812-L«ncaster Farming, Saturday, September 24, 1994 If Your Child Won’t LOU ANN GOOD Lancaster Farming Staff SOUTHAMPTON (Bucks Co.) You want your child to do well in school. You know he or she should eat breakfast the most important meal of the day. But your child refuses to eat breakfast What is a parent to do? Lisa Diewald of the Dairy Council offers some help for you. “Children often have strange appetites in the morning. But why must you eat traditional breakfast foods? The most important thing is to get something in their sto machs,” she said. It’s important because one fourth of all nutritional needs should be eaten at breakfast If you fail to get those nutritional needs met in the morning, it’s hard to catch up all day. Studies show that 75 percent of breakfast skippers fail to meet the recommended daily allowance for calcium. Children under age 11 should consume at least 800 mg of calcium per day three servings of dairy products provide that For those ages 11 to 24, the recom mended calcium intake is 1,200 mg or four daily servings of dairy products. Breakfast not only helps children meet those requirements but establishes positive lifelong eating habits. Children who eat breakfast are more alert and attentive. They per form better on tests and they’re less likely to cause discipline prob lems. In addition, school breakfast decreases absenteeism and tardiness. If your child will not sit down for the traditional breakfast such as eggs, toast, juice, cereal, and milk, try these ideas from Diewald. Piz za, turkey sandwich, granola bar, muffin, a carton of chocolate or strawberry-flavored milk, banana, yogurt. . . . “Even if it’s a piece of dry toast, it’s putting something in the sto mach," Diewald said. A parent may want to prepare a finger cereal mixed with raisins and peanuts for the child to nibble on the run. “Something a child can grab with their fingers and eat quickly is often the solution for finicky tastes," Diewald said. Adequate calcium intake is criti cal to bone health. “A lifetime of sufficient calcium consumption helps peak bone mass in younger years and helps decrease bone loss in adult years,” Diewald said. Findings from the Bogalusa Heart Study indicated that children who skipped breakfast did not meet the recommended dietary allowances for vitamins A, D, E, and 86. and calcium. To encourage your child to con sume an adequate amount of cal cium, you may want to try this idea. Blend a banana with milk and pour into a big gulp container for the child to drink. It’s amazing how children are enticed to eat and drink foods because of the contain er or packaging in which they are served. According to Daily Council, newly released results from a national survey show that kids are not heeding the reminder that “breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” The national survey, conducted in January by The Wirthlin Group for National Dairy Council, showed that only 56 percent of children polled eat breakfast every morning. Breakfast consumption drops off even more as children get older. The survey indicates that about one-fourth of older children eat breakfast only half of the time, and that one out of every five 12- and 13-year-olds hardly ever eats breakfast Studies show that students who don’t eat breakfast use vending machine snacks at school. These are often high fat items that your child should avoid. Breakfast “breaks” the 10 to 14 hour “fast” that occurs between the evening meal or snack and the morning meal. It provides the energy and nutrients needed to “jump start” the body and the brain for the day”s activities. Studies show that breakfast con tributes positively to nutrient intake, alleviates hunger pangs, improves strength and endurance in the late morning hours, and improves concentration and learn ing. Furthermore, eating a nutri tious breakfast may help control weight and possibly reduce the risk of heart disease. Some parents do not provide a balanced meal at home because of economic factors or because morn ings arc hectic and there is no time. The top five reasons children skip breakfast are reported to include the following: • Woke up too late • Not hungry • Parents too busy to fix breakfast • Parents already left for work • Not enough money to buy food For this reason, many schools offer a breakfast program. The School Breakfast Program pro vides federal funds to schools that offer breakfast. All schools that meet eligibility requirements can participate. To assist schools in providing breakfast, Pennsylvania provides additional funds. Instead of the same old thing for breakfast, try something new. Here are two recipes, and on page 86, the featured recipe also has break fast ideas from the Dairy Council. Extra Calcium Before Age W May Stem Osteoporosis BELTSVILLE. Md. The best way to prevent osteoporosis, health professionals agree, is to achieve the highest bone mass possible in youth through ade quate exercise and calcium intake. That’s why the recommended dietary allowances call for girls to increase calcium intake from 800 to 1,200 milligrams daily between the ages of 11 and 25. Now U.S. Department of Agri culture findings suggest that the increase should begin and end at earlier ages. In a study of girls age 5 through 16, “most bone forming activity occurred in the years just before and just after the start of puberty,” said study leader Steven A. Abrams, a pediatrician at USDA’s Children’s Nutrition Re search Center in Houston funded by the Agricultural Research Ser vice. In U.S. girls, Abrams said the first signs of puberty usually begin between age 8 and 11, the average being around 10. Menstruation be gins two to three years later, with age 12 /% being average. Abrams believes “there’s no reason to think yoiu can’t start to emphasize calcium intake around age 5. The primary prevention of osteoporosis begins before puber ty.” His results also show a rapid drop in bone forming activity Eat Breakfast Lisa Dlewald NEAT-O-BURRITO 1-ounce string cheese 6-inch flour tortilla 1 tablespoon jarred chunky style salsa Place string cheese slightly off center of the tortilla; top cheese with salsa. Roll up like a jelly roll. Place seam side down on a small plate; lightly cover with plastic wrap. Microwave on HIGH power until cheese melts, about 30 sec onds. Let cool slightly before eating. LEMON WAKE UP 8-ounces lemon yogurt 6-ounces orange juice concentrate 2/t cups milk 1 teaspoon vanilla Place all ingredients in blender, blend until frothy, and serve. Store leftovers in refrigerator. Shake before serving. within two years after menstrua tion begins. “By age 15, there was very little bone being formed,” he said, noting that the girls excreted nearly as much calcium as they absorbed, the bones contain 99 percent of the body’s calcium. The new findings were possible because of techniques Abrams de veloped to assess therate of bone formation with stable (nonradio active) isotopes of calcium. With out stable isotope techniques, nu tritionists could only estimate when and how fast bone formed in children and adolescents based on their growth rate. Abrams points out that milk consumption and thus calcium in take among your adolescent girls has dropped alarmingly since 1950 from about 1,400 mg dai ly to 900. Four 8-ounce glasses of milk provide close to the recom mended 1,200 mg of calcium. “We’re concerned that the per centage of women with osteopor osis may increase if calcium in take continues to remain low,” he said. His results show that girls don’t compensate for low intakes by absorbing more than their diets. “If they don’t ingest enough, they won’t absorb enough.” According to the National Os teoporosis Foundation, half of American women over age 50 and three quarters over age 75 have significant bone loss. See your nearest Dealer for Dependable Equipment and Dependable Service! PENNSYLVANIA PA Hughesvllle. pa BHM Farm Farnsworth Farm Equipment, Inc. Supplies, Inc. RDI, Rte. 934 103 Cemetery Street 717-867-2211 717-584-2106 Carllsla. PA R&W Equipment Co. New pa fifS'SS" Slreet ABC - Groff-lnc -717-243-2686 110 South Railroad 717-354-4191 -Dickson Cltv. PA F&S Supply Co. Enterprise St. 717-489-3642 Bfeabsthtown. pa 'Messick Farm Equipment, Inc. Rt. 283 - Rheem’s Exit 717-367-1319 Halifax. PA Sweigard Bros. R.D. 3, Box 13 OM.fc-rt-um D 717-893-3414 Quakertown, Pi C.J. Wonsidler Bros, R.D. 1 Honey Brook, PA 215-536-1935 Dependable Motor Co. East Main Street 215-273-3131 215-273-3737 Honev Grove. 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