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Imagine a teenager waking up just 20 minutes before running out to catch the school bus. If you have one of these creatures you'll know that in their list of priorities, breakfast is not near the top. There are other, more important things topping that list like clothes, hair, make up, shoes and if time allows maybe, something to eat. If I was a junk food mom that's exactly what they would eat for breakfast. In my dream world my kids would get up earlier giving themselves time to eat a hot breakfast or even a cold breakfast full of all the good stuff nature has to offer. You know, eggs, fruits, whole wheat toast, jam, hot cocoa, yogurt, oatmeal, etc...mm-mm. That's not happening as often as I would like. Personally, I rarely, if ever, skip out on breakfast. I make it a priority because I know it is one of many important meals of the day. I'd like to say that it is THE MOST important meal of the day, however, I believe every meal to be important for different reasons. Breakfast, however, is the one that gets me started and thus I plan to start my day off right, every single day, whether I'm in a morning rush or sitting back sipping green tea. I do occasionally fall off the wagon and here's what happens: The other day I decided to take some time off from my usual daily routine to stay home with my little Bear, catch up on chores and organize something that needs to be organized. Well, I was in such a high to get started with whatever multi-tasking activity I had planned for the day that I went right to work. Every so often reminding myself that I needed to eat and drink my tea which was steeping in the kitchen. Every time I would say to myself, "well when I go in the kitchen to do the dishes I will eat, but let me finish this first." Yeah...3 hours later, my tea was still steeping and my stomach was screaming at me. Funny thing is that I took the time to feed, play with and entertain the toddler, clean out a closet, reorganize my pantry, make 6 scented candles and organize two other kitchen cabinets...all without eating a darn thing. Bad move. I was shaky, fatigued, felt exhausted and weak. I could feel my glucose had dropped, I was completely out of whack. It took about 3 hours to get myself back to normal and in the end, I had a pretty bad headache. Of course I know better, but I got carried away. In my job I often hear my clients tell me that they just don't have time to eat breakfast or they just aren't hungry so they don't eat until lunch time. It's very easy to get up and get busy right away, every day and go on without thinking about eating. Kids do the same and probably feel the same, they just don't know it. One of my teens will get a migraine, usually by the end of the day; the others get irritable and cranky when they don't eat a nutritious breakfast. Of course, they would never admit that the lack of food had anything to do with their issues.
One of the problems with this time of day is that many people think they have to sit down to eat breakfast; others feel hat they need to cook or do some time-consuming task. While sitting down to eat is best because it gives you the time to really enjoy your meal and slow down while you eat, that is not always possible. Everyone is busy and many rushing out the door.
There are many ways to fuel your body quickly and effectively with little preparation. Here are some easy ideas for the entire family:
Yogurt with Granola----or your kids favorite cereal
Oatmeal with raisins, brown sugar ----- any fruit will do
Whole grain/whole wheat toast with peanut butter
Banana, Strawberry (or any fruit combination), yogurt, orange juice & protein Smoothie
High fiber/high protein cereal with 1% or 2% milk---add any fruit with this meal
Apple with Peanut butter
