Parenting Australia

Parenting Australia – Blog Post – The Importance of Breakfast

I was chatting the other day with some friends, about breakfast and what the best options were, not so much for the kids, but for grown ups. And of course there were a few comments along the lines of:

"But I can't/don't eat breakfast. I just have coffee and then get something to eat later on..........."

I suspect that, whilst the majority of us know that breakfast is heralded as the most important meal of the day, that many of us skip it?

I know that getting three kids ready for school each morning, in conjunction with my own early morning exercise routine, alongside getting lunchboxes ready, slapping a load of washing on, as well as trying to remember to get the meat out of the freezer for dinner, that breakfast for myself is often the very last thing on my morning "things to do" list.

Eating breakfast is a habit. One that we have as kids, and insist upon for our children, but often relinquish as adults?

But the benefits of breakfast are so positive:

• Eating breakfast makes you feel better. It gives you energy. It makes you feel awake and gives you vitality.

• A healthy breakfast makes your brain work better, no matter how old you are. Simple as that. We all know that kids do better at school if they eat a decent brekkie. Same for grown-ups.

• Breakfast sets you up for the rest of the day. If you eat well and healthily at breakfast, chances are you will continue a healthy eating pattern for the rest of the day.

• Eating breakfast fires your metabolism. Imagine your metabolism as a fire. Overnight it is dormant embers. In order to relight the fire, you need to give it some fuel, to get it burning again. Breakfast is this fuel. Otherwise your metabolism just is sluggish all day and you will never burn off calories.

It really is a simple habit to adopt, so here are some easy breakfast ideas:

A bowl of cereal? Find one you like that is high in fibre and low in sugar and you'll be on the right track. (Goddess knows, there is enough choice in the cereal aisle. Sultana Bran is still the one I come back to, time and time again.)

• A yogurt? A banana? An apple?

• A slice of toast? (With honey or Vegemite or peanut butter.)

• Cut fruit? (This is how I started persuading my body to eat breakfast. A small amount of cut strawberries or watermelon. It was all I could face and I still love it now.)

• A milk shake or a smoothie?

• A cereal bar?

Tell me if you are a breakfast fan or not?

What are your best and easiest and quickest and healthiest breakfasts?

Lucy juggles parenting with her own journey to health and wellbeing. She knows how tricky it can be to balance all the roles that Mums undertake - and how much more fun it all is with energy and vitality on your side. Lucy is one of Australia's favourite bloggers and she writes daily at Diminishing Lucy, where she shares her weight loss journey, along with tales of family life.

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