Breakfast has always been the most important meal of the day, or at least that is what I was always told by my mother.
I believe the thinking behind this saying stem from the fact that when you sleep your body has been fasting for 8-9 hours and your blood glucose levels are low, with breakfast bringing your body much needed sustenance.
The importance of breakfast has been talked about for lifetimes and will probably be talked about for lifetimes to come. In 1960, nutritionist Adelle Davis famously said “Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper”.
This still rings true today with the latest evidence suggesting we should be aiming to consume around 15-25% of our daily calorie intake at breakfast, this is roughly 300-500 calories for women and 375-625 calories for men.
When creating your own breakfast or looking for a cereal it is important to keep sugars, fats and salts low whilst wholegrains are highly sought after as they contain fibre which may help reduce the risk of developing heart disease, and also contains vitamin b12 and various other nutrients.
From 40g of cereal or oats, you may get around 150 kcal, an additional 250ml of semi-skimmed milk would add another 115 kcal. This leaves plenty of calories for added fruit, honey or peanut butter to add some flavour, also you can accompany your breakfast with 150ml of fruit juice for 1 of your 5 a day. This would give you an additional 67 kcal onto your meal.
Eating a healthy and nutritious breakfast has been found to be important for leading a healthy and active lifestyle. There has been a study showing those who regularly skip breakfast may have an increased risk of heart disease by up to 87% compared to those who ate breakfast every day.
Although those who didn’t eat breakfast were more likely to be former smokers, heavy drinkers, physically inactive, have a poorer diet, and of lower socioeconomic status than those who ate breakfast.
There have been a number of different studies showing improvements for salvatory cortisol levels (Stress), weight loss, calories burned throughout the day and your ability to focus.
One thing is for sure, you can do your body and mind a favour and ditch the fat filled fry up at spoons for a bowl of peanut butter granola.
