Further Proof

I got my Eating Well in the mail yesterday and got into my Mom Cave last night to read it.  What do you know, someone had written in asking if it was really healthiest to eat breakfast.  I think common wisdom would give us a resounding "yes," but The Nutritionist gave thorough answers based on many studies.

I'll summarize:
1. People who eat breakfast regularly are leaner.
2. Breakfasters lose weight and keep it off more easily.
3. People who eat breakfast consume more fiber, calcium, vitamins A and C, and other good things.
4. They also consume less fat and cholesterol.
5. They also have less incidence of the bad cholesterol, compared with those layabout breakfast skippers.
6. Same layabouts have more belly fat.
7. I'm not making any judgements on anyone, BTW.
8. More than one study shows that eating breakfast increases focus and mood.

And one word of advice: if you're not hungry right away, eat a little later in the morning, but EAT, DARNIT.  Make sure you're eating fiber and protein and not donuts chased by a Mountain Dew.

I think we all know in theory that eating breakfast is better for you than skipping it, and I think we all know in theory that eating a healthy, rib-sticking breakfast is better than a processed food breakfast.  And we all know that baby steps are easier to accomplish than giant sweeping reforms.  My challenge to you is to decide on a baby step and do it for awhile, maybe a month, and see how much better you feel and/or how much more smoothly things go in your day.

Here are some suggestions:
1. Get up 20 minutes earlier once a week to allow time to cook a good breakfast.
2. Get breakfast prep done the night before once a week so that a good breakfast can be ready in a flash.
3. Make eggs once a week, any style.
4. Make whole grain muffins on the weekend and freeze them to have during the week.
5. Make homemade granola (recipes abound on the web) on the weekend to have on those harried mornings.

This is just a list of ideas to get you started thinking of your own baby steps.  Just start, that's the point, and if you don't make it one day, it's no biggie.  Heck, no one expects wonders for breakfast anyway, so any upgrade is going to be super-appreciated.

I think you will find that the more you do, the more you'll get out of it.  At least that's how it works around here. 

Have fun, and I hope someone lets me know how it's going.