For many individuals, mornings can be busy, and hard. Greeting the day with a positive, energetic attitude is much easier to accomplish by first eating a balanced, nutritious breakfast. Between the rush of getting ready and getting where you need to go, breakfast is not a priority for many, yet it is an essential part of a healthy lifestyle.
Kick start your metabolism, and your mornings, by ensuring you have the necessary supplies on-hand ahead of time to prepare a healthy and quick breakfast.
Breakfast Provides Energy
Breaking your fast (the origin of the word “breakfast) after a long night is vital for mental awareness, meeting your nutritional needs, and providing you with energy to take on your day. A healthy breakfast gives your body the necessary fuel it needs to run efficiently and effectively.
Try to eat your breakfast no longer than two hours after you wake up, and aim for a caloric intake of 20-35% of your daily allowance. Doing so will increase your energy, and maintain that healthy state of being throughout the day. Choose foods high in calcium, iron, B vitamins, protein, and fibre to kick off your day in the right way. Some examples of nourishing, nutrient-dense breakfast foods are eggs, greek yogurt, chia seeds, multigrain toast, berries, nuts, and green tea.
Breakfast Improves Cognitive Functioning
Carbohydrates are a necessity for healthy and adequate brain performance, and breakfast helps to restore these carbohydrates that may have been used during the “fasting” period of sleep.
The brain is one of the most energy-demanding organs in the human body, and can use up to half of all the available sugar energy in a body. Levels of glucose, one of the most important sugar carbohydrates in cognitive functioning, are re-established when a healthy breakfast is provided. Eating smart early in the morning improves memory and concentration, and has positive effects on mood and stress levels.
Breakfast Helps Improve and Maintain Long-Term Health
As the most important meal of your day, breakfast can improve your long-term health, providing benefits that extend far beyond delivering energy for your body and brain daily. Eating a healthy breakfast every day can help you lose weight, and maintain weight loss once you’ve achieved your goals. A full stomach in the morning offsets any hunger pains that may occur throughout the day, and offset you from overeating later to compensate for a missed important meal.
A well-rounded breakfast also helps reduce fatigue and improves your productivity at work, or school. An early-morning supply of vital nutrients and minerals, and an overall increase in energy, allows you to better focus on the tasks that you need to complete to have a successful day.
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle, including the implementation of a healthy and nutrient-rich breakfast plan, comes down to the development of healthy, easy habits. Try preparing your breakfast the night before, or even as a meal-prep on Sundays. By providing yourself with easy-access to a filling and healthy breakfast, you’re setting yourself up for success.
Give yourself some early-morning love by kick-starting your days with a nutrient dense, healthful breakfast, and enjoy the benefits well beyond your first cup of coffee.