Begin with a plan... Journal of the Breakfast Maker

Journal of the Breakfast Maker

I designed the Breakfast Maker (previous post) to help steer our family toward making a healthy breakfast choice.  Is it working for us?  Yes... when we use it.  A tool is only as effective as it's user.  However, I am discovering that the key ingredient to starting the day with a healthy breakfast in our home has less to do with the food choices and more to do with how we use our time in the morning.

A bit on food choices.....the Breakfast Maker is taped to the kitchen cupboard for our family to see and hopefully use.  I initially made a point to walk the kids through the steps of the Breakfast Maker.  We don't use it everyday.  It comes in most handy for anyone feeling "lost" in the morning, not knowing what to eat for breakfast.  It provides direction, sort of like a compass.  Not everyone needs that direction, but it's there as needed.

For example, one morning, Jennifer (age 10) was at a loss for what to eat for breakfast. I pointed to the Breakfast Maker and asked her to pick one item from each of the three categories (protein, carb, fat).  She selected the Greek yogurt topped with cereal, along with a fish oil supplement.  Done. There is nothing magic about the Breakfast Maker.  It simply allows her the independence to make choices within the framework of healthy eating.

 
The Breakfast Maker doesn't work so well when we have less healthy but appealing foods around such as home-made cookies, graham crackers, Nutella (hazelnut chocolate spread), etc.  It all goes back to "make the healthy choice the easy choice".  If unhealthy options are available, I know what the kids will prefer to eat!

So I experimented with making home-made Nutella which turned out quite tasty (with less sugar and healthier fat than the store bought stuff).  The kids didn't like it as well, but I bet they will eat it if the store bought version isn't in our home.  Also, I wonder...why not make a healthy breakfast cookie?  This "Super Healthy Breakfast (or anytime) Cookie" looks like it is worth a try.  Or make a "Healthy Ice Cream Sandwich" consisting of a healthier graham cracker with Greek yogurt.

Even healthy choices will do us no good, however, if we "don't have time" for eating breakfast.  There are endless reasons for "no time" for breakfast -  alarm clock failure, hitting the snooze button, homework to finish up in the morning, phone calls, things to do, shiny objects that distract us -- even good things like exercise, a shower, or prayer/meditation time.

How we use our time boils down to our priorities.  A favorite saying of mine is "The good is often the enemy of the best".   It applies to balancing how we spend our time in the morning.  I tell myself that fueling my family well before they head out for the day is important to me.  But the reality is, it doesn't always happen.  Making breakfast a priority continues to be a work in progress.