Why We Eat Fruit with Breakfast Every Day

Enjoy fruit with breakfast every day. Your kids will thank you some day.

Good morning, Super Healthy families! Today we want to talk about fruit, and how to jump-start your day of healthful eats by including fruit with your kids’ breakfast every day.

Including fruit for breakfast does more than deliver great nutrition: it teaches kids how important it is to start the day with fresh, plant-based foods.

If we parents offer fruit with our kids’ breakfasts consistently when they are young, our kids will take the fruit-for-breakfast habit with them into adulthood. And since fruit packs a punch of vitamins, antioxidants and fiber, that’s a goal we can all hope to accomplish!

I remember my first year in college, when I lived in the dorms and ate at the college refectory. The breakfast fare was typical cafeteria food: piles of pancakes, Froot Loops in plastic dispensers, and soggy scrambled eggs. There wasn’t much in the way of good nutrition there, but I would always take an apple from the small bowl of whole fruit at the end of the line.

I knew that fruit gave me energy without excess calories, sweetness without fat, and lots of vitamins to boot.

Now I still love fruit for breakfast, and I love serving it to my kids, too. We tuck it into our Healthy Habits plate along with some eggs and toast or oatmeal with peanut butter.

Choosing Fruit

Do you need some fresh ideas for fruits you can include with your kids’ breakfasts? Keep an eye out for seasonal picks (find them at the store by looking for what’s on sale, or asking the manager in the produce section.)

Or try some of these, which are easy to reach for even on super busy mornings:

• Banana slices
• Orange segments
• Fresh berries
• Kiwis
• Cantaloupe
• Half a grapefruit
• Grapes
• Apples
• Pears

Got a little more time in the mornings? Try some of these fruit-rich recipes:

• Healthy Banana Splits
• Quinoa Breakfast with Mango and Coconut
• Kid-Friendly Breakfast Smoothie Bowls
• Breakfast Berry Cobbler
• Apple Cinnamon Breakfast Bar
• Breakfast Date Bread

Enjoy these ideas, and remember to shoot for variety when you serve fruit with breakfast. And enjoy mornings with your kids by sharing fresh fruit together! What’s your favorite way to serve fruit with breakfast?