Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but many fun-looking, sweet-tasting and heavily advertised breakfast cereals swamp the bloodstream with sugar, triggering a compensating release of insulin to bring the sugar level down. The resultant low energy “sugar dip” can cause mood swings and difficulties in concentration. This blood sugar rollercoaster can also lead to serious health problems.

To give a slow release of sugar into the bloodstream at breakfast go for oat muesli livened with nuts, seeds and dried fruit, or porridge with nuts. Alternatives are eggs on toast, omelette with cheese or ham, or sugar-free cereals with fresh fruit.

If your chid is turning up their nose at these, a smoothie might do the trick. Berries, bananas – whatever soft fruit is available, but blend it with protein rich yoghurt and perhaps some oats or nuts to give that sustained release of sugar to the brain throughout the morning.