At NACD, we emphasize the importance of brain health through nutrition. Research continues to show that high-sugar breakfasts lead to blood sugar spikes, crashes, and difficulties in learning and behavior. While this affects everyone, children with ADHD, autism, and other neurodevelopmental challenges often experience these effects more severely.

Many parents unknowingly fall into the trap of feeding their kids what they assume is a healthy breakfast. But much of what is marketed as a “balanced meal” is anything but.

Why the Standard American Breakfast Fails Kids

Most traditional breakfast foods are built around sugar and refined carbohydrates. Cereal, toast, bagels, waffles, pancakes, and flavored yogurts may seem like normal morning staples, but they spike blood sugar quickly.

When blood sugar rises too fast, kids may seem energetic at first, but soon after, their levels crash. This can lead to:

• Fatigue and sluggishness
• Difficulty focusing in school
• Emotional outbursts and irritability
• Strong cravings for more sugar

For children with special needs, these crashes can be especially problematic. Unstable blood sugar can contribute to hyperactivity, increased anxiety, aggression, and difficulties with emotional regulation.

Beyond the immediate impact, long-term exposure to high blood sugar contributes to inflammation, cognitive decline, and metabolic issues like insulin resistance. A morning blood sugar spike can also make children more prone to cravings throughout the day, setting them up for poor eating habits.

Read more: The Science of a Smart Breakfast

The Best Type of Breakfast for Brain Function and Stability

A well-balanced breakfast should be built around protein, healthy fats, and fiber. This combination helps stabilize blood sugar, sustain energy levels, and improve focus and behavior.

Rethinking Breakfast: It’s Just Another Meal

What we consider “breakfast food” is largely shaped by marketing and cultural history, not nutrition. There is no scientific reason why breakfast needs to include cereal, toast, or pancakes. In fact, many cultures around the world start their day with meals that resemble lunch or dinner—often including meats, vegetables, and healthy fats.

A child could just as easily eat chicken and roasted vegetables in the morning as they would in the evening. What matters most is the nutrient content, not the label of “breakfast food.”

Smart Breakfast Choices

Instead of relying on processed foods, focus on whole, nutrient-dense options.

Great choices include:

• Eggs, which provide high-quality protein and choline to support brain development
• Meat such as chicken, turkey, or beef, offering amino acids essential for neurotransmitter production
• Avocados, rich in healthy fats that support brain health
• Nuts and seeds, a great source of protein, fiber, and minerals
• Leafy greens and other vegetables packed with essential vitamins

For those who want a little sweetness, organic dates are a great alternative. Unlike refined sugars, dates contain fiber, vitamins, and minerals that slow down sugar absorption. They provide a natural sweetness without causing extreme spikes in blood sugar.

Fruit can also be part of a healthy breakfast when eaten alongside protein and fat to help balance blood sugar. A few berries with nuts, or apple slices paired with almond butter, can add flavor and nutrients without the negative effects of a sugar-heavy meal.

The Cereal Myth: How We Got It So Wrong

Many parents grew up believing that breakfast should include grains. That belief wasn’t shaped by science but by decades of cereal industry marketing. Companies spent millions convincing families that cereals, granola bars, and other processed grains were the best way to start the day.

The reality is that most of these products are ultra-processed, stripped of nutrients, and packed with sugar. Even those claiming to be “whole grain” often cause the same rapid spikes and crashes as refined sugar.

Making the Switch to a Healthier Breakfast

Changing a child’s breakfast routine doesn’t have to be difficult. Gradual adjustments help make the transition smoother.

• Start small by replacing one processed item at a time. Swap out cereal for eggs or replace toast with avocado and nuts.
• Focus on protein first. Ensuring kids get high-quality protein at breakfast helps stabilize blood sugar and keep them full longer.
• Reduce sugar gradually. If your child is used to sweet flavors, introduce healthier alternatives like organic dates or berries alongside protein and fats.
• Get kids involved. Let them help with planning and preparing breakfast. Giving them choices—within healthy options—makes them more likely to enjoy their meal and feel empowered.

Some simple meal ideas kids can help prepare:

• Scrambled eggs with spinach and chicken sausage
• Turkey and avocado roll-ups
• Roasted vegetables with shredded chicken
• Hard-boiled eggs with cucumber slices and hummus
• Sautéed greens with beef and olive oil

The Bigger Picture: A Healthier Future for Kids

At NACD, we work with families to develop customized programs that optimize brain function, learning, and development. The right nutrition is a key piece of that puzzle. By shifting away from sugar-heavy, processed breakfasts and embracing whole, nutrient-dense foods, parents can help their children improve focus, energy, and emotional stability—especially those with special needs.

A small change at breakfast can have a huge impact on a child’s ability to learn, regulate emotions, and thrive.

 Learn more about NACD’s approach and how we help families build healthier, stronger futures.

Reprinted by permission of The NACD Foundation, Volume 39 No. 1 , 2025 ©NACD

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Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing reported that children who ate breakfast more often had significantly higher IQ scores on the full scale, verbal, and performance tests. The study included 1,269 six-year-old children. After controlling for seven potential sociodemographic variables, the study found children who ate breakfast on a near-daily basis scored 4.6 points higher on the total IQ test, 5.58 points higher on the verbal, and 2.50 points higher on the performance part compared to children who frequently skipped eating their breakfast. Therefore, eating breakfast every morning appears to have immediate vital implications for the cognitive function of children. This research adds to other research reporting long-term implications such as smoking, alcohol use, and infrequent exercise all being associated with a lifestyle of not eating breakfast regularly.

The researchers also report that breakfast eating has nutritional and social aspects that both likely play a role. Children commonly eat breakfast with their parents, which allows for some additional one-on-one interaction during the day. NACD understands that it’s these times of one-on-one interaction with an adult that are vital to expanding a child’s cognitive abilities. Furthermore, breakfast literally means to “break a fast” of not eating all night long, and this is important to refuel the brain. However, NACD stresses that it is not just eating breakfast that is important; what your child eats is perhaps even more important!

Eating breakfasts high in sugar and artificial sugars, such as Pop-Tarts or Captain Crunch, are usually detrimental for a child’s cognitive function. Therefore, aim for breakfasts high in protein, such as eggs, nuts, and lean meats, with plenty of fruits and vegetables. Be wary of dairy, wheat, and other grains, which are common sources of food sensitivities. Food sensitivities may be a problem for your child if three or more of the following apply to your child: sometimes congested; history of ear infections; frequent ups and downs in behavior; poor attention span at times; night or morning coughing spells; variable hearing that is sometimes good and sometimes poor; post-nasal drip; headaches; digestive issues; or periods of restlessness.

For more information on food sensitivities please read our article here.

Source

• Can breakfast make kids smarter? (2013) Science in Action. University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. http://www.nursing.upenn.edu/sia/Pages/Can-Breakfast-Make-tiids-Smarter.aspx

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• Potato peelings—cut into the potato about a half inch and discard the center
• Apple peelings
• Carrots, including tops
• Celery, including leaves
• Okra
• Beets, including tops
• Italian parsley
• Green pepper
• Parsnip
• Zucchini
• Cucumber
• Green cabbage
• Broccoli
• Kale
• Onion
• Ginger
• Garlic
• Spinach
• Dandelion greens
• Asparagus

Chop or grate vegetables and greens. Bring to a slow boil and simmer 20 minutes. Strain off broth and drink at least 2 cups each day—more when healing acute conditions. Add 1 tbs. of Rice Bran Syrup after straining to enrich it with B vitamins and silicon. You may also add 2-3 tbs. of Dr. Jensen’s Vegetable Seasoning.

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Recommended especially for arthritis, rheumatism, and osteoporosis. Keep in mind these conditions are symptoms, not the disease.

Note: Although you might think using a veal joint is using meat, it is not. A real meat broth is high in uric acid. Meat contains the uric acid, which can be harmful in many cases of arthritis, rheumatism, and osteoporosis as well as kidney problems. But there is no uric acid in veal joint broth. It is made strictly from the joint material, and it acts like a protomorphogen, which means we get life from life. And since we are using a material that is already organized by the animal, to be used by our body, our digestion doesn’t have to sort it out, reassemble and digest the food, and make it into what the blood can use. Thus it will finally become our joints.Buy a fresh, uncut veal joint and wash it in cold water. Put it in a large cooking pot with distilled water and add the following:

• Potato peelings—cut into the potato about a half inch and discard the center
• Apple peelings
• Carrots, including tops
• Celery, including leaves
• Okra
• Beets, including tops
• Italian parsley
• Green pepper
• Parsnip
• Zucchini
• Cucumber
• Green cabbage
• Broccoli
• Kale
• Onion
• Ginger
• Garlic
• Spinach
• Dandelion greens
• Asparagus

Chop or grate vegetables and greens. Bring to a slow boil and simmer 20 minutes. Strain off broth and drink 2 cups each day. Add 1 tbs. of Rice Bran Syrup after straining to enrich broth with B vitamins and silicon. You may also add 2-3 tbs. of Dr. Jensen’s Broth or Vegetable Seasoning.

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When purchasing raw goat milk it is imperative that you check out the farm and their methodology: i.e. are the goats organically fed; how are they milked and how is the milk stored; do they milk when the goats are being de-wormed; do they use any hormones or antibiotics; etc. Also, only use raw goat milk when breast milk is not available, and you know the integrity of the farm. If you are desiring it for health benefits you can get even more benefits from raw goat yogurt. Otherwise you can make nut milks.

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Buffalo Milk Vs. Cow Milk

No difference in nutritive value: There is practically no difference in the nutritive value and digestibility of milk and milk products obtained from cow and buffalo milks.

Lower cholesterol content: Significantly, cholesterol content of buffalo milk is 0.65 mg/g as compared to the corresponding value of 3.14 mg/g for cow milk.

More proteins: Animal bioassays have shown the Protein Efficiency Ratio (PER) value of buffalo milk proteins to be 2.74 and that of cow milk as 2.49. It will be seen that buffalo milk has about 11.42 per cent higher protein than cow milk.

More important minerals: Buffalo milk is also superior to cow milk in terms of important minerals, namely calcium, iron and phosphorus which are higher by 92 per cent, 37.7 per cent and 118 per cent respectively than those present in cow milk.

More vitamin A: Buffalo metabolizes all the carotene into vitamin A, which is passed on to milk as such.

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Symptoms ranging from “feeling bad all over,” to allergy-like symptoms and symptoms mimicking those of hypothyroidism and hypoglycemia. Other symptoms include: abdominal discomfort, anxiety, arthritis pain, bloating, canker sores, colitis, constipation, coughs, depression, diarrhea, dizzy spells, enteritis, fatigue, food intolerance, headaches, heartburn, hiatial hernia, impotence, insomnia, irritability, joint pain, menstrual and sex problems including loss of interest, muscle pain, nasal congestion, numbness, pelvic pain, poor memory, premenstrual tension, prostatitis, environmental sensitivities, sinusitis, sterility, tingling, urinary infection, and vaginitis, among others.

Major sources in food are milk sugars and wheat products. The bacteria feeds on sugars, and yeast containing foods like bread, processed grains, cake, cheese, candy, soft drinks, beer, wine, syrup, honey, root beer, cider, ketchup, processed meats, canned or frozen fruit, and fruit juices—even fruits in general—smoked meats, dried fruits, coffee, tea, melons, buttermilk, sour cream, and all processed foods.

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Before an infant is born it lives on the mother’s blood, which circulates through the fetus. Upon birth it lives on mother’s milk. An infant is given its start solely through the mother. The vital beginning for bones, organs and glands lies in the health of the mother during and after pregnancy as well as many years before conception. If the mother pursued such adverse habits as drug use before birth, has other health conditions that might prevent advantageous nursing, or if the mother is disturbed by family situations, is miserable and unhappy, or is plagued by problems (this will have an effect on her milk), it might be advisable to review the alternatives listed below.

FACTS

The average age of weaning in the U.S. is three months. However, the average age for weaning worldwide is 4.2 years. The World Health Organization states that babies should be breastfed for at least two years, which is the average age for the immune system’s maturation. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breastfeeding for a minimum of one year.

Many people feel that once a baby is eating a well-rounded diet of solid food, there is no reason to continue nursing. However, there certainly are benefits to breastfeeding past this point.

NUTRITION

Breastmilk is the most nutritionally dense food available to a growing child. Studies have shown that breastfed children over a year old take in significantly more energy and nutrients than non-nursers. Studies have also shown that children who are breast-fed have higher IQ’s. Mother’s milk can provide as much as a third of a toddler’s calorie and protein needs, and the majority of a child’s vitamin A, vitamin C, and iron. Toddlers are notoriously picky eaters, and it can be difficult to ensure they are getting enough high-quality nutrients.

IMMUNITY

The disease-protective factors in breastmilk do not diminish over time; in fact, they become more concentrated as the child matures. This is nature’s way of protecting the older child who is increasingly more mobile and thus exposed to more sources of infection. Studies show that many of the immune-protecting benefits of long-term breastfeeding may be life long. Nursing children are continuously protected day-to-day from the antibodies in their mother’s milk.

EMOTIONAL BONDING

Nursing releases strong mothering hormones that deepen the bond between mother and child. Nursing provides physical contact for the toddler, who is now very active, and provides a powerful means of comfort to a sick or hurt child.

MOTHER’S BENEFITS

A woman’s risk of breast and ovarian cancer as well as osteoporosis decreases proportionally the longer she breastfeeds.

FURTHER TOPICS

• CALMING FEARS OF LONG-TERM NURSING
• SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES: THE ILL MOTHER AND/OR THE ILL CHILD
• DRUGS AND BREASTFEEDING

ALTERNATIVES TO BREASTFEEDING

GOAT MILK

Goat milk is the best food for a baby. It compares in chemical balance to a mother’s milk, and nature built mother’s milk to nurture, not to harm. Milk balance is necessary for bone structure, glandular balance, good teeth, and strong, developed jaws. As a tonic for growing children it is unexcelled in its power to resist disease. Goat milk works its wonders through cleansing and rebuilding abilities.

Diseases are developed in today’s youth by current milk treatment. I believe a good deal of infantile paralysis is due to the free use of pasteurized milk. NO PASTEURIZED MILK HAS THE SAME VITAL QUALITIES AS RAW GOAT MILK. Pasteurized milk is constipating. Calves fed pasteurized milk have died within a month. Never use pasteurized or homogenized milk if health is your goal.

Let’s compare goat milk with cow milk: Goat milk is a far better emulsion than cow’s milk; the oil globules of goat milk are one-fifth the size of cow’s milk; the reaction of goat milk is alkaline (the same as mother’s milk), whereas cow milk gives an acid reaction; the curd in goat milk is small and flocculent, hence easily digested and assimilated, while cow milk has large dense curd that is largely indigestible and causes an excess of catarrh and constipation; the goat is a browser fond of herbs and barks (as opposed to a cow, which is a grazer), and thus its milk is high in silicon—silicon is the enemy of tuberculosis, which is never found among goats or goat milk but flourishes among cows; goat milk is naturally homogenized, but in our attempt to duplicate this process in cow milk something went wrong; and, finally, The Journal of the American Medical Association, the official organization of 100,000 physicians in the U.S., under the heading “Dietetics and Hygiene” says: “The goat is the healthiest domestic animal known. Goat milk is superior in every way to cow’s milk. Goat milk is the ideal food for babies, convalescents and invalids, especially those with weakened digestive powers. Goat milk is the most healthful and complete food known.”

Why is goat milk the best tonic available? Because of the properties and percentage composition of Goat Milk (see chart). Such a composition makes goat milk an almost perfect food for man, containing all 16 vital elements and in quantities closely paralleling that of the human body.

Goats are the flourin animals, and the flourin content of the milk is high. Flourin, known as the “anti-resistant” element, is successful in clearing catarrhal (toxic mucous) conditions that have settled in the body. It is reconstructive, healing, and curative due to the element balance and overall composition. It acts as a cement, giving hardness to teeth and bones. Flourin also enters into the skin composition, nails, hair, arterial walls, and solid membranes. It is necessary to spleen function. It is antiseptic and combats anything that threatens the integrity of the bones, nails or membranes. Oxygen is powerless against flourin-fortified teeth. However, flourin is volatile and unstable; heat destroys it. Pasteurized milk causes tooth decay for that reason.

It is high in choline, known as the “great cleanser” of the body, whose germicidal properties heal wounds and injuries, benefit the bloodstream, and aid heart function. Choline helps purify the cells by eliminating decomposed water and impurities, preventing hydrosis and dropsical conditions.

Sulphur enters nearly all body protein and thus is essential for general well-being. It cools the brain.

Zinc found in goat milk attacks respiratory disorders, helps prevent cardiac abnormalities, epilepsy, neuralgia, and gastralgia.

Sodium, known as the “youth” element, is the star in goat milk. It maintains body youth, limber and pliable joints, and counteracts acidosis by purifying the blood stream. Goat milk is the highest sodium food known! Sodium acts upon the stomach walls and intestinal tract; it is active in the blood, serous and mucous structure, throat walls, pancreas, spleen, alimentary tract, and secretory glands. It helps keep blood fibrin in solution and effects metabolism. Additionally, it is found in joints, bones, cartilage, liver, muscles, blood vessels and brain corpuscles.

Goat milk contains magnesium, the digestive element; thus it is easy to digest.

Goat milk contains more vitamins than any other food (see chart).

Finally, and most importantly, animal phosphorous as found in goat milk is essential to the brain. It is virtually unavailable to the vegetable kingdom. In goat milk it is highly evolved and less sublimated. It is easily assimilated. Dr. V. G. Rocine termed goat milk, “It contains mind stuff.” Goat milk cholesterol is superior for the human brain because of the higher percentage of chemical salts it has. Cholesterol is of a finer composition in goat milk and thus has a higher value for bone marrow, communication fibers in the brain, nerve structures, endolymph in ears, spinal ganglia, nerve nets, and brain cells. There is no better food to be found for our children’s wonderful thought machine.

Many babies suffer from lactic acid indigestion, diarrhea, vomiting and colic. Often they are overfed, or overfed formula with sugars that have fermented in their systems. Goat milk helps the baby’s disposition, especially if the mother is nervous, fussy, angry or stressed. The goat is a serene creature not subject to fear, hysteria, disappointments, nervousness, overeating, neurosis or jealousy.

FURTHER TOPICS

• GOAT MILK PRODUCTS FOR HEALING
• SOY, SEED AND NUT BUTTER MILKS
• DANGERS OF FORMULA

SOLID FOODS

FURTHER TOPICS

• CREATING AN ACID-ALKALINE BALANCE
• FOOD IS FOR HEALING
• FOODS THAT HARM
• RECIPES, AND PROTOCOL FOR THE DOWN CHILD
• SUPPLEMENTATION
• MYTHS OF VITAMINS

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