The Most Important Meal

Last night, I was watching Madagascar 2 with Corey and Carrick while the boys built a Lego castle. I was reading an article by a friend in a local newpaper, when it hit...a craving. I needed cereal, immediately. It was 9 a night and the closest grocery store had just closed. I didn't feel like driving halfway across town in my pajamas to the next grocery store, so I did what anyone living on 179 would do, I settled for Circle K. They're open 24 hrs, and they get enough late-night hotel visitors that pajamas are a regular occurrence. Cirlce K is only 3 minutes from our house, but I had to make the trip twice, turned out we were out of flaxmilk. So, after procuring my variety pack of sgar-coated corn-based cereal, and my disgustingly overpriced liter of cow's milk, I indulged in a double bowl of Frosted Flakes. It was pure heaven.

After soaking up the remainder of my sugarmilk (and adding a tad extra) with my mini box of Corn Pops, I thought to myself, "I'm so glad we didn't have this stuff on hand. I would much rather pay for it out of my "fun dollars" as a treat than be able to open up the cabinet and pour myself a bowl of diabetes whenever I felt like it."  In that moment, I reminded myself of my mother. She never let us eat "sugary" cereals when my sister and I were growing up. The closest we ever got were Golden Grahams or Rice Crispies. But cereals like Frost Flakes, Corn Pops, Apple Jacks, Sugar Smacks, Froot Loops and Count Chocula were absolutely not allowed in our home. Once a year, when we went on vacation, we were allowed to indulge in a variety pack, like the one I bought last night, of all the cereals we were forbidden to consume.

Looking back, I am grateful for my mother's watchful eye on our health. The cereals that are marketed towards children have zero nutrative value. They make the kids feel full, and that's it. Heavy on sugars, artificial colors and flavors, nearly all of them made from GMO corn, they actually make the body work harder to breakdown and sort out what is useable and what is waste. I don't think that many Americans feeding their children consider these concepts when parusing the grocery store. Or, maybe its' just easier to pour some cereal in a bowl and top it with milk than it is to make eggs and toast in the morning is appealing to parents. Many parents have to leave for work, and cereal is a quick fix in the morning when time is so precious. (Especially if you have more than one child.) But making the body of your child spike its blood sugar like that during their first meal of the day, when their blood sugar is already low from not eating all night, you are setting your children up for diabetes later in life.

My grandfather, bless him, knew nothing of nutrition, ever in his life. He was a product of the depression, meaning you eat what you have. Well, my grandmother always made him foods with very little variety or nutritive content. A standard meal would include ham, either sugar-cured or from a can, creamed corn, mashed potatoes, and macaroni and cheese. This guy never developed taste buds for anything that was more zesty than a bowl of ice cream. He could walk into McDonald's and order a hamburger, PLAIN! Maybe some ketchup if the mood hit him. But the thing I remember the most about Grandpa was his Frosted Flakes. Every morning, without fail, he would consume a GIANT bowl of Tony the Tiger's best. It's no wonder that 15 years ago, this man collasped on his living room floor in convulsions. He was rushed to the ER and diagnosed with diabetes. It wasn't something he was born with, it was something he had brought on himself. He never ate vegetables or anything that would be considered a "whole food". He lived out of cans and boxes, constantly bombarding his pancreas for insulin. Spiking his blood sugar, and over taxing his body with artificial waste that needed to be sorted out from the few nutrients he allowed into his body.

I'm not saying that everyone will end up like my grandfather. But please take a lesson from him. What you feed your children now will set them up for food habits in the future. The values you attatch to food will stay with them for a while, or until they make thier own decisions. Even with the pre-organic ideas my mom had before organic was en-vogue, we still ate out of boxes. Sometimes, if it was dad's night to cook, we would end up with a very delicious Hamburger Helper. But even reading the ingredients list now, I cringe. I think, "There's no way I'm putting that into my body." I know we all do the best we can as parents. The trick isn't to go all or none. But I do urge you to start reading labels if you don't already. Familiarize yourself with what you are giving your children, as well as yourself. Find a happy medium and work from there.

Breakfast is the first meal of the day. It is also the meal that has the least amount of variety, historically. We can choose between suagar-coated corn product, topped with cow mammary glands (milk), pork (bacon, sausage or ham), and wheat (toast, waffles, pancakes) topped with high fructose corn syrup (Aunt Gemima or Mrs. Butterworth). Do  you see how the most important meal is marketed to make us fat, obese, and/or diabetic?

Consider getting creative, and perhaps getting up just a little earlier to really give breakfast your full attention. It happens everyday, without fail. Kids get up and they are hungry. You may as well give them your best. Some ideas that we use at our house are:

1) Slicing up zuchini/pepper/onion/mushroom in any combination the night before and making omelettes. The smaller you slice the veggies, the faster they cook. Saute the egg in butter for the best flavor. Also, salt and pepper it before its done cooking, and do the same with the veggies. You can even buy cookie cutters to make fun shaped omelettes for the kids.

2) My personal favorite is a runny egg on toast. The eggs take less than three minutes to cook. I use sprouted flax toast, which I know not everybody can get. But look at your bread options. See if you can find something without high fructose corn syrup in it. Sprouted is best. Whole wheat is second best. Sometimes I make two eggs and toasts, depending on how hungry I am.

3) Yogurt parfait. My son loves this. He likes to help sprinkle the granola and berries on. You can use small, clear plastic cups to make these so that the kids can see the layers of fruit and granola. They take about two minutes to make. Start with a crunch layer of granola on the bottom, top with yogurt. Again, with yogurt, read the label. Avoid those with HFCS. Greek yogurt is the best, it has active enzymes as well as higher protien content. Add a layer of fresh fruit. I personally like blueberries and raspberries, or strawberries. then add another layer of yogurt. Top with granola and berries.

4) One of our family indulgences is the croissant. We make turkey bacon, egg and chese croissant sandwiches on non-work days. You can melt the chese open faced on the croissant in a toaster oven if you have one. Scramble the eggs, cook the turkey bacon. (We use that because it's much lower in fat, and if you cook them till they're crunchy, they taste almost like bacon. ( I won't lie, I love bacon, but the amount of fat and grease that it pours into the pan while cooking just grosses me out. Imagine that in your blood. Clogged artery, anyone? If I get bacon, someone else has to cook it, that's my rule. So I usually only get it if I am going out for breakfast, which is like once every other month.)

So there are a few non-cereal alternatives to breakfast, the most important meal of the day, and perhaps of your children's lives. If them learn to eat something other than cereal for breakfast, and appreciate variety, they are better set up for healthier eating habits later on in life. Please feel free to share what your family does for a non-cereal breakfast.