Breakfast Time

We always hear our mother says that “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!” Believe it or not IT is! Breakfast is what we define as “break the fast”. The fast is the interval between your last meal and the first meal the following day. The inerval usually takes at least 8 to 12 hours.

The body needs to get energy from two ways food and sleep. It is most likely for the body to get energy from food because it is the primary source of our energy. Not like plants, which gets their energy from the sunlight. We also get something from the sunlight, the activation of Vit D and if you are overexposed, Sun burn or worse skin cancer!

Sleep is the only time our body is not stressed and it is the time the muscles fully recover and repair. If we lack sleep we often have difficulty controlling our food intake within the day because our body is busy getting energy from food to compensate for the lack of sleep. So it is recommended for us to sleep at least 8 hours a day. But as we age the number of sleeping hours decreases. Why wait for that day to come?! Invest on your sleep while you can.

Breakfast is also the body’s benchmark of how it will burn calories throughout the day. It also help control your blood sugar by keeping it stable as well as aids in making your metabolism stay fast.

So what now is a good breakfast? Since your body needs energy, we can start by having complex carbohydrates such as cereals (whole wheat, multi-grains, bran flakes, corn flakes),with Non-fat milk like Nesvita Pro-Weight Management. Include a serving of fruit. (Guys, lets lay low on the frosted and chocolate ones or breakfast cereals for kids)
Oatmeal with milk and fruits are also a good substitute. As Filipinos, we love the SILOG series (TAPSILOG,LONGSILOG,TOCILOG, etc) for breakfast its okay as long as we now limit the fat intake we will have in our next meals (Lunch and Dinner). Pancakes and waffles will be a good stand-in as long as we try to limit the butter and better yet make it from scratch but replacing whole milk with non-fat milk.

SOURCE:
Rency Magsino-Caga-anan, RND
Head Nutrionist, Fitness First Philippines
Contributing Editor & Nutrition Consultant for ACTION & FITNESS MAGAZINE