Hear Me Blah: Have you ate your breakfast today?

In this modern world where people live in fast lanes, mostly will skip breakfast (approximately 15 per cent of teenagers and one-third of adults don’t eat breakfast). The majority reasons are: no time, too tired to bother, need more the extra time dozing in bed and no readily available breakfast foods in the house.

Well, actually, Breakfast is considered an important meal because it breaks the overnight fasting period, replenishes your supply of glucose and provides other essential nutrients to keep your energy levels up throughout the day.

For additional info: Glucose is the body’s energy source. It is broken down and absorbed from the carbohydrates you eat. In the morning, after you have gone without food for as long as 12 hours, your glucose levels have dropped. Your body compensates by releasing the glucose that has been stored in your muscle tissue and liver, called glycogen.

Once all of the energy from the glycogen stores is used up, your body starts to break down fatty acids to produce the energy it needs. Without carbohydrate, fatty acids are only partially oxidized, which can cause reduced energy levels.

So eating breakfast can boost your energy levels as well as your metabolism for the day.

Extensive research in world wide has found that

Many children who skip breakfast are significantly heavier than those who eat breakfast
Skipping breakfast can diminish mental performance. Breakfast helps learning, as you are better able to pay attention and are more interested in learning.
Eating high fiber breakfast cereals reduces fatigue.
Children who eat an inadequate breakfast are more likely to make poor food choices for the rest of the day and in the long term.
People who eat breakfast have more nutritious diets than people who skip breakfast. They also have better eating habits as they are less likely to be hungry for snacks during the day.

It’s essential for all of us to eat breakfast, As Chinese wisdom said “guidelines for 3 meals of the day are of nutritive breakfast, fulfilling lunch and just enough dinner” so no need fancy food for breakfast ,the most important is the nutrients value.

Some quick suggestions for easy to prepare breakfast yet nutritive are: whole-wheat or wholegrain breakfast cereals (such as wheat biscuits, muesli or bran cereals) , porridge (use quick oats or regular oat cook in microwaves or for more scrumptious one: throw some brown rice, some meats and other ingredient into slow cooker the night before and adjust the timer to be ready cooked in the morning), fresh fruits, whole meal or multi grain bread to toast with toppings, such as baked beans, eggs, cheese or spreads,Muffin and crumpets, yogurts, fresh fruit juices and of course low fat milk.