This week when I took my six year old to kindergarten, his teacher told me the day before he was very hungry when he came to school. He and ds7 took an especially long time to get dressed and he only had time for a banana or two before he left, so I wasn’t surprised. I pack his lunch box with enough food that he can eat something as soon as he gets to school if he wants to. All the kids eat as soon as they get to school even though the official meal time is at 10 am meal time.
I mentioned that today he’ll be fine since he had a cheese omelet before leaving home. “What, an omelet?” she exclaimed. “Of course he’ll be hungry. I would also be hungry if all I had was an omelet and cheese. You have to give him fruit to fill him up.” (She seems to have missed the detail that the day before he ate fruit and was hungry.)
This same teacher told me a few months ago that he was very hungry when he arrived at school each morning. On that day, I told her he had eaten two apples with peanut butter, two hard boiled eggs and a cup of milk before going to school, literally fifteen minutes before arriving in his classroom and saying he was hungry.
I explained that as is common with foster children, there is an emotional component to his hunger due to growing up without predictability with regards to food, so the hunger is usually not physical. (Dd6’s teachers realized this very quickly before I spoke to them about it.)
After hearing all of the above, she insisted he was hungry because I didn’t give him crackers, because fruit and eggs aren’t filling. I found it ironic when a week later I heard her tell another parent that children need a fruit before going to school so they won’t be hungry. She insisted that she has experience as a parent and she knows this to be a fact. (Her oldest is ten.) I suggested to her that we each know what works best for our children.
Since the twins are one of the first to arrive in their kindergartens, I regularly see children walking to school or to their classrooms eating their breakfasts. I’ve seen this particular teacher’s children eating chocolate bars and wafers, and that’s typical of what I see children eating. Today I saw a child having a bag of chocolate milk, another sucking on a foil bag of fake juice, another with a bag of pretzels. Wafers, tea biscuits and cornflakes in sandwich bags are very common. The twins used to have cookies for breakfast in their last home, and their foster mother was relatively health conscious.
Processed carbohydrates are not foods that will stabilize blood sugar and provide steady energy for the body and brain. Instead, snack foods like these set a child up to have blood sugar highs and lows, with foggy brains, difficulty focusing and behavior issues. There was a study done years ago in which sugar was removed from the diet of prison inmates and they saw an immediate and drastic reduction in fights. Don’t you think that doing the same for school children would result in calmer and happier children?
What do I give our children in the mornings? Until recently, I was giving each child a fruit (usually an apple or banana), sometimes with peanut butter, two or three hard boiled eggs and goat milk. I stopped giving them hard boiled eggs a few weeks ago since the twins only eat the whites.
Interestingly, dd’s teacher told me that lately she’s been extremely fidgety, and suggested I should get her evaluated for attention deficit issues since her inability to sit still will be an issue in first grade. I didn’t think to ask how long they had noticed this increased fidgetiness. I wonder if the lack of protein first thing in the day was a contributing factor to her behavior change to any degree, and am now being more careful that the four younger children all have more protein first thing in the day.
Though we think of fruit as a healthy snack – and it’s better than pop tarts or boxed cereal by far – it still has a good bit of sugar in it. It tastes good in the mouth, but doesn’t have the fat necessary to cause the brain to register satiety and it doesn’t keep their blood sugar levels optimal. It’s important for all children to have stable blood sugar, but particularly those with ADD/ADHD, as it keeps their brains and bodies on a more even keel.
As such I’m experimenting with moving away from fruit in the morning, and am looking to increase the amount of protein I get into them before the school day begins. Since I’m trying to minimize grains, whole grain breakfast bars, muffins, cookies or hot cereals like oatmeal and polenta infrequently make an appearance before school, even though I enjoy making them and the kids of course like eating them!
Here’s some of what I’ve been giving them lately:
Cottage cheese mixed with sour cream – all of the kids like this and it’s really filling so this is great.
Scrambled eggs with butter – sometimes I give them cottage cheese or sour cream on the side
Cheese omelets – I scramble five or six eggs and cook them in butter in a large frying pan. I add shredded cheese on top to half of the pan, then fold it over and slice it into four portions. When they finish, I make a second batch for anyone who wants more.
Spelt pancakes – to boost the protein content, I increased the ratio of eggs from one egg to one cup of flour, to 6 eggs for one cup of flour. They all like this a lot, but since I’m trying to minimize grains it’s not something I’m going to make more than once a week.
Almond flour pancakes – like the spelt pancakes above, the kids like this a lot but due to almonds being so high in oxalates which build up in the body and can later cause painful issues (kidney stones are an oxalate overload issue), I try to keep my use of almond flour to a minimum.
Cottage cheese pancakes – cottage cheese combined with egg and some almond flour or gelatin (fish based) – I haven’t yet made them but they’re on my list to try in the next few days.
Butternut squash muffins – this is a GAPS friendly recipe that uses baked and blended butternut squash combined with eggs and peanut butter with a little bit of sweetener. So far they liked the maple syrup version best.
Chocolate pudding – I used this recipe as a base; it uses hard boiled eggs as a base, blended up, which is a simply brilliant concept. I tweaked the recipe, made this the night before, poured it into individual cups and put in in the fridge to set overnight. Since usually the kids have flavored yogurts for Shabbos breakfast (which they call pudding), this was very exciting for them! However, seeing how messy some of them got, I’ve decided to save it for Shabbos mornings to preclude the need to spot clean their clothes or have them get dressed again on a busy school morning.
I’ve just bought a waffle maker with the intention to ‘package’ high protein ingredients in a fun way. That will be something I begin experimenting with next week.
Eventually if I get around to making cheeses with our goat milk (right now cheesemaking is very much on my back burner) I can add that to the morning foods or foods I send to school. Our teen boys make yogurt and soft cheeses, but it’s somewhat irregular.
I’m going to check in a few weeks with dd’s teacher and see if there have been any improvements in her fidgetiness. Ds6 is already the best behaved child in his class of 9, but I have a meeting with his main teacher (not the one mentioned above) next week and will be asking about if they notice any differences in his ability to stay focused.
A noticeable change in behavior would be a nice bonus, but I’ll continue feeding them in this way regardless. When I eat like this – ie high fat/moderate protein – it keeps me satiated for long periods of time.
What do you like to give your children for breakfast? What keeps them full the longest?
Avivah
You are amazing. I don’t usually feed my kids breakfast (they’re not hungry first thing in the morning), and I send them to school with white spelt or 80% whole wheat pretzels and call it good.
If you want more morning options, you can explore fish (eg simple filets fried or baked), and/or tuna if you use tuna. I can’t imagine someone turning down freshly fried schnitzel, either.
Keep up the good work.
I find it very typically Israeli mindset- eating anything is the main thing, even complete junk.
Loving moms spread chocolate spread on store bought white bread for their children’s ideal breakfast 🙂
It might come from the poverty here in the beginning of the state , just a couple of generations ago, where making sure your kids had anything to fill their bellies was the priority.
I find it hard to serve a healthy breakfast to one child with a milk allergy and dislike of cooked or scrambled eggs, so maybe I’ll try your egg-heavy pancake recipes if you can post them
Thanks!
Curious to know why you are looking to minimize even whole grains?
Oh, boy, Rachel, I spent a week thinking about how to respond to your question succinctly! I began learning about the issues with grains eighteen years ago and have continued to learn since. It would take several blog posts to answer your question so for now, I’m going to take a shortcut and link the following article that condenses a lot of the relevant information: https://exercisecoach.com/why-whole-grains-might-not-be-as-healthy-for-you-as-you-think-part-2-its-as-simple-as-sugar/
Basically, even whole grains are processed by the body as sugar, though it takes longer for it to be broken down by the body than pure sugar. This affects how a person feels, thinks, and behaves. I want to set our children on a path for success as much as I can, and since I have the financial ability to limit grains at this time, am choosing to keep them to a very small part of their diet – basically one sandwich sent to school each day.
The egg-based chocolate pudding is so cool! Do you have a good blender? I have a not-so-great one and am worried about it not doing a good job.
I used a stick blender to make it, and it worked well for me!
I can see my Grandkids eating 2 boiled eggs, and whatever else you gave the twins. I am sure my grandkids would not be hungry. Like you said Avivah, its probably emotional. In their mind they might not know when the next meal is. I am sure with much love and assurance, this will clear up. Maybe DS6 sees the other kids eating b4 class and he also wants a snack. Could be many things. Would oatmeal be good for them in the Morning?
I’m understand them having emotional hunger; food scarcity is part of their experience and that doesn’t disappear just because now they’re in a home where that’s not an issue. The annoying part is teachers who don’t know very much being judgmental.
They’d be happy to have oatmeal but I’m minimizing grains so I’m not serving that.
Such great ideas! I have one with diagnosed ADHD and has celiac and anaphylactic to eggs. It’s difficult to find protein heavy foods for breakfast. Any ideas?
This company has a fake egg we use sometimes but it’s not protein heavy https://www.ju.st/
Ugh, an egg allergy is so hard to deal with when so many foods are already off limits. Generally I’d stay away from fake eggs but in your situation I can see why you’d want to use them!
I’d go in the direction of thinking about breakfast foods differently than we tend to think of them. While we don’t traditionally have foods like meat, chicken and fish for breakfast, there’s really no reason not to eat them in the mornings. I’d go for the widest variety of those foods I could find and then prepare them in different ways: canned tuna, frozen ground salmon/carp, tilapia, fresh salmon, etc…In our family our kids all love meat and would be thrilled to have meatballs or hamburgers first thing in the day, as funny as that might sound!
Last week I made something new that I haven’t yet used for any experimental recipes – chicken flour. It wasn’t cheap to make but my reason for making it is to have an ingredient to make bread-like foods like waffles and pancakes. This is a niche product sold for people with very specific diet requirement but it’s really expensive (and not kosher).
If it sounds like something you’d be interested in, you can search for how to make chicken flour and recipes using it. I’m always backed up with the things I want to write about and me writing about how to make it isn’t likely to appear very soon. 🙂
Lately I have also been starting my day with 2 eggs. As a type 1 diabetic who conituneously monitors blood glucose, I can provide some empirical evidence that this prevents blood sugar spikes :)!
I am interested in trying cottage cheese etc next. Since that contains lactose, which is a sugar, it might not work as well. But I’m sure it will be better than when I start my day with date balls (my previous go-to)
Hatzlacha
I appreciate your feedback on this, N!
I’m not diabetic but I am sensitive to dairy, and in the last couple of months have been experimenting with not having any. Alas, that means I haven’t been enjoying our delicious raw goat milk or yogurt. 🙁
I have so many ‘healthy’ recipes like your date balls that I’m not using anymore, but as you said, there are better things for our kids to start the day with.
Around 7:30 am my kids usually eat a bowl of cornflakes and milk. Some also eat a leben.
Keeps them full until 10 am, when they eat a sandwich and fruit. For snack during reccess they eat pretzels. That’s all their food until 1 pm. Between 1-4 pm some get hot meals, and others get another sandwich (with tuna, an omelet, or cheese). I guess that is all pretty typical, but B”H they don’t complain of being hungry.
Thank you for sharing what you give your children, Shani!
So many great ideas!! I d like to try the chocolate pudding.
If you’re getting a waffle maker, I’ve seen waffles with almond flour and others with coconut flour.
I’ve also seen those recipes, Chanie! The problem with almond flour is it has a high oxalate load, so I try not to use too much of it since oxalates build up in the body and later create issues. Even so, I use small amounts – ds11 last week made some fantastic chicken nuggets using almond flour for breading. I’d love to find an ingredient I’d be happy to use daily for waffles/pancakes.
In the past I was able to buy coconut flour in bulk but my supplier hasn’t had it for at least two years now, and using ground coconut doesn’t taste the same.
Someone told me that every morning she gives her children mixed nuts and a cup of milk, and it helps her children be calmer. I thought of this post and thought to share.
Thank you for sharing this, Shani!
My kids (to be fair they are only young) really enjoy a real well-prepared oatmeal with almond butter, flaxseed meal and berries. Sometimes natural yoghurt instead. I am trialling other options such as eggs, beans and vegetables instead but they are not too keen. Sounds like you are following a paleo or keto type diet if restricting grains so this might not be for you but we find we do better health-wise as well as financially with eating a good amount of legumes properly prepared, eg chickpeas, home made hummus, also mashed white beans and lentil dishes are great. They have protein and fibre and keep you full and have plenty of health benefits (I am aware but not that convinced by the idea that lectins in them cause autoimmune diseases but anyone can look this up for themselves).
Thanks for your comment, Keren, welcome! It sounds like you have lots of delicious foods in your home!
For many years due to budget restrictions I’ve used a lot of whole grains and beans, but while I have tons of ways to prepare them, and they’re filling and inexpensive, they aren’t supportive of optimal health. Soaking and sprouting are great at neutralizing some of the negative aspects of them, but other issues remain. Lectins are one issue but before that’s a smaller specific and I wouldn’t be quick to say they’re the cause of autoimmune issues when there are more things involved. A much bigger concern is how carbohydrates are processed by the body and turned into glucose.
I absolutely lean in the direction of keto/GAPS/anti candida/autism healing diets, all of which eliminate grains. Again, this is despite many years of including non ideal foods like grains and beans because that was ideal for my budget.
Since covid I stopped writing about nutrition and the immune system. I’ve been considering detailing more but it takes a lot of time to distill the science and write it all out clearly. I’ll see what I get to!
Thank you! We went the other way, spent years miniming grains and legumes and eating more veg and meat but in the end found it was the wrong approach for us. Our health has been better since changing back to them (properly prepared like you said). So I definitely can relate to where you are coming from, including how it goes beyond autoimmune. We were dealing with possible autoimmune as well as diabetes which particularly improved, actualy was fully cured, after restarting legumes among other changes. Of course I think everyone agrees that processed junk carbs are bad for you. But just wanted to comment, it was interesting, I was fully convinced of the things you write and can still see that maybe for many people it is the right approach. Really love your blog and learning a lot!
What we did roughly was based on the Blue Zones Project by the way, just in case you are interested. Looking at communities where people lead long healthy lives and what they eat. https://www.bluezones.com/
And lastly, I’ve noticed my kids often like to eat a lot towards the beginning of the day and barely anything later on. Like they would happily have 4 breakfasts, a small lunch and no dinner. Regardless of what they have for breakfast. Recently I read somewhere that there is research suggesting we should maybe all eat like that, as in frontload the day and then have a longish time of not eating, and it is actually very healthy! So maybe your twins naturally gravitate to that also and actually what you are feeding is absolutely perfect?
I’m familiar with the Blue Zones, and since the results were counter to historical record, was interested in how the research was conducted. There were several issues but I think most of the problem was a translation issue and different cultural references between the interviewed and the interpreters of their responses.
I’ve heard some very interesting podcasts by those who have done a lot of research on the Blue Zone research. I’m having trouble linking any of those podcasts right now but I’ll point you for starters to Mary Ruddick, a very knowledgeable and lovely woman who shares some fascinating things (she has lived in Greece for years).