Breakfast On The Go

How to make the most important meal of the day the easiest part of your busy morning

"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day." How many times have you heard that?

Well it's not actually any more important than any other meal. Eating regularly and not skipping any meals (whether it's breakfast, lunch or dinner), has been shown to improve blood sugar levels throughout the day, improve energy levels, help maintain a healthy weight and reduce your chances of getting cravings or binge eating.

Some people can't live without it, others can't live with it

You're either a breakfast person or you're not. Some people feel sick if they don't eat as soon as they get up (me) and others feel sick if they do eat in the morning. And some people just don't get hungry in the morning or don't have time.

How can you deal with these issues?

• If you feel sick when you don't eat - make sure you get up with enough time to eat a good breakfast.

• If you feel sick when you do eat - you don't need to eat immediately, but it's good to eat within a few hours of waking up. So maybe have some breakfast supplies at work.

• If you don't feel hungry - start with something small, if you make a habit of it you will notice you start to feel hungry at that time.

Here are some reasons why breakfast is important

It provides you with energy to kick start your day. Quite literally, breakfast is "breaking the fast" because you haven't eaten anything since the night before. So it's important to get something in your body to help it function.

It's a source of fibre. Most of us don't eat enough fibre each day, and breakfast is one meal where you can really boost your fibre intake. So make sure you include some wholegrains or whole fruits or vegetables in your breakfast meal.

It can also be a source of calcium. A lot of people don't have very much dairy in a normal day - often just the milk in your tea or coffee and occasional snacks of cheese or yoghurt. But you can quite easily get a whole serve of dairy in at breakfast (check out this website for how many serves you should be having). If you don't like cereal, try having a fruit smoothie or yoghurt instead.

Skipping breakfast can lead to more snacking and overeating later in the day meaning you actually end up eating more calories overall than if you had eaten breakfast.

Eating breakfast can also improve mental performance, concentration and mood.

So there's lots of reasons why it's worth getting up that bit earlier to make sure you have time for a quick breakfast.

How to make breakfast easy

Have a routine. Breakfast is probably the easiest meal to have the same thing everyday, and most of us do already (myself included). If you're not going to get bored with it, there's no reason why you can't have pretty much the same thing for breakfast everyday. This in itself saves time because you don't have to think, you just have to make sure you always have what you need in the house.

Here are some easy breakfast ideas

• Cereal, muesli or oats with milk, fruit and yoghurt (or any combination). Just throw everything in the bowl.

• Toast with pretty much anything. Spreads (in small amounts, eg peanut butter, vegemite, honey), eggs (poached or boiled), avocado, mushrooms, baked beans, or raisin toast.

• Fruit of any kind. A piece of fruit, fruit salad, have it with yoghurt.

• Eggs, in an omelete, on their own, on toast.

• Up&Go (remember it's a meal replacement though, so you're getting more calories than you might realise). Great for really rushed mornings, but try not to have it everyday.

So happy breakfasting!