As the easy summer mornings come to an end and the hectic school morning  schedules approach, I remember the difficulties I had at the beginning of last year getting the kids up and ready for school, with a healthy breakfast in their bellies and a healthy lunch packed to sustain them for the day. 

I have 5 kids, 4 of them school-aged, so you can imagine how chaotic our mornings can get.  It doesn’t seem to matter how early we get up, there is never enough time.

So, last year I devised a plan to make the mornings less chaotic and still provide my family with those healthy meals that they need to sustain them and allow them to succeed throughout the day.

Lets’ start with breakfast.  Breakfast is a must to help our kids succeed until lunch.  A good rule of thumb I use is to build a breakfast that contains at least “3 out of the 5” food groups:  Grains, Breads & Cereals, Vegetables OR Fruits and Milk & Milk Products OR Meat, Beans & Nuts. 

Below are some quick, nutritious breakfast ideas that I discovered that will save you time and provide our kids with the energy they need.

·       Frozen Banana on a stick – put a banana on a stick, dip it in yogurt and then roll it in granola.  Place on wax paper and freeze for 1-2 hours.  Make these the night before and then there will be no time needed in the morning to prepare.

·       Apple bagel – cut a bagel in half, add one or two slices of an apple, top off with a slice of cheese then place in the oven at 375 degrees for ~ 5 minutes.

·       Egg burrito – one tortilla, add two scrambled eggs, sprinkle cheese, roll up and enjoy!

·       Oatmeal- always a quick and nutritious choice.  Be sure to add some fruit and a glass of milk to complete the 3 out of 5 breakfast.

See how easy breakfast can be?  Stay tuned and next week I will provide tips on lunch!

 Debbie Asada

By taking the Food Personality Quiz, you will begin to understand how your food personality influences your food choices.  Once you understand your cooking style better, you can strategize how to incorporate a total diet approach into your lifestyle.

Give yourself choices!  Stop worrying about what foods to avoid and start focusing on healthy foods to eat.  By choosing a variety of nutrient-rich foods from all of the food groups, you are likely to get all of the important vitamins and minerals your body needs.

Start with the Personal Nutrition Planner.  This online nutrition planner will allow you to assess your current eating habits and help you set goals based on your health priorities.

The Personal Nutrition Planner will supply you with your body mass index (BMI) and daily total calorie needs based on your height and weight.  It also recommends how much of each food to consume -- and even gives examples of nutrient-rich foods to choose from while setting up your eating and activity plan.

Think small.  Start with small attainable goals that will guide you to that bigger goal down the road. For example, if you are low in your fruit intake and you always eat an apple, try some papaya or mango. If you are low in your Milk and Milk Products intake and you only eat cheese and drink milk, try flavored milk, cottage cheese or a new type of cheese you have never had before, like Havarti or Gouda. These specific, small steps can lead you to a goal of improving your total diet, weight loss, etc....

Choose a new food from each food group each week.  Adding new foods to your meal plans will spice up your meals, improve your palate and keep you more interested in staying on track with your New Year, New Approach—and it will be much more enjoyable!

Debbie Asada

Find related posts on Twitter by searching #NYNA.

It’s been about two months since I first began the experiment of getting my teens to cook dinner and soccer season is officially wrapped. The kids have been doing their “duty” diligently and have done a pretty good job.  I have to say; having them prepare the family meals has really been a lifesaver.  Simply taking that one thing off my to-do list has made all the difference.  As the weeks went on, I began to see how each child had a different approach and a different interest level in their new weekly task.

In the beginning, both children started out making the weeknight family meal favorites that I typically cook.  You know the quick, easy meals that you can make quickly when you are tired and just want the kids fed, such as spaghetti, chicken, rice and vegetables, or burritos. But after the first two weeks, I began to see their “food personalities” emerge.

My 16-year-old boy decided that he wasn’t willing to put any time or effort into the meal planning or anything that would require more than he was already being asked to do: simply prepare the meal.  So, he began making very simple dishes, such as sloppy joes, pancakes (breakfast for dinner), tacos, etc.  He is not a planner and would prefer to simply look in the refrigerator and the pantry and decide what to make on the spot. I still require that he tells me what he is making the weekend before so that I can include it in my shopping and this drives him crazy!

My 12-year-old daughter is the exact opposite. After the first week or two, she got bored with our regular stand-bys and started asking me what else she could make. I sat down with her at our computer, brought up the Meals Matter website and showed her how to use the “find recipes” tool.  She has been a faithful experimenter ever since. She is a planner and she is willing to try new things.  She has made a couple new dishes that I will now add to my regular rotation because they were quick and easy and more importantly, they taste good! One recipe is called Asian Rainbow Trout  and the other one is Broiled Tilapia Parmesan.

Now that I have learned about their personalities and their interest levels, I am moving on to requiring them to have a balanced meal. From here on out, not only will they have to plan and prepare the meal, they will need to make sure it is balanced. This means they will need to include all five food groups in every one of their chosen meals.  Who knows, maybe this will jump start my 16-year-old’s ability to plan since looking in the pantry and coming up with a simple main dish probably won’t be enough.  Wish me luck as I move onto stage 3 of my makeshift experiment!

Debbie Asada
Schools Supervisor, Northern California