Wednesday, January 11, 2012
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“Rock Your Morning With Breakfast” campaign to teach children the importance of eating a healthy breakfast
Eating a healthy breakfast every morning helps children
do better in school, be more active and reduce their chance for
obesity. Unfortunately, many children are not eating a healthy breakfast
every morning, and some even skip it. The “Rock Your Morning With
Breakfast” campaign hopes to change all that by educating parents and
children about which foods to eat and why they should always start their
day with breakfast.
The campaign will begin January 2012 and
will involve outreach efforts at area elementary schools to educate
parents and children about healthy eating habits.
“Eating
breakfast is directly connected to better test scores, better behavior
and fewer absences in elementary school students,” noted Ray Denniston,
special project coordinator for Food Services at Broome-Tioga BOCES.
“Despite this, many children are coming to school without having
breakfast, or are not eating the right foods if they do.”
Julie
Tucker, registered dietician at Broome-Tioga BOCES, explains that
eating a healthy breakfast doesn’t have to be hard, or expensive.
“Mixing fruit with oatmeal or having whole grain cereal with milk are
some easy and delicious ways to eat healthy every morning.”
Bookmarks
listing healthy breakfast suggestions, as well as recipe cards, will be
handed out to area elementary school students during the campaign. The
materials feature Rex and Roxy, the cavemen mascots for the UHS Stay
Healthy Kids program.
“Rex and Roxy are fun characters that
kids can relate to,” says Patricia Fell, director of Community Health
Services at UHS Stay Healthy. “Just like them, Rex and Roxy are trying
to find ways to eat better and live more active lifestyles.”
Rex
and Roxy were created by “B.C.” comic strip artist Mason Mastroianni.
The mascots will be making appearances at area elementary schools during
the campaign to encourage students to eat a healthy breakfast.
“Rock
Your Morning With Breakfast” is supported by Broome-Tioga BOCES Rock on
Café, UHS Stay Healthy Kids, the Broome County Health Department,
Binghamton University, NYSUT, the Food Bank of the Southern Tier and
WSKG.
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