Monthly Resolution No 1: Eating Breakfast

Getting back into the rhythm of work and school can be rough; no more sleeping in, no more lazy mornings and breakfast whenever you feel like it.  Sleep is interrupted by that horrible invention called an alarm clock and for most people, getting ready, eating breakfast and rushing to work or school is jammed into an hour or less.  This can make eating breakfast incredibly difficult especially if you have a child who simply refuses to eat or you can’t stomach food at such an early hour.

So why am I going on and on about breakfast?

Breakfast is an extremely important meal of the day and provides many benefits. It helps set your metabolism, helps with concentration, can set you up for a productive or not so productive day, helps to maintain weight, helps contribute to higher daily fibre and calcium intake and can reduce those mid-morning hunger pangs.

Skipping breakfast not only causes those annoying hunger pangs in the morning that love to make an appearance especially during moments of silence but can increase the likelihood of snacking on foods that are not as nutritious and can hinder weight management.

Now we know some of the benefits of eating breakfast, what can we do to make eating breakfast a little easier?

• Plan meals ahead of time- this can be portioning out your breakfast components into containers. This way all you need to do is mix the components together and voila! You have breakfast.
• Place your breakfast in a place where you can see it. If you tend to forget breakfast, place the cereal/oat box or porridge packet somewhere where you can see it. If your breakfast is something that needs to be refrigerated such as yoghurt, then make a sticky note and place it somewhere where you’re going to see it such as your fridge or counter. (Sometimes when I struggle to remember something I place a sticky note on my shoes that I’m wearing for the day- I know it’s one thing that I’m guaranteed to look at if I don’t look at the fridge or counter!)
• Set a reminder on your phone- a great one if you tend to forget breakfast.
• Choose simple breakfast ideas. You don’t have to have a full breakfast cook up every day. If you have time constraints opt for something that is quick to prepare such as; cereal, oats, yoghurt and fruit, muesli or toast with peanut butter and banana.
• Make it a family affair. If you living with family or living with a roommate sometimes it helps for everyone to sit down together and eat breakfast. You can also switch turns making breakfast or setting out the breakfast items on the table.
• Make it part of your schedule. Sometimes the reason why we forget to have breakfast is that it is not part of our morning routine such as showering, brushing teeth, getting dressed etc. If you try to make a conscious effort for breakfast to become part of your morning routine, it will begin to be incorporated into your morning routine and easier to do.

 

And there you have it! Some tips to making eating breakfast a little easier!