WHY BREAKFAST IS IMPORTANT?

Breakfast has been labelled as 'the most important meal of the day' for a good reason. Keep reading to find out why and how you can make your mornings easier.

Breakfast: The most important meal of the day!

Breakfast helps break the overnight fasting period. Consuming breakfast boosts your energy levels and alertness whiling supplying your body with essential nutrients required for good health.

Why is it so important?

Studies show that eating breakfast improves your energy levels and ability to concentrate in the short term, and can help with better weight management, reduced risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease in the long term.

Energy

The body's energy source is glucose.

The body stores most of its energy as fat. But your body also stores some glucose as glycogen, most of it in your liver, with smaller amounts in your muscles.

During times of fasting (not eating), such as overnight, the liver breaks down glycogen and releases it into your bloodstream as glucose to keep your blood sugar levels stable. This is especially important for your brain, which relies almost entirely on glucose for energy.

In the morning, after you have gone without food for as long as 12 hours, your glycogen stores are low. Once all of the energy from your glycogen stores is used up, your body starts to break down fatty acids to produce the energy it needs. But without carbohydrate, fatty acids are only partially oxidised, which can reduce your energy levels.

Eating breakfast boosts your energy levels and restores your glycogen levels ready to keep your metabolism up for the day.

Essential vitamins, minerals and nutrients

Breakfast foods are rich in key nutrients such as folate, calcium, iron, B vitamins and fibre. Breakfast provides a lot of your day’s total nutrient intake. In fact, people who eat breakfast are more likely to meet their recommended daily intakes of vitamins and minerals than people who don’t.

Skipping breakfast

Skipping breakfast was shown to be common in the most recent national nutrition survey of Australian children and adolescents, although the majority did not skip breakfast consistently. Those most likely to skip breakfast were older females, and people who:

• are under or overweight

• have a poor diet

• have lower physical activity levels

• do not get enough sleep

• are from single-parent or lower income households.

Some common reasons for skipping breakfast include:

• not having enough time or wanting to spend the extra time being in bed

• trying to lose weight

• too tired to bother

• bored of the same breakfast foods

• don't feel hungry in the morning

• no breakfast foods readily available in the house

• the cost of buying breakfast foods

• cultural reasons.

While skipping breakfast is not recommended, good nutrition is not just about the number of meals you have each day. If you don’t have breakfast, aim to make up for the nutritional content you missed at breakfast with your lunch and dinner.

Breakfast ideas

Granola is a great way to have a healthy start to the day. It's also super easy to meal prep!