Break for breakfast

Break for breakfast

You don’t have the time. Your stomach hurts. You’re not that hungry. And eating in the morning makes you feel sick. While the excuses are endless, none of them compensate for the real truth behind breakfast: it is the most important meal of the day.
By Laura Lanktree

Breakfast is vital in maintaining a healthy body weight and in physically and mentally preparing you for the events of the day. It works to boost your metabolism, moving you out of a bedtime fasting state and into an active calorie-burning state, and it has been proven to have a direct effect on academic performance, helping students with their cognitive and memory functions, as well as their overall alertness. Just think of food as fuel and breakfast as your morning fill-up. Without the energy and brain-power that breakfast provides, you end up starting the day on empty. 

Perhaps even more important, however, is the type of food you are consuming in the morning. Tasty as they are, a donut and Pepsi simply won’t do – those sugary quick-grabs are going to send your blood sugar skyward, only to have you crash back down a short time later. And we can’t exactly have you falling asleep on the old Bunsen burner now can we?

To keep on top of your game from first period through to fourth, consider some of these quick and easy breakfast ideas:

• a granola bar and some yogurt with fresh fruit

• whole wheat toast with peanut butter and jam and a glass of real fruit juice

• multi-grain cereal with low-fat milk and fresh berries on top

• a fruit smoothie with a piece of multi-grain bread

• scrambled egg whites, tomatoes, spinach, and cheese tossed into a wrap and ready for transport

Whatever you eat, just try to ensure a decent mix of protein, fiber and carbohydrates. And if you’re truly short on time, then throw some dried fruit or cereal into a baggie and munch on the go – just do the best you can to get your body and mind ready for the day ahead.