Nutrition: Never Skip Breakfast!

The ultimate nutritional rule to go by is to never skip breakfast. Even if you aren’t pregnant, eating breakfast is central to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. According to Men’s Health magazine, people who skip breakfast are more susceptible to smoke and drink, more inclined to experiment with fad diets, have body weight issues and are less likely to exercise. Common excuses for skipping breakfast include not being hungry, wanting to diet or are just too darn busy in the mornings to fit it in. If you fit into any of these categories, dedicating just a small portion of time to eating right in the morning would set your body up for a successful day and the associated health benefits would astound you.

Breakfast eaters are approximately 30% less likely to be overweight or obese. Why? While you may argue that you’re ingesting more calories, you are also ingesting more micronutrients, calcium and fiber than people who skip breakfast do. Additionally, breakfast eaters tend to consume such things as fruit, whole grains, vegetables and milk products. If you have a very busy lifestyle, chances are your fast-food lunches and dinners are far less nutritious. More often than not, breakfast and morning type food choices are far more packed with essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals – which are all important things to fuel your body with, especially in the morning.

Have you ever skipped breakfast and found yourself to be insane with hunger mid-morning – so desperate to curb the hunger pangs that you will eat just about anything, be it a slice of cheesecake, a donut or a bag of chips? You may think you’re doing your body a service by eating less in the morning and then using that as an excuse to consume what ever you want later in the day. Let me be frank – your body hates you for this. Choosing and eating a healthy breakfast can curb your hunger for hours and eliminate your cravings for high-calorie foods or other unhealthy options readily available in your office’s vending machine or the corner store down the street.

Find yourself feeling sluggish in the morning? Breakfast literally translates to “breaking the fast” of the night. If you’re skipping breakfast you are starving your body for 12 or more hours. This deprives your body of the energy levels it should normally have. You need to consume enough calories and carbohydrates to fuel your body for the day, especially if you workout in the morning, or you will crash again and again. Studies suggest that certain breakfast foods increase productivity and supply more energy than others. Particularly foods rich in vitamin B can do this, such as avocados, pineapple, oatmeal and bananas.

If you eat your breakfast, you might burn more calories throughout the day. So stop thinking that by skipping breakfast you are losing weight. Regulating your metabolism will increase the rate at which the foods you consume are processed through your body. Some studies have shown that people who eat several small meals a day experience a higher rate of calorie burning throughout the day.

It’s often hard to maintain an appetite, especially in the early stages of pregnancy when plagued with intense nausea, particularly in the mornings. In these particular cases, it is important to appeal to power foods that can supply an astounding amount of nutrients and energy in just a few bites. Most of these foods can be applied to breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Avocados – loaded with folic acid, potassium, healthy fat, Vitamin C, Vitamin B6

Carrots - rich in fiber, Vitamin A, B6 and C

DHA eggs – low calorie, high protein, good fat

Edamame – rich in Vitamins A and B, protein, calcium and folic acid

Lentils – rich in Vitamin B6, iron, folic acid, protein, fiber

Mangoes – rich in Vitamin A and C, potassium

Nuts – include several minerals (copper, magnesium, zinc, selenium, potassium, calcium, manganese), Vitamin E, good fat and DHA (walnuts)

Oatmeal – rich in fiber, Vitamin B, iron and various minerals

Red Pepper - rich in Vitamin A, C and B6

Spinach – rich in folic acid, Vitamin A and calcium

Yogurt – rich in calcium, folic acid and protein