Break Fast

The word breakfast comes from the idea that in the morning we break from the fasting we have had during the night.  Old English the term was morgenmete meaning ‘morning meal’.

Over the years, we have all heard that the most important meal of the day is breakfast. There are all sorts of studies to back this up and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health states;

• Breakfast provides you with the energy and nutrients that lead to increased concentration in the classroom.
• Studies show that breakfast can be important in maintaining a healthy body weight.
• Hunger sets in long before it’s time for lunch, but because it’s not convenient to eat properly, many people who have not eaten breakfast snack on foods that are high in fat and sugar.
• People who skip breakfast are unlikely to make up their daily requirement for some vitamins and minerals that a simple breakfast would have provided.
• Breakfast provides energy for the activities during the morning and helps to prevent that mid-morning slump.

For those of you on a January diet,  Web md says that,“Skipping breakfast in order to loose weight can back fire.  Skipping meals, especially breakfast, can actually make weight control more difficult. Breakfast skippers tend to eat more food than usual at the next meal, or nibble on high-calorie snacks to stave off hunger.  Some studies suggest that people tend to add more body fat when they eat fewer, larger meals than when they eat the same number of calories in smaller, more frequent meals. Other studies show that weight management can be equally effective without breakfast.”

As we age our bodies require different nutrients and eggs make an excellent breakfast food for seniors. A review published in a 2008 issue of Clinical Nutrition found that elderly adults may require up to 1.5 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, or about 0.68 grams of protein per pound, each day, which is almost two times higher than the current protein RDA.  Not to mention that eggs are high in protein, inexpensive and easy to prepare. If eggs are not your thing then consider a smoothie. High-protein smoothies make a quick breakfast for and are easy to prepare using a blender. Ingredients commonly used in breakfast protein smoothies include low-fat milk or soy milk, low-fat yogurt or soy yogurt, soft fruits, peanut and almond butter.

Yes there are a million ideas and opinions on how this meal should be served. Some like it hot, some like it cold and some not at all. But the experts know that taking a break, even if it is fast, eating a little something in the am can make all the difference in the pm.

Photo Courtesy of MarthaStewart.com