: Article Summary: Nutritionists believe that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Here Catherine Saxelby puts forward the 4 key reasons not to skip it.
* Why allow time for breakfast?
* Looking for ideas
· Kids racing out the door?
Why allow time for breakfast?
The word breakfast literally means to 'break the fast' from the 8 or so hours since your last meal the night before. Your body is crying out for starter fuel to spring into action and gear up for the day ahead.
Eating breakfast has also been identified as one of seven healthy habits that promote long life and good health. But as well as giving you more energy and sustenance, there are 4 key reasons to eat breakfast:
1. Better focus and concentration
Researchers have found that people who eat a balanced breakfast can concentrate better and are more efficient at their work than those who skip it. For kids, there's no doubt that breakfast is a must. Children who miss breakfast are less alert during the late morning hours and find it hard to concentrate.
Study after study shows that children who skip breakfast report tiredness and lethargy. They have trouble concentrating on the morning's lessons and find complex mental tasks difficult. Breakfast enhances:
* working memory
* problem-solving abilities
* accuracy on maths and other complex tasks (which teachers often schedule for the morning)
* creative thinking.
Most children miss breakfast for one of two reasons:
5. Lack of time
6. They are too tired and don't feel like eating in the morning.
If this sounds like your child, offer something light like fruit or a bowl of flake cereal with milk. Eating breakfast often helps children to wake up!
Even factory workers who skip breakfast have been found to be more accident prone and have a lower production output compared to those who have something to eat in the morning.
2. Weight loss
Research shows that breakfast somehow 'speeds up' our metabolism - you burn food faster! Whatever we consume in the mornings is burnt off more readily than foods consumed in the afternoon or evening, something that shift workers often recognise when they swap from day to night shifts.
3. Keeps you on track
Researchers have found that people who eat a healthy breakfast are less likely to breakout and snack on fatty sugary food later that morning. Breakfast also stops you heading for the mid-morning munchies of doughnuts, muffins or hot chips.
4. Ensures you get your fibre
Wholegrain or bran cereals, wholemeal toast, fruit and baked beans are high in fibre and are an easy way to make sure you get enough for the rest of the day.
Looking for ideas?
Cold breakfasts
* Muesli or bran cereal with low-fat milk and sliced banana or sliced pear
* Tub of strawberry yoghurt topped with sliced strawberries or blueberries and banana
* Smoothie made with low-fat milk or soy milk, ½ cup frozen berries and 1 tablespoon oat bran or rice bran
* Cheese slice or stick with 3-4 crackers or crispbread
* A sandwich made the night before plus a carton of flavoured milk.
Hot breakfasts
* Small can baked beans on wholemeal toast
* Bread, crumpet or raisin toast with peanut butter, yeast spread or cheese
* Boiled or poached egg on grainy toast
* Egg, scrambled and cooked 1-minute in a cup in the microwave
* 3-egg omelette with mushrooms or tomatoes
* Thick raisin toast with ricotta and honey
* Milky coffee (cappuccino, latte, flat white) with bran and sultana muffin
* Grilled cheese and tomato on grainy toast.
Kids racing out the door?
If your child wants to rush off to school without eating, give them a breakfast bar to munch on the way to school or just a glass of milk or drinking yoghurt so at least they have something to see them through the morning. Another option is to mix a handful of dry cereal with dried fruit and nuts into a plastic bag or container. It is not ideal but it's preferable to arriving at school with nothing to eat - the bar/cereal and milk provides carbohydrates, some protein, B vitamins, calcium plus a little fibre.
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