I don't think many people can say that they haven't heard about the benefits of breakfast. Why? Because it is proven. And because teachers, scientists, doctors, and parents have seen the results and will attest to it's ability to strengthen a student's performance at school.
Sending yourself to work or your child to school without breakfast is like trying to use a cordless power tool without ever recharging the battery. If you don't refuel your child's body in the morning after an overnight fast, the child has to draw fuel from its own energy stores until lunchtime. The stress hormones necessary to mobilize these energy reserves may leave the child feeling irritable, tired, and unable to learn or behave well.
I can attest to this! In grade 9 I decided that I would rather add a few minutes of sleep to my morning and skip the breakfast routine. My stomach doesn't hurt that much, I would think. I found that around 10:30 I really started to feel the pain, but I tried to ignore it by encouraging myself that it was probably helping me to stay thin.
Boy was I wrong. I felt groggy so many days that the extra sleep wasn't ever worth it, and I actually gained weight! When you eat breakfast, you are ending the over night fast. This helps your metabolism to rise and stay up for the duration of the morning. If you don't have breakfast, it will not have the proper effectiveness throughout the rest of the day. My lunch would then spike the metabolism, but not keep it steady enough to burn calories and fat throughout my day.
A smart nutritious breakfast comes from a combination of the 4 food groups with an emphasis on complex carbohydrates and protein. Think grains, plus dairy, plus fruits. (Carb lover, you can enjoy more carbs at breakfast because you will be burning them off all day!)
Complex carbohydrates and proteins act like biochemical partners for enhancing learning and behavior. This biochemical principle is called "synergy," meaning that the combination of two nutrients works better than each one singly, sort of like 1 + 1 = 3.
Studies have shown...
- Breakfast eaters are likely to achieve higher grades, pay closer attention, participate more in class discussions, and manage more complex academic problems than breakfast skippers.
- Breakfast skippers are more likely to be inattentive, sluggish, and make lower grades.
- Breakfast skippers are more likely to show erratic eating patterns throughout the day, eat less nutritious foods, and give into junk-food cravings. They may crave a mid- morning sugar fix because they can't make it all the way to lunchtime on an empty fuel tank.
- Some children are more vulnerable to the effects of missing breakfast than others. The effects on behavior and learning as a result of missing breakfast or eating a breakfast that is not very nutritious vary from child to child.
- Whether or not children eat breakfast affects their learning, but so does what they eat. Children who eat a breakfast containing both complex carbohydrates and proteins in equivalent amounts of calories tend to show better learning and performance than children who eat primarily a high protein or a high carbohydrate breakfast. Breakfasts high in carbohydrates with little protein seem to sedate children rather than stimulate their brain to learn.
- Children eating high calcium foods for breakfast (e.g., dairy products) showed enhanced behavior and learning.
- Morning stress increases the levels of stress hormones in the bloodstream. This can affect behavior and learning in two ways. First, stress hormones themselves can bother the brain. Secondly, stress hormones such as cortisol increase carbohydrate craving throughout the day. The food choices that result may affect behavior and learning in children who are sensitive to the ups and downs of blood sugar levels. Try to send your child off to school with a calm attitude, as well as a good breakfast.
- Breakfast sets the pattern for nutritious eating throughout the rest of the day. When children miss breakfast to save time or to cut calories, they set themselves up for erratic binging and possibly overeating the rest of the day.
| BRAIN BUILDERS | BRAIN DRAINERS |
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Try out any of these nutritious breakfasts:
- granola cereal, yogurt, a sliced apple
- scrambled eggs, toast, orange juice
- veggie omelet, bran muffin, fruit with yogurt
- whole-grain pancakes or waffles topped with berries and/or yogurt, milk
- whole-wheat zucchini pancakes topped with fruit, milk
- french toast topped with fruit, orange juice or milk
- low-fat cheese melted on toast with a piece of fruit
- low-fat cream cheese on a whole-grain bagel, orange juice
- peanut butter and banana slices on an english muffin, milk
- smoothie
- Watermelon Blueberry Protein Smoothie (click here)
- Chocolate Banana Protein Smoothie (click here)
- Power House Smoothie:
11/2 cups plain nonfat yogurt
1-2 servings Juice Plus+® Complete or similar multinutrient supplement
one banana
1 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 cup each of your favorite fruit, frozen (e.g., organic strawberries, papaya, mango)
2 tbsp. flax oil or 1/2 cup flaxseed meal
4 ounces tofu
2 tbsp. peanut butter (optional)
1 tbsp. cinnamon
1/2 avocado
This family-size recipe makes four 16-ounce servings (approximately 550 calories per serving). Adjust the recipe to the desired taste and volume. Besides being tasty, it's nutritionally balanced, with each serving containing approximately 25 to 30 grams of protein, 55 to 60 grams of carbohydrates, 8 to 16 grams of fat (mostly healthy omega 3's), and 5 to 10 grams of fiber.
- Fruity Smoothie:
1 serving Juice Plus+® Complete
2 tsp. flax oil
1 small frozen banana, cut up
1/2 cup each of your favorite fruit, frozen (e.g., blueberries strawberries, papaya)
2 ice cubes if fruit is not frozen or if you want a lighter taste
Makes one 20-ounce serving. (approximately 550 calories).
Photo is courtesty of http://www.healthline.com/blogs/diet_nutrition/uploaded_images/breakfast2-735821.jpg
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