If you’re like me, you have probably heard this saying a million and one times over your lifetime so far. It probably came out of the mouth of your parents before they sent you off to school for the day. But, if you’re like me, you also think “oh well, I’m not that hungry right now, I’ll be fine.” I always used to have problems getting up in the morning and then eating, it always made me feel sick to my stomach after, so I got into the habit of not eating breakfast. It wasn’t until I decided to completely change my life around that I knew I had to tackle this problem I have with breakfast. Some may not like to admit it, but your parents were actually right about something!
I decided to look into why it is so important to eat breakfast, and I’d like to share the ideas I’ve found in my search. Typically you spend around 8 hours sleeping, that’s 8 hours you go without eating any food or drinking any water. When you wake up, you’re dehydrated, your blood sugar is low and you have little energy. Breakfast actually helps you lose weight because most people who skip breakfast have a tendency to snack on foods throughout the day, and usually pick unhealthy foods to fill their cravings. Feeding yourself a healthy breakfast of complex carbs, proteins and fats should prevent your feeding the vending machine any money before lunch. Eating refined carbohydrates such as sugary cereals, toasted white bread, waffles, or bagels will likely begin an overeating cycle. Instead, always choose complex carbs, proteins and fats. Whole wheat toast with peanut butter and a banana, or a bowl of high-fiber cereal with low-fat milk and blueberries are good examples.
If you don’t eat breakfast because you are not sure what to eat, there are lots of things to choose from. Every morning I always have two omega-3 eggs, a piece of whole grain toast, ½ a banana and a cup of skim milk. Before I eat it I wake up groggy and lacking in energy, but after I am done eating, I feel like I have enough energy to start my day. If you have a hectic schedule and find you have to no time to eat, there are always options out there for you. Bake some low fat bran muffins earlier in the week and grab a couple before heading out the door, it’s always better to eat something than nothing at all. Or you could try grabbing some whole wheat bagels, and spread some light peanut butter on it and add a few raisons. You can make waffles once a week and freeze the leftovers and then pop them in the toaster to warm them up for a quick breakfast. Fruit smoothies are always a good choice as well. If you are an egg lover like me but don’t want to eat all the added fats that are in the yolk of regular eggs, there are omega-3 eggs which offer healthy fats or you can pick up a few cartons of egg whites. Eggs don’t take very long to make and they always satisfy my cravings. I usually dip my whole grain bread into the yolk to add flavour to my bread since I don’t use any butter or margarines.
Then there’s always fresh raw fruit that you can grab when you’re on the go in the morning or a healthy granola bar. There are tons of healthy breakfast food choices out there, so there should be no more excuses for skipping!