Make Time For Breakfast
A healthy breakfast has many benefits – here’s why:
1. BREAKFAST KICK-STARTS YOUR METABOLISM
Breakfast €˜breaks’ the overnight €˜fast’ and refuels your body at the start of the day. It provides energy and important nutrients for the morning activities and helps prevent that mid-morning slump. It keeps you €˜on the go’, running at full speed and therefore burning calories!
Research has found that almost one third (29%) of Australians aged 16 and over frequently skipped or never ate breakfast.1
The Australian National Nutrition Survey 1995 concluded that over 90% of children usually ate breakfast five or more times per week, compared with 77% of adults, and that young adults aged 19 to 24 years were less likely to eat breakfast regularly than any other age group.
2. BREAKFAST IMPROVES MOOD & CONCENTRATION
People often say they feel fueled and ready for the day ahead by eating breakfast. But do you know why it helps to improve performance? It replenishes your supply of glucose (blood sugar) and provides other essential nutrients to keep your energy levels up throughout the day and boost your brain activity. The Dietitians Association of Australia (DAA) confirms that breakfast improves alertness, concentration, mental performance and memory, and also lifts a person’s mood – that’s why people get tired and irritable when they miss breakfast.
3. BREAKFAST ASSISTS WITH WEIGHT MANAGEMENT
There are many who don’t eat breakfast as a way of controlling their weight. The experts, however, are united in their thinking skipping breakfast does not help you lose weight! When you don’t eat for a long period of time, your body thinks it’s starving and begins to slow down to conserve energy (calories) for later use. The end result is that your body holds onto calories instead of burning them and then when you do eat, as your body is still in storage mode, it may not metabolism as efficiently.
And the younger you start the breakfast-skipping habit, the more risk it poses for a tendency towards obesity in later life.
4. BREAKFAST PROVIDES IMPORTANT NUTRIENTS
According to the DAA, a healthy breakfast is one which provides a variety of foods, is low in saturated fat, high in carbohydrates, contains fibre and provides vitamins and minerals. It has also been shown that people who eat breakfast have more nutritious diets than people who skip breakfast.1
The Australian National Nutrition Survey (1995) also concluded that people who ate breakfast regularly were more likely to meet the recommended dietary intake (RDI) for some nutrients than those who didn’t and that regular breakfast eaters generally had a lower fat intake and a higher dietary fibre intake than breakfast skippers.
5. BREAKFAST MAKES YOU FEEL FULLER FOR LONGER
Skipping breakfast means that by mid to late morning you will feel empty and are more likely to select food or fuel options that are high in sugar and saturated fat as these are the types of snacks your body craves when your blood sugar levels drop, and these types of snacks are usually more convenient to grab. It has also been proved that people who eat breakfast have better eating habits than people who skip breakfast as they are less likely to be ravenously hungry for snacks during the day.1
Recommended Breakfast:
For a great start to your day, try the new Healthy Breakfast Pack.
The Healthy Breakfast Pack combines the essentials of Herbalife’s Daily Nutrition in one handy carton:
- A balanced protein-based breakfast supplies our body with longer lasting vital nutrients, water and energy.
- A healthy breakfast which includes protein can help you feel fuller for longer and helps to avoid mid-morning snacking.
- A well-balanced breakfast providing sustainable energy and the right nutrients can also help keep your body in equilibrium during the day and contribute notably to better weight management and well being in the long term.
Remark:
1. Australian Breakfast Eating Habits – Woolcott Research 2005.