Breakfast is often considered the most important meal of the day, but sometimes it’s hard to fit a healthy breakfast into a rushed morning.
Here we give you a few reasons why it’s worth getting up a bit earlier and having breakfast, as well as some useful tips for ensuring you start your day with the right nutrition.
1. Ups your energy levels
Did you ever wonder why breakfast is called breakfast? It’s because we’re breaking the overnight fast as we just spent the night sleeping and so wouldn’t have eaten for quite a few hours. During that time our body still uses fuel to maintain its functions, and so our blood sugar levels and glucose stores are getting pretty low by morning. Having breakfast helps us to refuel and increase energy levels. Including a glass of milk as part of a healthy breakfast is a great way to bring your sleepy child’s blood glucose levels back up and give them the energy they need to get them through the morning.
2. Boosts your performance
Refuelling our body with breakfast can help boost our performance at work and school. Studies have shown that children who eat breakfast show better cognitive performance through the morning, and they also tend to perform better at school. But adults have also been found to perform better mentally when eating breakfast, which is no surprise as our brains need fuel to function at their best.
3. Helps you maintain a healthy body weight
Eating breakfast has been associated with lower body weight and a lower risk of overweight and obesity. It’s been suggested that eating breakfast may improve satiety responses and prevent unhealthy snacking. Those who eat breakfast have also been found to be more active, which means they burn more calories. But it could also be that those who eat breakfast simply eat a more healthy diet. Either way – starting your day with a healthy breakfast seems a great idea for managing body weight.
4. Improves your vitamin and mineral intake
Studies have shown that those who consume breakfast regularly tend to have higher intakes of vitamins and minerals compared to those who skip breakfast. This is particularly true for those who consume breakfast cereals with milk – healthy cereals naturally provide a range of nutrients and are often fortified, and milk and yoghurt are also naturally packed with essential vitamins and minerals.
5. Helps keep your hunger at bay
Being hungry can leave us irritable and makes it difficult to concentrate on the tasks in front of us. A healthy breakfast can help you get through the morning without those hunger pangs that make us reach for convenient but often unhealthy quick fixes. Protein has been found to be particularly satiating, so making sure your breakfast contains a good portion of protein can help you feel fuller for longer.