WASHINGTON — It might be a challenge to get teenagers to do anything, but getting them to eat the most important meal of the day doesn’t have to be.
Sally Squires, who writes the Lean Plate Club™ blog, has tips on how to get teens to eat breakfast.
Studies suggest 60 percent of U.S. teens don’t eat breakfast every day and 14 percent skip breakfast more or all days of the week, according to Squires.
She said that parents can make breakfast easy for teens by having food they can grab and eat, such as breakfast burritos, smoothies, yogurt, egg sandwiches and bagels.
“You know they’re going to be sleepy,” Squires said, suggesting parents give teens something to grab on the go such as cut-up cheese or nuts.
Moreover, parents can encourage teenagers to eat breakfast by modeling good habits and eating breakfast themselves.
Schools can participate in getting teenagers eating breakfast, too. A study funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute provided grab-and-go breakfast in carts to high school students in Minnesota. The food carts were placed in hallways, where students can get breakfast as they entered school or went to class.
The study found that participation in the breakfast program increased from 13 to 23 percent: more than double among low-income students (from 14 to 31 percent) and from 4 percent to 17 percent among higher-income teens.
“If you’re not fueled in the morning, you can have memory problems, you’re less apt to pay attention,” Squires said. “We know that not eating breakfast is linked to problems with attention, alertness, memory, poorer problem-solving ability, lower math scores and poorer academic achievement.”
Listen to Sally Squires discuss ways to encourage teens to eat breakfast.
