It’s a cliché, but like many clichés, it’s been oft-repeated because it’s true: Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day, especially for kids. During the night, your body uses energy you have stored up during the day to keep your heart beating, your blood flowing, your lungs working, etc. By morning, you need some fuel to get your brains and body started. That fuel comes in the form of blood sugar, also called glucose.

Breakfast offers many specific benefits:

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by Stacey Schifferdecker

Experts estimate that by the year 2010, almost 50 percent of children in North America will be overweight. We know why – kids gain weight for the same reasons adults gain weight: too much food and not enough exercise. And while we are probably all behind the drives to remove junk food and soda vending machines from our schools, are we similarly vigilant about the food in our homes?

Separate Snacks from Treats
A dietician once spoke at my children’s preschool and explained to us the very logical distinction she makes for her children between “snacks” and “treats.”

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Remember when your baby began eating table foods? What joy it was to watch his reaction to each new food. He enjoyed some tastes, and he scrunched up his face at others. But put a food in front of him, and into his mouth it went.

Fast-forward to toddlerhood. Your daring little taster now refuses anything but grilled cheese, chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese (usually the processed boxed kind). And, oh yeah, that grilled cheese had better be cut into triangles!

It may be comforting to know that you are not alone. Parents around the world are tearing their hair out as their little darlings refuse anything remotely nutritious. What can we do as parents without resorting to trying to force food down our kids?

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Childhood obesity rates here in the U.S. are skyrocketing. Many of the children that become overweight at a young age will develop health issue throughout their lives. How can we help overcome this and try make sure your child grows up healthy? As parents, there are a lot of things we can under consideration with respects to the habits that your child develops. It is important we help to influence those habits. Why? Because the habits our children develop when they are young tend to stick with them throughout their lives, so it’s important to start establishing good guidelines for living as soon as possible. These days, nutrition is one of the most neglected aspects of our style of living. Lets take a look at ways to establish some basic guidelines that can help our children stay healthy with regards to nutrition.

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