Saturday, September 29, 2007

Eveyday Essential #3: Start Your Day With A Healthy Breakfast For Your Family and Children

Okay, let's get off on the right foot everyday with our essential uplifting affirmations and the right fuel for our bodies to function at the highest possible level.

Eating a breakfast will give your the best chance for optimum balance in their bodies and balanced eating through the day. Studies have shown that skipping breakfast leads to slower reaction times, more prone to accidents and being more likely to struggle with weight. School age children that skip breakfast have greater chance of increased hyperactivity, irritability, anxiety, disruptive classroom behavior, tardiness and decreased ability to concentrate and solve problems.

The benefits of a healthy breakfast are decreased chances of fatigue and sleepiness in the mid-morning hours. It also helps to banish the blues, improve concentration, increase alertness and to function more efficiently. Also calories that are eaten earlier in the day are more effectively utilized.

So what is a healthy breakfast? Well you want to make sure that you are fueling your body in the morning but that you are also fueling it with the right types of food. What you don't want to do is fuel your body with foods that are going to leave you feeling more sluggish, bloated, irritable, etc. Those foods to avoid are the ones that are mainly simple carbohydrates. That is danishes, pastries, many sugar-laden cereals, and baked goods made mostly of white flour and sugar. Simple carbohydrates will send your blood sugar soaring, triggering an over release of insulin, the hormone that carries glucose into storage. This surplus of insulin results in too much glucose being taken out of the blood. Thus, sending blood sugars crashing making you feel lethargic, unable to concentrate and possibly sick to your stomach.

Here are some suggestions for healthy breakfasts foods that won't send you crashing an hour later.
  • Low fat yogurt (I suggest Cascade Fresh-not sweetened with high fructose corn syrup! Stay away from that!) Add some low sugar granola or wheat germ and some fresh berries.
  • Whole wheat English muffin topped with a poached egg, cheese and tomato slices
  • Whole wheat toast topped with peanut butter, banana slices and raisins
  • Cooked oats with dried fruit, nuts and seeds (I like to sweeten mine by cooking with a banana or adding a little agave nectar)
  • Breakfast smoothie made with plain low fat yogurt, frozen or fresh berries, bananas, flax seeds and/or hemp seeds, and a few tablespoons of coconut oil.
  • Or simply some fruit and nuts or seeds.

When you are buying cereals and breads read the labels! A lot of so called whole grain, healthy cereals or breads will be sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, 3+ different sugars or artificial sweetners. So try and pick cereals and breads that are very low in sugar. Stay tuned for more posts on the things you see on labels to avoid, like high fructose corn syrup and artificial sweeteners!

I hope that this has helped you to look at breakfast in a new light! Be blessed and have a wonderful start to a wonderful day!

-Barbara