I was recently invited to join the kick-off breakfast for a new promotional initiative in support of a fabulous not-for profit called Breakfast For Learning. This is an outstanding program aimed at providing, free of charge, nourishing breakfasts to students in need. By in need, this doesn’t necessarily mean from a financial stand-point but is equally available to students who have two working parents that commute in the mornings. There are no questions asked as to why students may choose to join the program; everyone is welcome thus reducing stigma or embarrassment for the kiddies who may be getting their only meal of the day through this program.
Another amazing benefit to the program is that it also provides some basic nutritional education to the students and some schools are even offering garden spaces for the students to tend themselves and learn a little more about the connection between our food, the earth it grows from and the energy that goes into growing it. And you know how this kind of community based food love warms my heart.
The event I attended, was to launch the “Better Breakfast Challenge”. When I received the invite, there was no indication of the small type that appeared on the press pack I was given that read “proudly supported by Nutella”. The idea is that for every person who joins the challenge, to eat breakfast everyday for 21 days to build it into a habit, $1 will be donated to Breakfast For Learning.
When the dietitian got up to speak about the nutritional guidance around the program, I was cringing as she mentioned the recommendation that every breakfast should contain 3 out of the 4 food groups from Canada’s food guide. What about vegetarians? What about vegans? What about cultural sensitivity? What about a little nutrition education? Two out of the four food groups are animal based and this little piece of animal-farming-lobby-group-supported dietary advice has certainly not improved the health of our society since it’s inception over 50 years ago. This way of eating equates a bagel as equal in nutritional value to a bowl of brown rice, or recommends milk when many studies have linked it to severe childhood allergies with symptoms that range from bed-wetting, ear infections, asthma and behavioural disorders like ADD and ADHD.
I went further into the site for the Better Breakfast Challenge to see what the recommended meals/recipes were. Holy bigeeza-nightmare!
Please note that I DO NOT IN ANYWAY SHAPE OR FORM RECOMMEND THE RECIPES THAT FOLLOW! I also will likely never be invited to an event such as this again- but I have never in any of my writing tried to hide what kind of nutrition I practice and promote.
Example 1: Berry Licious Pancakes
170 calories, 4 g protein, .5 g total fat, 40 g carbohydrates, 2.3 g fibre, 740 mg sodium.
Recipe
- pancake mix
- 3/4 cup fresh or frozen berries
Use your favourite original pancake mix or recipe and simply add 3/4 cup fresh or frozen berries to the batter and cook as usual. For a complete meal, top pancake with a heaping spoonful of vanilla yogurt. Remember, for a time saver, make the pancakes in advance and freeze until ready to serve. Microwave until warm.
Commentary
Pancake mix? Is that an ingredient? The 40g of carbs with a measley 2 grams of fibre when a recommended daily intake of fibre is upwards of 30 grams means that roughly 35 grams (or 160 calories) is coming from starch and sugar. And hey- why not microwave it. Saves time and kills what itty bits of nutrients may have survived the powdering of the pancake mix. And 740 grams of sodium?!?! That’s nearly a third of the allowed daily intake and pancakes aren’t even a salty food!
Example 2: Wholesome Roll-Ups
280 calories, 3.7 g protein, 9 g total fat, 40 g carbohydrates, 5.3 g fibre, 375 mg sodium.
- 1 medium soft tortilla taco
- 1 banana
- 1 tbsp Nutella Hazelnut Spread
Spread Nutella on tortilla wrap. Peel banana and place in center of tortilla wrap. Roll shell around banana. For a complete breakfast combine with a glass of milk.
Commentary
Oye vey!
Breakfasts such as these will in no way support the learning of children. They border on entering my better off eating nothing list. High sugar intake first thing in the morning will spike blood sugar levels, resulting in a plummet mid morning and contribute to poor concentration, hyper actvity and aggression. The defense provided to me by the promoters of this program was that it is really just a general guideline for parents and that it is hard to get kids to eat breakfast in the morning. I disagree. I suspect it is hard for kids to eat breakfast in the morning when their parents are running around, chugging back coffee and hurrying them out the door. Kids feel the energy around them so acutely. When the morning is a stressed out crazy rush- how can they possibly rest to digest? When our morning is a rush, how can we get a proper breakfast to start our day.
Breakfast is absolutely the most important meal of the day and sets the tone for the rest of it. Ten minutes is all you need for breakfast. Do what you can the night before- mix the pancaked batter, put the oats in the pot with water and a banana, toast some granola on the weekend, boil a couple eggs. Turn on what needs to be turned on while you shower and get dressed and then sit down and eat your breakfast. You know your mother said the very same words to you- but how often did she join you? Kids learn best by the examples we set.
I strongly and highly recommend supporting the Breakfast For Learning program so please have a look and see where you might be able to best help them out.
I am not one to count calories or any of that nonsense but when a product such as Nutella (Ingredients: sugar, modified vegetable oils, hazelnut, cocoa, skimmed milk, whey powder, lecithin, vanillin) promotes itself as being a health supportive breakfast option, I have no choice but to go numbers on this.
Nutella vs. Hazelnuts
Per 1 Tbs (19 grams)/ Approx 14 hazelnuts
Calories
- Nutella: 100
- Hazelnuts: 94
Protein
- Nutella: 1 gram
- Hazelnuts: 3 grams
Fat
- Nutella: 6 grams
- Hazelnuts: 11.5 grams
Carbs
- Nutella: 11grams
- - from Fibre: 1 gram
- - from Sugar: 11 grams
- Hazelnuts: 3 grams
- - from Fibre: 2 grams
- - from Sugar: 0.85 grams
Vitamin E
- Nutella: 10 % (RDI)
- Hazelnuts: 42% (RDI)
Here are some of my supercharged Breakfast Recipes to start the day off right!
Almond Milk
Whole Grain Porridge
Breakfast Smoothie
Banana Pancakes
Green Mojito Smoothie
Courtesy of Elana's Pantry
Homemade Nutella
1 cup hazelnuts
¼ cup cocoa powder
5 tablespoons agave nectar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon hazelnut oil
pinch celtic sea salt
- Roast the hazelnuts at 350° for 8-10 minutes until they darken a bit and smell fragrant
- Transfer the hazelnuts to a towel and rub off the skins if you can (I didn’t have a lot of luck with this)
- In a food processor, grind the hazelnuts to a smooth butter, about 5 minutes, scraping the sides as needed
- Add the cocoa, agave, vanilla, oil and salt and process until well blended, about a minute
- Store in a glass mason jar in the refrigerator
- Bring to room temperature prior to serving
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It astounds me that the “complete breakfast” shown at the end of the cereal commercials of my childhood is still being taught. No one can eat that much food and the nutritional value of the foods could be a lot higher.
That said, I’d consider “Wholesome Roll-Ups” as a “breakfast of champions” for adults but would in no way call it “wholesome” or imply that it’s healthy.
(Okay, I might imply it a little to justify why I’m eating something so tasty that’s bad for me. Bananas are healthy. Damn, I like Nutella.)
It’s sad to see that what might not necessarity be good for us is being promoted as healthy and the way to eat (The Canada Food Guide). My friend worked in media relations at Health Canada when the new guide was released a couple of years ago. We went into lenghty discussions regarding how the guide is put together. She disagreed that any group has any influence and the doctors, dieticians, etc are the ones in charge. She was speaking to a friend, not a reporter, but she wouldn’t budge in thinking.
I’m part of the Breakfast Program at school. Food is available for children who didn’t eat breakfast before coming to school. I don’t totally agree with the items that are available but I also know that the items need to be non-perishable. My job is bag Life cereal. Not the worse cereal out there, but not the best either. The bigger picture is that I want to help so I would rather some food be available than nothing.
By the way, I e-mail you using the Contact page of your blog. The e-mail was regarding menu planning. I hope you got it.
It’s amazing what people choose to feed their kids – and feel it’s healthy. I once had a baby sitter who thought fruit loops were health food since they had fruit in them
I’m not definately not perfect but I’m getting their in making sure my kids have a balanced whole food diet.
Love Nutella! Lived on it growing up in an Italian fam!
Haven’t had it in years!! Mmmm! Memories…
What a great program!
I’m practically jumping up and down about that Nutella recipe! I’m so happy to know how to make it at home. I will be trying it for sure!
“Large and in charge” .. Ha! I started reading and loving your blog a few months ago and was just reading through some of your archives. My sister is in school as a traditional nutrition major. This reminded me of some of the “healthy” things she is learning about. In one of her labs, they sampled a selection of granola bars. A Power Bar was one of the items. She’s also appalled by my use of virgin coconut oil because it’s a saturated fat. Ugh…