Smart Reasons To Eat Breakfast
- Fuels the body with nutrients
- Provides food energy for the morning's active play
- Gets your child ready to learn
- Helps keep a healthy body weight
- Helps kids feel good
- Tastes good
Smart Ways to Make Breakfast Successful
- Eat breakfast yourself. "Showing" teaches more than "telling."
- Manage your early morning time.
- Consider your child's needs.
1. Offer two or three food choices.
2. Give your child time to wake up.
Easy Ideas for Quick Breakfasts
- Ready-to-eat cereal with milk and fruit.
- Peanut butter on whole wheat toast.
- Bagel with cheese.
- Reheated rice, hard-boiled egg.
- Grits topped with cheese.
- Oatmeal with applesauce.
- Toasted waffle topped with sliced fruit
Check the Nutrients Facts panel on milk cartons to find the benefits. You'll see several nutrients that everyone in your family needs.
- Calcium and Vitamin D for your child's growing bones and teeth. These same nutrients help your bones stay healthy.
- Protein for building a growing body. It also keeps your body in good repair.
- Vitamin A for healthy eyes and skin.
Which milk would you buy? What's different? What's the same?
Nutrition Facts on milk cartons can help you make choices for your family. Your child will get the same amount of of bone-building calcium no matter what type you pick. Low-fat milk has less fat. If you prefer, look for fat-free (skim) milk.
***Percentages are based on an 8 ounce serving for a 2000 calorie diet.
With so much health advice going around these days, it's sometimes hard to figure out which foods to choose for a proper diet. However, the U.S. government provides some basics guidelines that can help. People can maintain a healthy diet on a regular basis by following these tips for good eating:
- To get all the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients necessary, be sure to eat a variety of different foods. Meals should be well-balanced, including fruits and vegetables, whole grains, breads and cereals, and a variety of protein sources, such as poultry, fish, lean meats, beans and peas.
- Healthy eating works best when a person maintains a healthy weight. If a weight-loss diet is necessary, choose a moderate plan that aims to improve eating habits.
- When selecting foods, stay away from items that are high in fat and avoid saturated fats, butter, lard, hydrogenated shortenings and tropical oils.
- Try to be creative when seasoning foods, using herbs or other flavorings instead of salt. Avoid salty snack foods and processed food products that are high in sodium.
- Make sure that daily meals include plenty of fruits, vegetables and whole grains, which provide energy, contribute to overall health and help prevent disease.
- Avoid too much sugar. When a sweet is desired, choose whole fruit, carrot sticks, yogurt or low fat breads and crackers instead of sugary snacks.
WHAT COUNTS AS ONE SERVING?
Grain Group Fruit Group Meat Group
1 slice of bread 1 piece f fruit or melon wedge 2 to 3 ounces of cooked lean meat
½ cup of cooked rice or pasta ¾ cup of juice poultry, or fish
½ cup of cooked cereal ½ cup of canned fruit ½ cup of cooked dry beans, or 1 egg 1 ounce of ready-to-eat cereal counts as 1 ounce of lean mea
¼ cup of dried fruit 2 tablespoons of peanut butter
counts as one ounce of meat
Vegetable Group Milk Group Fats and Sweets
½ cup of chopped raw or cooked 1 cup of milk or yogurt Limit all from this group
vegetables 2 ounces of cheese .
1 cup of raw leafy vegetables
How many Calories do you need?
Most children, ages 4 to 6, need about 1600 calories a day. Women who sit a lot need about that much, too. Most men need about 2200 calories daily.
Tip for you: The more you move, the more you can eat!
