Waking up with a keen appetite for breakfast is a positive sign you’re on the path to successful weight loss. If you remember your mother or grandmother’s message of ‘always have breakfast’ well it has stood the test of time and is as relevant to us today as it was fifty years ago.
Breakfast is exactly what it says – it is the meal that breaks the overnight fast. It has to be the most important meal for determining your energy levels and appetite control and in the longer term your weight journey over your lifetime. There are studies to indicate if you don’t eat breakfast and are of an ideal body weight it is only a matter of time before your weight will start to increase!
Unfortunately breakfast is the meal that’s most likely to get side-lined as we scramble to get ourselves out the door. If you wake up with no appetite for breakfast, reducing the portions from 4.00pm onwards the previous day would put you on the right track. It becomes a difficult cycle where the less you eat in the morning, the more you will over compensate later in the day by eating the kilojoules from the missed breakfast plus more and weight gain has to happen!
Make sure you choose high fibre options for longer lasting fullness and aim to include carbohydrate such as cereal, fruit or toast, along with protein such as yoghurt, eggs, baked beans, low fat cheese or lean sliced meat. This combination will give you improved portion control later in the day.
It’s also a great example for our children to see breakfast is part of a normal morning routine.
