen waffle Chefs Best Taste Award winner: Lifestream Organic Waffles; frozen French toast Chefs Best Taste Award winner: Krusteaz; everyday favorite apple sauce Chefs Best Taste Award winner: Mott’s.

* Healthy and crunchy granola cereal makes a great wholesome breakfast with some fresh fruit slices. It’s quick, filling and satisfying to get you and your kids through the morning. Granola Chefs Best Taste Award cereal winner: Quaker 100% Natural Granola; organic granola cereal ACI Chefs Best Taste Award winner: Lifestream Granola Cereal.

* In a hurry and need be on the go? Give your child a cereal bar to eat on their way to school. It’s portable, tasty, and convenient. Cereal bars also make a great mid-morning snack, to chase away any morning hunger pangs that may divert your child from concentrating on schoolwork. Cereal bar Chefs Best Taste Award winners: Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain, Quaker Granola Bars.

* Complete your kids’ breakfast with a delicious glass of fruit juice. Apple, orange or grapefruit juices are always an eager accompaniment to meals. As a fun alternative, try nectar drinks too! Juice Chefs Best Taste Award winners - Chilled grapefruit juice: Florida’s Growers Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice; apple juice: Langer’s Juice; nectar drink: Kern’s Nectar.

* If your kids are lactose intolerant and not allergic to nuts, a tasty non-dairy alternative is almond milk. Delicious and nutritious, almond milk is a lactose- and cholesterol-free drink that is smooth and creamy with a mild hint of real almonds. Almond milk Chefs Best Taste Award winner: Blue Diamond’s Almond Breeze.

For a complete list of the American Culinary Institute’s Best Taste Award winners, visit www.chefsbest.org. 
 

Courtesy of ARA Content