Blazers skip vital pre-lunch munch

Junior Devin Grasty is still in dreamland at 5:55 a.m. as he drags himself into the bathroom. He showers, brushes his teeth and climbs into a stiff pair of Polo jeans. Slinging his backpack over one shoulder, Grasty heads for the door—the freezer door, behind which he unearths a last-minute breakfast: Ben & Jerry's Coconut Mango Rum ice cream.

While doctors affirm the importance of the morning munch, Grasty and other Blazers admit to having unhealthy eating habits.

Fuel in school

Junior Emma Hatton got breakfast for free during the last quarter of her sophomore year. But Hatton was not on a meal plan; she just got lucky thanks to her own no-calorie torpor. "I never ate breakfast last year, so I always fell asleep during first block," admits Hatton. "My teacher yelled at me to eat breakfast. I didn't, and from then on he brought me breakfast in his class."

Some Blazers that get Blair breakfast get it not from sympathetic teachers but from the school breakfast program. Senior Roseline Joseph buys a $1 school breakfast most mornings but says that she reaps the consequences other days when she skips the meal. "When I don't eat breakfast, my stomach grumbles and it's hard to think," says Joseph.

Blair Food Services worker Maddalena Bianchini serves an average of 150 meals every morning and is an ardent advocate of the school breakfast program. "My goal serving breakfast is to reach as many students as possible. I have made it a personal crusade because I know children need to be able to concentrate on their work," says Bianchini. "I'd be willing to open to 9:00 a.m. if I could increase the count."

Chew on this

Some students would rather spend a breakfast buck elsewhere, like at the vending machines along Blair Blvd (see Junk food rules have little impact on health, Silver Chips, Oct 2001). Junior Candyce Elmore, for example, starts her day off with Grandma's Soft'n Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies, and senior September Anderson breaks her fast with a Fruitworks Peach Papaya soft drink. But Donald MacNamara, executive director of Egg Nutrition Center, says such sugary food on an empty stomach makes a person's blood sugar level peak and then plummet, causing a swing in mood and attention.

A balanced breakfast rich in protein and complex carbohydrates and low in sugar and caffeine is the right way to start your day, according to MacNamara. Eggs are a good idea. Chocolate pudding is not. But according to pediatrician Ellie Hamburger, something is better than nothing.

As nutrition educator Sandra Baxter pondered in an American Dietary Association press release, "We wouldn't attempt to drive a car for long distances when the fuel gauge reads empty, so why should we expect children to be at peak performance without fueling their bodies?"

Breakfast is fuel, and fuel makes us go.

MacNamara affirms that in addition to facilitating retention of academic studies, a good breakfast helps a student maintain good overall nutrition, a positive self-image and a healthy body weight. "The old adage that breakfast is the most important meal of the day still holds true," says MacNamara.

In a Silver Chips poll of 108 students during the week of September 27 in the SAC, 55 percent said that they usually skip breakfast on school days. Of those students who did not eat breakfast, 59 percent said that they generally have trouble focusing during their classes before lunch. Most blamed the clock for their breakfast abandonment, citing lack of time as an excuse not to eat, while the remainder reported having no appetite early in the morning.

Daily values

Of the minority of students who do usually eat breakfast on school days, more than two-thirds polled said they eat sugar-packed foods like Pop Tarts or sweet cereals. The majority of breakfasters had no difficulty concentrating during their pre-lunch blocks.

Hamburger maintains the overriding importance of breakfast over those last, fleeting moments of beauty rest. "If it costs you five minutes of sleep to get a bowl of cereal before you head out the door, then lose five minutes of sleep," she says.

Grasty says he knows the error in his ways but does not intend to kick the Ben & Jerry's habit. "The ice cream's just a quick sugar high," he admits. "It gives me the energy to wake up and walk to the bus stop, but [my energy] is all downhill from there."