Resources for a Healthy, Creditable Breakfast
August 30, 2022
Managing sugar at breakfast time for children is a tall order. In fact, research shows that kids are notoriously targeted for advertising that amps up their taste for sugary foods in the morning. One study published in the Journal of Community Health found that “children viewed 1.7 ads per day for ready-to-eat cereals, and 87% of those ads promoted high-sugar products; adults viewed half as many ads, and ads viewed were equally likely to promote high- and low-sugar cereals.”
Thankfully, the Child and Adult Care Food Program is specific about how much sugar is acceptable in two of the most common breakfast foods, such as yogurt and cereal. These sugar limits, in addition to the prescribed meal components and serving sizes, help create a framework for a healthy start to the day at your childcare site or home daycare.
Still, navigating those sugar limits and meal components can be tricky in and of themselves! If you find that you need a helping hand putting together a low-sugar, creditable breakfast, check out these resources.
This resource, available in English and Spanish, teaches you three ways to determine if a breakfast cereal is within the CACFP sugar limit. Once you’ve got it down, move on to the worksheet section to practice!
This guide from USDA Food and Nutrition Service is in English and Spanish. It gives detailed information on the sugar limits in cereal. Then, this guide teaches a formula to use to calculate whether a breakfast cereal will meet the sugar requirements for the CACFP, and there’s a handy chart available as well.
This bright one-pager is a quick guide on checking to see if a specific yogurt is creditable in the CACFP based on its sugar content.
This guide from USDA Food and Nutrition Service is in English and Spanish. It gives detailed information on the sugar limits in yogurt. Then, this guide teaches a formula to use to calculate whether a yogurt will meet the sugar requirements for the CACFP, and there’s a handy chart available as well.
Meats/meat alternates can be served in lieu of the grains component up to three times per week for breakfast. Some healthy breakfast meats/meat alternates may include peanut butter, eggs and cottage cheese! This guide from the USDA, available in English and Spanish, gives detailed information on including meats and meat alternates at breakfast time. It also has important reminders and tips for a healthy morning meal!