Most people remember the adage that having a hot breakfast will set the tone for a successful day. But why was an entire month devoted to promoting hot breakfasts? Nutritionists tell us that it’s not only the food itself that’s important – it’s the whole atmosphere that surrounds waking up early and spending time pampering yourself as you prepare for the day ahead that helps to set the stage for more focused productivity, a more energetic activity level and better results from a Sloto Cash login gaming event.
Clear origins of the National Hot Breakfast Month are unclear but Totally-Food.com reports that it seems that National Hot Breakfasts Month began when the producer of heat-and-serve breakfast foods at the Jimmy Dean Foods division of Sara Lee Corporation discovered that breakfast for more than 60% of Americans consists of cold foods. Whether that’s true or not is debatable but what nutritionists do agree on is that it’s a good practice to eat a good breakfast.
Why is Breakfast So Important?
Breakfast replenishes the stores of nutrients and energy in your body. In the morning, after having not eaten for 8-12 hours, your glycogen stores are low. Eating breakfast boosts your energy levels so that your glycogen levels are restored. This will help you keep your metabolism at a high level for the rest of the day. Research has shown that people who eat a good breakfast are more physically active throughout the day.
The breakfast that you eat will obviously impact on how it affects your health and your energy levels. If you eat eggs and toast and the toast is white bread smothered in butter and sweet jam, you are likely losing any of the benefits that you might have gained by sitting down to a hot breakfast. You need to consider what you’re eating. Focus on foods that have nutrients such as calcium, B vitamins, fibre, iron and folate so that you’ll make the most use of those breakfast calories. (more about this later)
Interestingly, people who regularly eat a good breakfast are less likely to have weight problems. It seems that a good, healthy breakfast prevents large fluctuations in your blood glucose levels so you are better able to control your appetite. Om addition, studies suggest that if you don’t eat a proper breakfast you won’t perform as well mentally – you won’t be as attentive, your memory won’t be as good and you won’t concentrate as well as you could. Children who eat breakfast on a regular basis tend to perform better academically when compared with those who skip breakfast.
Eating a healthy breakfast has been shown to reduce the risk of illness, specifically type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Strategies
Even if you’re not an early riser, you can eat a healthy hot breakfast that won’t demand that you wake up with the birds. You can prepare a wide-mouthed thermos with oats and cinnamon the night before and then add hot water to it when you leave in the morning so that you can spoon the cereal on your ride into work or class. Another option might involve making pancakes or waffles the night before and popping them into the microwave oven for a quick breakfast before you head out the door. You might even want to keep some breakfast foods in your office.
None of these, or other, time-saving ideas will take the place of sitting down to a proper hot breakfast but if that’s what you have to work with, it’s 100 times better than grabbing a donut on your way into work or settling for a cup of coffee until lunchtime.
Suggestions
There are tons of hot breakfast ideas for everyone. If you’re prepared to invest the time and effort into creating good hot breakfasts for yourself and your family, you can try
- Hot cereal – get plain, unsugared and unflavored rolled or ground oats, ground buckwheat, ground corn or wheat bran. Add water (one part water to one-part oats) and add seasonings – some cereals are best with spices such as cinnamon and/or cloves while others taste best with salt. You can add your own fruit to bowls of sweet cereals. If you want to get inventive you can boil grains such as millet, buckwheat, teff, quinoa or wheat berries.
- Muffins – muffins are a great to-go breakfast but you can add them to a sit-down breakfast as well. You can make muffins with wheat, spelt, almond, coconut or any other type of flour along with milk or yogurt, eggs, baking soda and nuts. Depending on your taste you can make muffins with dried fruit, fresh berries or nuts. Pop them in the microwave to freshen them and warm them right before you eat.
- Pair two old favorites, eggs and toast, in any of a million ways. Use wholegrain toast for the best nutritional bread and then make hard boiled eggs, soft boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, sunny side up eggs……whatever you like! In fact, you can increase the nutritional component of the egg dishes if you fry them with chopped up tomatos, spinach, mushrooms, zucchini or other vegetables. And instead of butter on the toast – try a nut paste such as peanut or almond butter or hummos.
- Cook up pancakes or waffles, either on the spot or the night before so that you can warm up the pancakes/waffles quickly at breakfast-time.
Reach for the top with a good hot breakfast program during February and throughout the year!
