Improved Breakfasts

Appraising Your Success
The end of the week is a good time to review the past week of your SWEET Life and count up your accomplishments. Your goal is 5-6 times per week for each aspect of the SWEET Life: Sleep, Water, Eating, Exercise, and Tranquility. If you didn’t achieve some of your goals for the week, then next week, focus on those areas more and think about how to fulfill them more consistently.
How do you feel at the end of this week? Are you better rested? Do you feel relaxed? Are you more energetic? Do you feel generally healthier? Continue with the SWEET Life and you’ll experience all of these feelings!

Topic of the week -Improved breakfasts

Do you eat breakfast? If not, are you overweight? If so, what do you eat? Are you a consistent non-thinker, eating the same breakfast every day? I grew up that way: cold cereal every day for 18 years. Do you eat blow-out weekend breakfasts, but modest weekday ones? Do you like to vary your breakfasts? Thanks to my husband, we eat a variety of great breakfasts. I’m going to give you some breakfast suggestions below, but first . . .

Why Eat Breakfast?

Some people aren’t hungry in the morning, and the experts always say only to eat when you are hungry. So why eat breakfast if you aren’t hungry and you’re in a hurry to get out the door anyway? Here are seven reasons why:

1. “People who eat breakfast are significantly less likely to be obese and diabetic than those who usually don’t,” says the American Heart Association.
2. Research shows that you will eat fewer calories over the course of the day if you eat breakfast than if you skip it.
3. People who skip breakfast tend to feel “starved” or “low energy” later in the day, like mid-morning or mid-afternoon, and then they overeat sugary, salty and/or fatty snacks, with little nutrition, to satiate those feelings.
4. No diets ever say to skip a meal. On the contrary, they say to eat 5-6 small meals or 3 meals and 1-2 snacks. Skipping meals does not lead to weight loss; it only leads to slower metabolism. . .
5. . . . Because you haven’t eaten in about 12 hours, your metabolism has slowed to a trickle in order to conserve what little energy your body has left. By eating, your metabolism works faster because it has some calories to burn. And the higher the metabolism, the more you can eat without gaining weight!
6. You will be more alert and productive in the morning if you eat breakfast.
7. Set a good example for your family and spend a little family time together in the morning, even if it’s only 10 minutes.

Suggestions:

First of all, to save time in the morning, set the table and put out any non-perishable food items the night before.

Also, include whole grains and protein to regulate blood sugar levels and make it last longer in your belly.

· Old-fashioned oatmeal (which is whole grain and only takes 5 min. to cook) or Cream of Wheat made with milk and topped with dried fruit
· Yogurt with fruit or granola
· Fruit or fruit salad
· Whole grain cereal with milk, topped with fruit
· Cottage cheese with fruit
· A scrambled or fried egg only takes a couple minutes to cook, or hard boil a bunch of eggs and eat them throughout the week
· On the weekend cook lots of whole grain pancakes (with chopped fruit in them), waffles or French toast and refrigerate the leftovers to toast up quickly during the week
· Serve pancakes, waffles or French toast with fruit, yogurt or applesauce instead of syrup

Portable breakfast suggestions, in case you need to eat on the run:

· A fried egg sandwich on whole grain toast with a slice of cheese
· Whole grain toast, English muffin, or bagel with cheese or peanut butter
· Slice a banana lengthwise and stuff it with peanut butter (keep it in the skin for easier transport)
· Hard-boiled egg
· Whole grain breakfast bar
· Dry whole grain cereal in a small container
· Trail mix or dried fruit
· A piece of fresh fruit
· Fruit Smoothie made with yogurt and fruit
· Juice

Avoid enriched, processed foods (white toast, bagels or English muffins; donuts; Eggo’s; pop-tarts; etc.) because they give you a sugar rush, which is followed by a sugar crash. They also lack nutrients your body needs.

In conclusion, breakfast can be quick and simple, but make it nutritious and make sure to eat it!

Sources:

http://secure.ehealthconnection.com/hage/approot/owl/content/breakfast.asp

http://weightloss.about.com/library/blbreakfast.htm

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3009715

http://www.in.gov/inshape/files/BreakfastTime.pdf

Have a SWEET week!

Suzanne