I won’t lie – I skipped breakfast today. The truth is, I’m kind of a poser when it comes to preaching my “never skip breakfast” lesson because I personally kind of skip breakfast…a lot. Here’s the thing: I have good intentions when I first wake up in the morning, but after waking up four kids (and after my baby has already woken me up four times throughout the night), making four beds, finishing last minute homework (not mine), finding one lost tennis shoe (also not mine), and doing the bazillion other things required in the early hours of morning, breakfast time has somehow turned into lunchtime and alas, it has passed me by.
Here’s the scoop on breakfast: it’s important – period. Studies show that eating breakfast has at least a dozen different benefits. A few would be:
- We have more energy throughout the day
- We are more likely to make better food choices throughout the day
- It helps elevate our metabolic rate
- We are less hungry at lunch and dinner, therefore less likely to binge
- We are happier (my kids can vouch for this one)
So tomorrow, here’s the plan: I am going to make a goal to eat breakfast by 8:00 a.m. (And no, a doughnut will not count). It’s gotta have some really good nutrient content. Here’s what I’m going to eat: a bowl of oatmeal with 1% milk, a scrambled egg, and ½ cup of calcium-enriched orange juice. This will give me around 350 calories, 15 grams of protein, calcium, fiber, some whole grains, folate, and a bunch of other nutrients. Awesome. That’s my goal – I wrote it, I own it. Good luck to me tomorrow at 8:00 am – I might have to skip the homework!