HYDERABAD: It is one of those routine school mornings and yet different in some way.
Rahul’s mom calls him for breakfast. He comes running down, all dressed up, and hops onto the breakfast table.
Rahul, who used to find excuses and make faces at the mere mention of breakfast, now waits impatiently for it.
At the table his attention is in particular directed to his favourite chocolaty ‘made with whole grain’ breakfast cereal.
Rahul’s mother Anjali is one happy woman. She no longer has to run after him pleading with him to finish his breakfast.
Her child enjoys his breakfast and now with breakfast cereal that provides the goodness of whole grain, is a source of fibre and is enriched with essential vitamins and minerals on her son’s breakfast table, she doesn’t have to worry about giving him a nutritious start to the day anymore.
Could she have asked for more! “It was quite a task for me to get Rahul to eat breakfast. And as a mother it was my greatest concern because breakfast, as I understand it, is the most important meal of the day. The real challenge for me was to come up with options that would not only ensure a healthy start for my child but would also be exciting enough for him taste wise,” says Anjali.
Goodness of whole grain
Making your child eat nutritious food with relish could prove quite tricky. More often than not the food you think of as ‘nutritious’ is also the food your child might think of as ‘not tasty’ or even ‘boring’.
Yummy food is what they look forward to and nutrition, of course, is top of the mind for you. How does one marry the two? This is the common dilemma mothers across the country face. Anjali, for one, seems to have resolved it.
“The right blend of optimal nutrition and great taste is my mantra! To achieve this balance, I introduced ready-to-eat breakfast cereals made with whole grain. These not only have the goodness of whole grain and are a source of fibre but also provide essential vitamins & minerals including calcium and iron not to mention that they taste great with their yummy chocolaty taste,” says Anjali
“Now, Rahul can have his tasty delicious breakfast and I can heave a sigh of relief for not compromising on nutrition. And of course, a nutritious breakfast helps prepare him for a great day in school,” she says.
A chocolaty breakfast cereal ‘made with Whole Grain’, is a source of fibre and enriched with essential vitamins and minerals including calcium, iron and zinc serves to emphasise that great taste and good nutrition need not be mutually exclusive.
A good blend of taste and nutrition helps ensure happier mornings as the cereal breakfast will be loved by kids for its yummy taste and trusted by mothers for its whole grain nutrition.
A ready-to-eat cereal like Kellogg’s Chocos which is ‘made with whole grain’ ensures that your child has the best of both worlds.
“Several studies suggest that eating breakfast may help children do better in school by improving memory, alertness, concentration, problem-solving ability, test scores, school performance and mood. If vital nutrients like fibre, calcium, iron and certain vitamins and minerals are missed at breakfast, they may not be made up for during the day,” says Rittika Samaddar, chief Dietician, Max Healthcare.
Cereals - a nutritional powerhouse
Whole grain, as the name suggests, consists of the bran, the germ and the endosperm which together comprise most (80-90 percent) of the grain.
Whole grains provide wholesome nutrition to your kids as they are a rich source of fibre, vitamins, minerals, complex carbohydrates and antioxidants.
Breakfast cereals that are ‘made with whole grain’ are therefore a source of fibre.
By providing your child with the goodness of whole grain combined with great taste you not only ensure a great start to their day but also help them develop healthy eating patterns in the long term.
Start your kid’s morning on a ‘happy breakfast’ note with a bowl of tasty and delicious ‘made with whole grain’ breakfast cereal like Kellogg’s Chocos that your kid will enjoy eating.
Happy breakfast mornings address a mother’s concern about providing her kids nutritious meals and also keep her child happy as he does not have to compromise on.
(The author is the Chief Dietician at Max Healthcare and can be contacted at 09810688204)
