Eating Breakfast – Just Try It!

For years we have heard it over and over, from our mothers, from health experts, from everywhere: eat breakfast, it is the most important meal of the day.

But just saying it doesn’t do the trick for people. If saying something was the way to get people to do things, then that would make so many of our jobs so much easier! We have to experience it for ourselves, and sometimes it is trial and error before we finally get the hang of it.

Excuses abound: “I’m not hungry.” “I don’t feel like eating.” “I tried it, but when I did, it was starving 2 hours later, so I stopped.”

So, let’s get to the bottom of this. There is loads of research on the benefits of breakfast including that is heaps keep weight down throughout life (the research covers child, adolescents, and adults). That tends to be the important for most people.

By the very definition of the word, break-fast, you need to fuel your brain and your body after the long fast you have had for the past 8-10-12 hours, depending on when your last meal was.

Breakfast should be within a couple of hours after you wake/get up, and it doesn’t have to be big. You can also spread it out over a couple of hours if you don’t tend to be hungry. It should total about 300-500 calories. Coffee or tea can be with your breakfast but shouldn’t be considered breakfast.

Your breakfast should consist of a whole grain carbohydrate, some protein with healthy fat, and some fruit. If you have just carbohydrate, like oatmeal and don’t have protein, you will digest it within an hour and, guess what? You will be hungry within a couple of hours!

Here are some suggestions:

• Whole grain toast with peanut butter and banana
• Whole wheat English muffin with an egg, one ounce of cheese, and slice tomato
• Oatmeal with chopped nuts and sliced or dried fruit
• Yogurt with fruit and granola (or high fiber cereal)
• Smoothie with fruit, soy milk or yogurt and 1/4 cup uncooked oatmeal (try it!).
• Half whole grain bagel with cream cheese and fruit or vegetable juice (be careful, bagels tend to be between 350-400 calories each without the cream cheese).
• Tortilla or pita with egg, cheese, and green chile only. If you start adding bacon and potatoes then you start adding calories, trade out something else, like the cheese for the bacon. (Classic New Mexico breakfast burritos can pack a 800-1200 calorie punch!)

Set a goal to have breakfast three times this week and work you way up to five times a week in a couple of months. Before you know it, it will be a part of you daily habit.

Eat Well, Live Well, Be Well – Starting Tomorrow Morning Sunshine!