"The Importance of Breakfast"

The American Dietetic Association says breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

Eating breakfast not only aids in weight management, it fuels the body to help provide energy, better concentration and problem-solving ability throughout the day, according to the food and nutrition experts at the American Dietetic Association.
There are plenty of reasons why individuals do this, be it that they are too busy to prepare something, think that saving the calories from this meal will help them with weight loss or simply just do not like breakfast foods.


"The Benefits Of Breakfast"


Despite the healthful benefits, breakfast may be the meal that is most often neglected or skipped, this is unfortunate because not eating in the morning is going to cause you to become ravenous later on in the day, making it that much harder to control your hunger and food selection. When you are out at work or running errands, you might find that your selection of foods to choose from is much more limited to vending machine fair and that is not something that is going to do your diet justice.


It is generally seen that individuals who do consume up to a 1/3 of their daily calories in the morning meal will eat less later on that day. When you don't, your body tends to want to play catch-up with the calories and often surpasses what you would have eaten otherwise.


Additionally, without having some fuel in your system, you simply will not have the same concentration levels that you otherwise would and your work or school performance is going to suffer. You wouldn't try and drive an empty car to work would you? So why drive an empty body?


Breakfast doesn't have to always be traditional breakfast food. It is perfectly fine to have last night's leftovers the next day if you simply cannot stomach typical cereal or toast. You might even find that dinner type food is more easily transportable to take to the office so if you are in a rush you can just eat at your desk. We all know that milk and cereal wouldn't quite hold out in this circumstance.


Another option for those who have issues with solids in the morning is to simply create a breakfast shake. There are a multitude of recipes out there that will work with any taste bud preferences. The important thing is to try and get some protein and carbs in with the shake as well as preferably some fat. This will provide some sustaining energy that will power you through the morning.


"Beware Of Carb Only Meals"


Whatever you do, just do NOT eat a carbohydrate only breakfast. This will cause a drastic increase in blood sugar levels, particularly if they are refined carbohydrates, and then a significant drop, which will have you turning to any edible product around. Examples of what not to eat would be a single donut, a plain bagel, one apple, etc. Rather have (if you must) a donut with some yogurt, a bagel with peanut butter, and apple with a small piece of low fat cheese and so on. This will help to give you a complete meal, one in which your body will appreciate much more.


There are many different cereal bars that are out on the market today and I would caution you against grabbing one of these for breakfast. Typically they are simply just carbs and only about 100-200 calories. This is not substantial enough to pass for a meal and the fact it is just simple carbohydrates again will leave you with the problem presented above.


So tomorrow morning set your alarm 10 minutes earlier to give yourself a chance to have a morning meal. Your body and mind will thank you later on in the day

Here is what I PERSONALLY eat for breakfast during a regular working week:

"Simple to Fix Breakfasts"

1.Sunday Breakfast: Veggie omelet (two eggs, diced red or green peppers, diced onions, halved cherry or grape tomatoes, salt, pepper, turmeric)

2.Monday Breakfast: Protein energy bar ( Muscle Milk Bars, lactose free )

3.Tuesday Breakfast: Oatmeal with walnuts and blueberries

4.Wednesday Breakfast: Fresh banana along with handful of almonds or granola mix.

5.Thursday Breakfast: Yogurt and fruit smoothie

6.Friday Breakfast: Whole wheat toast spread with peanut butter, fresh apple or pear

7.Saturday Breakfast: Cottage cheese, mandarin oranges, rye crackers