Why a healthy breakfast is vital

For a healthy body and mind, the food that we consume daily plays a very important role. Although the number of calories required can vary between individuals depending upon their age, occupation, and environment, a proper breakfast consisting of a balanced diet ensures that you have sufficient energy to meet the demands of the entire day.

The breakfast is probably the most important meal of day, as it provides our body with the required energy after 8-12 hours of fasting, depending on our sleep patterns. For growing children, having a proper breakfast with a balanced mix of proteins, vitamins, and fibres is an important building block in their physical and mental development. In fact, research studies have proved that a proper breakfast can increase the metabolism rate in our body, and enable it to burn calories and maintain body weight. On the other hand, skipping or eating an insufficient breakfast can slow down our metabolism rate and can increase our body weight in the long run. A proper breakfast provides our body with a good quantity of nutrients, sufficient for the first half of day, and ensures that we do not crave for any late-morning meals before lunch time. This not only saves time spent in binge eating, but also prevents long-term weight gains because of our sedentary lifestyle.

Parents face a daily challenge of providing a proper breakfast meal for their school-going chid, during the morning rush hour. In most cases, they send the child to school after drinking a glass of milk. Unfortunately, a glass of milk cannot provide the same benefits as a proper balanced meal. In India, there is no standard breakfast menu, as each part of India has its own specialities. A typical Indian breakfast can consists of items varying from idli, dosa, chapatti, puri, and egg fry to local delicacies like poha, upma, and paratha. Luckily, due to globalization, Indians have also taken to breakfast items from across the world, including corn flakes, whole grain bread (for carbohydrates), fruits, egg varieties, cheese, salads (for proteins), and cereals. Another popular addition to the Indian breakfast are packaged fruit juices, which provide valuable nutrients including fibres and vitamins to our bodies.

Just as the items we eat for lunch vary from day to day, we can vary our breakfast items for each day of the week. This ensures that our bodies are provided a healthy balance of all nutrients available in each food. As children learn eating habits from their parents, we can thus ensure that they also follow a healthy breakfast routine. As a rule, it is advisable to consume our breakfast within 2 hours of waking up each morning. In addition to having a proper breakfast, it is also important to spend sufficient time in consuming and digesting our breakfast. A hastily eaten breakfast can negate the benefits of the morning meal.

While over-eating any meal (including breakfast) should be avoided, a well eaten and digested breakfast always ensures that our children eat less junk food and shows them the value of good eating habits.