News
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We all know that a nutritious breakfast gives us a kick-start to our day. This is especially true for our children who eat breakfast on a regular basis. Because children are so active throughout the day and also grow so quickly, they need to eat foods that are good sources of carbohydrates, fibre and proteins all of which can be found in the goodness of Anchor Mega milk and Weet-Bix.
Children only have small tummies, so they need to eat highly nutritious meals and snacks to enable them to get all the nutrients they need.
By ensuring your students have a nutritious breakfast you enable them to have the energy to boost their busy day and pack in some essential nutrients.
Try some of these breakfast ideas on the weekends or during the holidays:
- Two slices wholemeal bread, toasted, with a spread and either Sanitarium Marmite, Sanitarium Peanut Butter, honey or jam plus a glass of Anchor Mega Milk and fruit.
- One slice of wholemeal bread, toasted, with baked beans (roughly 1 tablespoon per year of age) and diluted fruit juice
- Two Weet-Bix with ½ sliced banana and Anchor Mega Milk.
- One soft boiled egg with wholegrain toast with Anchor spreadable butter, cut into soldiers (for easy dipping) and diluted fruit juice.
It is also worthwhile having a look at our print friendly food pyramid on the KickStart Breakfast website. It is a great resource to teach your students how much of each food category they should be eating on a daily basis. To download the food pyramid and for detailed nutritional information on Anchor Mega milk and Weet-Bix visit www.kickstartbreakfast.co.nz/nutrition
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KickStart Ambassador Beatrice Faumuina has been having a wonderful time visiting schools and meeting all the passionate champions. We would like to say a big thank you to Birdwood School breakfast club in Auckland, who took a creative approach when studying nutrition by sending Beatrice thank you food pyramids.
Thanks also to Kaitao Middle School in Rotorua who sent in this inspired note after a visit from our Beatrice; “Beatrice is committed to getting the message across about the importance of a healthy breakfast and it was great to talk to her about the challenges we face on a daily basis in our breakfast cafe at Kaitao and our breakfast programme at Selwyn Primary and the difference between dealing with primary school and intermediate school children. All in all it was a successful visit (for staff and children).” Jeannette from Creative Kids.
Thank you also Viscount School for accommodating the media who attended Beatrice’s inspiring visit on World Milk Day (1st June). The Breakfast Club students asked Beatrice a range of question from favourite things about school, to her athletic career to how far she can throw a Vortex ball.
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Our KickStart Breakfast Ambassador Beatrice Faumuina has been travelling around the country to acknowledge the outstanding efforts of KickStart Breakfast Club Champions.
We asked you to tell us who your champions were and the stories we received were very special, all of whom are champions in our eyes.
One of Beatrice’s latest visits this year was to Newfield Park School in Invercargill where together with the school they recognised Keith (Breakfast Club Co-ordinator) and Nikita (Student Health Team Leader). Keith is a dedicated grandparent who started at the school as a gardener where three of his grandchildren attend and chose to take on the on the responsibility of the club, he says “It keeps me young.”
Beatrice had an unforgettable morning at TKKM Waioweka in the Bay of Plenty where she experienced a traditional powhiri and was welcomed by a Maori warrior.
At Glenview School Beatrice acknowledged Charlotte Matoe, the Breakfast Club Co-ordinator. She said “Charlotte goes the extra mile every week and the school is very grateful of having her.”
Tamatea’s Breakfast Club is run by the Health Squad called “Rocks” and they co-ordinate the breakfast club every Friday and make sure that up to 100 students get fed.
Richmond Schools Breakfast Club is being run by Peka Tipiwai and TeAmo Taumata both of which are very dedicated champions. The school found that since they run the programme the children are a lot happier, and have become more involved in school activities.
Well done to the above champions and to the many other unsung heroes of the breakfast club! A big thank you to our good friends at Air New Zealand Groups as well as Toyota, Millennium and Accor Hotels who helped Beatrice to engage with hundreds of kids.
Send us your stories to kickstart.breakfast@fonterra.com
KickStart Breakfast Ambassador Beatrice Faumuina with Keith and Nikitaprint -
Napier Mail published an article on Beatrice's visit at Tamatea Primary School in October. To read the full article please click on the pdf symbol.
bcfda16cc6e16b4375425bcdce26a80fb7325765.pdf print
Reference: Big brekky. (2010, November 3). Napier Mail, p.15. -
Protein is essential for growth, so it is a very important nutrient for growing children. Protein can be found in most foods, but the best sources are meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy products, pulses (like lentils and dried beans), nuts and seeds. Protein from the diet is broken down during digestion into things called peptides and amino acids. These are used by the body as building blocks for growing and maintaining all tissues - such as muscle, skin, internal organs, tendons, bones and hair. These are also essential for a healthy immune system and are an integral part of our genetic material - DNA.
Protein is made up of amino acids. There are 22 amino acids known to be important for human health and the body can make 13 of these on its own. The remaining nine amino acids are called "essential amino acids" because it is essential to get them from food and drinks.
Dairy protein is great for children because it naturally contains all nine essential amino acids within the one food. This means it is considered to be a good quality protein source, as opposed to some plant foods, which do not provide all essential amino acids within the same food.
Children don't need to get all their essential amino acids within the same meal; they can get them by eating a variety of different protein sources throughout the day.
Another reason dairy protein is so good for growing children is that it contains things that stimulate bone forming cells. We all know the calcium in milk is good for our bones, but the protein in milk is now known to be very good for bones too - especially growing bones.
Children need just under one gram (0.95g) of dietary protein per kilogram of their body weight per day, which is slightly more than what adults need (0.8g/kg/day) due to children's increased requirements for growth.
