Breakfast Week 2014: Healthy Start to a Healthy Day!

Breakfast week is one of the most exciting weeks for me as a nutritionist. I’ve had fun sharing my breakfast’s photos with you this week on my Facebook page (check them out if you haven't seen them already); I hope they’ve inspired you. I’ve always enjoyed this meal, so much so that sometimes in the night I think about what I will have in the morning, especially if I am craving pancakes! 

I really believe that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Your body needs fuel to work, so it’s important to start your day the right way with a healthy breakfast, not a breakfast high in sugar and fat. The purpose of breakfast is basically in the name; you are 'breaking' a 'fast' of 6 or so hours after sleeping.

By having a healthy meal in the morning you are kick-starting your metabolism and putting it into motion. Many people miss breakfast due to time constraints, or they may not feel like eating anything so early in the morning, others may think that missing breakfast will lower their calorie intake and therefore it will help them to lose weight. Well, that’s one myth that I would really like to clear up. This is not true; in fact breakfast skippers are more likely to put on weight than those who have a healthy breakfast every day. As they are more likely to reach for a unhealthy snack to fullfill their hunger pangs. 

Here are some tips and advice I would like to share with you to help you start your day a little better:

- Variation. Have a different breakfast every day; change it around so you are getting ALL your essential nutrients. Experiment and try new things, have fun!

- "Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper." Stick with this rule and your body will thank you for it.

- Rehydrate. Start with a glass of water or herbal tea. Having warm water with a slice of lemon will ‘wake-up’ your body and give you a little cleanse too. It will also help you to reach your 8 glass quota.

- Eat within 2 hours of waking up for maximum effect.

- It will make you feel happier and healthier. Breakfast will help to boost your energy, memory, mood and concentration.

- Keep it healthy! It can be very easy to just have anything, when you are short on time or if you don’t know what to have. Be careful of sugary breakfast cereals, cereal bars, biscuits and pastries.

What is a healthy breakfast?

- Balance it out including all the food groups; carbohydrate, fruit/vegetables, dairy and protein.

- Include whole grains; cereals, oats, wholemeal bread. These will keep you fuller for longer as will fibre foods. 

- Add fruits/vegetables to make it more filling, healthy and to add to your 5-a-day. This can be whole, fresh, frozen, dried or juiced. Top it onto your porridge, cereals, in a smoothie or veges with your egg.

- Includes essential nutrients, such as; B vitamins, calcium, iron and fibre. 

- Switch to semi-skimmed or skimmed milk, instead of full-fat milk.

Go check out my breakfast photos for this week on my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/AHNutritionist (or Twitter and Instagram, find links above).

A big thank you to Shake Up Your Wake Up for making breakfast fun and to help raise awareness of its importance to our health.

Be Happy! Be Healthy!

By Ayshabibi H.

A H Nutritionist

26^th Jan - 1^st Feb 2014