NNM: National School Breakfast Week

Heyyy . I hope all of my Charlotte friends are keeping dry today. It is pretty rainy here and it’s supposed to turn into an icy mess later! I’m generally not one to complain about the weather, but I am definitely ready to see a little bit of sun outside.

Anyway, enough about the weather… I want to talk about nutrition stuff .

Did you know that March is National Nutrition Month? This is a little exciting for me because it’s the first time I can celebrate NNM as an RD. So in honor of that, I will be doing a special National Nutrition Month post every Thursday for the month of March.

To kick this off, I want to talk about a topic that is near and dear to my heart: school breakfast. March 3-7 is National School Breakfast Week, a week-long celebration of how important school breakfast is for students. The theme this year is “Take Time for School Breakfast”.

You may or may not know that I have worked in school nutrition for the past 6 years. Working in this field really cultivated my love for nutrition and inspired me to become a registered dietitian. My job has definitely opened my eyes to food insecurity in the US and made me realize how important it is to provide nourishing meals to children when they are at school.

I think it is easy for breakfast time to get lost in the hustle and bustle of everything that goes on in the morning. However, we know that breakfast is pretty important to students.

This study found that breakfast eaters performed better on math problems than non-breakfast eaters.

This review of experimental studies suggested that overnight and morning fasts adversely affected memory and attention in school-aged children.

This review suggests that test grades, attendance and memory may be improved with breakfast consumption.

This is a great report that summarizes the importance of good nutrition and learning.

Please be an advocate for school breakfast! Even if a child eats a well-balanced meal at home, his or her learning could be disrupted by other students who don’t have that opportunity. Here are some specific things that come in to play when discussing school breakfast:

• Time: It is important that students have adequate time to eat. Has there ever been a time when you have had 10 minutes to eat a meal? Did it make you feel rushed and stressed? This is probably not the best way for students to start their days.
• Environment: A calm and peaceful environment helps students develop healthy relationships with food.
• Breakfast in the classroom: Taking breakfast to the classroom increases learning time for students. Principals and teachers have reported that BIC programs have decreased tardiness issues and resulted in improved behavior.
• Second chance breakfast: This is a great opportunity for students to be able to eat something in the morning even if they miss breakfast before school starts.

Have you seen any National School Breakfast Week celebrations in your area? I would love to hear about them

Have a great night!