Breakfast.

I love breakfast. And I love breakfast food…oats, pancakes, toast, cereal, smoothies, eggs and, though I cannot actually remember the last time I ate one, a good, quality bacon sarnie! If left to my own devices, I would eat breakfast three times a day and be the happiest person on Earth!

Putting breakfast food obsessions to one side, let’s concentrate on the importance of a healthy, balanced morning meal. Below is a list of the nutritional benefits of ‘the most important meal of the day’…

1. Take a literal approach: breakfast = ‘breaking the fast’. By morning you probably haven’t eaten for a good 8 hours or so, so eating breakfast will top up those depleted energy stores after a night’s sleep when your body has been busy repairing itself giving you the physical and mental capacity to get on with your day.
2. A healthy, balanced breakfast will help regulate your blood sugar and hunger levels until lunchtime. This will stop you feeling sluggish and reaching for the biscuit tin come 11 o’clock! If you skip breakfast your blood sugar levels are likely to crash causing your body to seek out a quick, often sugary or fatty, snack to pick them back up.
3. Evidence suggests that those who eat breakfast are less likely to be overweight than those who don’t. As discussed above, skipping breakfast tends to lead to snacking and poor eating habits.

Breakfast foods, if chosen well, can provide us with a wide range of key nutrients such as protein, calcium, iron, B vitamins and fibre – think milk, yogurt, eggs, nuts, fruit, oats and wholegrain bread!

Healthy breakfast choices:

• Oats made with water or a water/milk mix; top with fresh berries, a drizzle of honey or maple syrup and some chopped nuts or seeds
• Wholegrain toast with nut butter, mashed avocado or poached eggs
• Thick, natural Greek yogurt with low-sugar muesli and fresh fruit
• A low-sugar or green smoothie – add thickeners such as a spoonful of oats for added fibre or chia seeds and/or flaxseed to get a helping of healthy unsaturated fats