Last year, my buddy Dr. Yoni Freedhoff made a post about how it was ridiculous that the Cleveland Clinic was promoting National Eat Ice Cream For Breakfast Day. My brother, Dr. Karl Nadolsky, made a comment how it is fine to have a treat now and then, which of course I agree with. But I started thinking about what kids usually eat for breakfast anyway, and it turns out that it probably doesn’t even matter.
Look at the above comparison. Note that I did add in a 1/2 cup of 2% milk for the cereal. Even if I used skim it would only change the calories by about 23. What I am not sure of is how much kids would actually eat if allowed to serve themselves. The serving of cereal is only 3/4 cup, which is easily outdone in a standard cereal bowl (probably 2 servings eaten). The ice cream is based on a 1/2 cup serving, which would likely be outdone as well. I also don’t know which one would do a better job at keeping the kid fuller for longer and decrease food eaten at the next meal. I hypothesize it would be similar based on past experiments.
Yes the cereal has been fortified with vitamins and minerals, but nothing a Flintstone vitamin wouldn’t fix. So in the end, if you’re going to give your kids some sugary cereal, you might as well just give them ice cream!
Or you could go with eggs, oats, fruit, and other more wholesome and filling high fiber/protein foods!
