Breakfast can be a difficult meal to make for teens. They are often in a hurry and don't have much time, but they still need to eat breakfast! Here are some ideas for breakfast for teens.
Most kids are eager to fuel up in the morning with breakfast before school. But as kids grow older, research shows that that declines with age. Less than 75% of teens ages 12-19 eat breakfast.
Learn more about how teens benefit from eating breakfast. Then, try these fast and easy teen breakfast ideas!
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For teens, breakfast provides essential energy and nutrients that will help them do well in school. Eating breakfast helps teens focus better on their studies, achieve higher grades, improve memory function, control weight, and avoid the "brain fog" that can occur when they don't eat.
Breakfast foods like cereal with milk or toast with peanut butter provide many important vitamins and minerals including iron, potassium, vitamin A (in eggs), riboflavin (in milk), B-vitamins (in cereal), zinc (in peanut butter), and fiber (especially in whole grains).
Although most high school students think of sugary cereals like Lucky Charms when they hear the word "cereal," most breakfast cereals are actually made from healthier whole grains and provide a good source of fiber. In fact, the FDA requires cereal manufacturers to list "fiber" as one of the top 6 ingredients in their ingredient list, so this important nutrient should be easy to find on nutrition labels.
Drinking orange juice with breakfast is an excellent way for teens to start off their day with vitamin C which is an important antioxidant. Orange juice also provides potassium, a mineral that is especially important for teens because of the role it plays in nerve and muscle function including normal heart rhythm. Potassium helps maintain normal blood pressure too.
You may have heard that eating breakfast helps teens lose weight, but that's not true if they eat unhealthy high-calorie breakfasts like sugary cereals or doughnuts. However, healthy low-calorie foods like whole grains (like oatmeal and raisin bran) and fruits (like sliced bananas in cereal), can help teens feel full longer so they don't get hungry as quickly between meals when they eat healthier breakfasts.
To sure your teen is getting enough healthy breakfast foods, encourage them to eat a range of healthy whole grain cereals and breads with limited added sugars, plenty of fruits, low-fat dairy products like milk or yogurt, eggs which are full of B-vitamins that are essential for energy, meat (turkey bacon or sausage) which provide zinc that is needed for fighting infection and maintaining strong bones. Also look for easy ways to add extra fruit servings into their diets including smoothies made with fresh or frozen fruit in the blender with ice cubes and a little juice.
Filling up on healthy cereal and toast at breakfast will help teens get off to a great start at school!
Hearty Breakfast Sandwiches
Egg Muffin Cups
Whole Wheat Freezer Waffles with an Easy-Peel Hard Boiled Egg
Banana Blueberry Breakfast Muffins
Breakfast Quesadillas
Non-Dairy Smoothie
Double Peanut Breakfast Bars
Potato and Egg Breakfast Tacos
Make these recipes and find out which one will work for breakfast for teens. Hopefully this blog post has given you some great ideas to try now or later with your family!
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