no excuses: eat your breakfast
Everybody who skips breakfast has a good excuse. But really there is no excuse to regularly skip breakfast. Sure there are some days when things don’t come together and breakfast gets missed. Missing isn’t the same as skipping. “Man what happened to the time, I didn’t have breakfast today and it’s almost lunch,” once in a while is way different from “I just don’t have the time, I’ll grab something at lunch,” most (or every) mornings.
I weigh-in at Weight Watchers every Saturday morning before the 10:30 meeting. I like to get my morning walk or run first. I grab a banana or apple and a glass of milk, then workout. I don’t consider that breakfast. I take some fruit with me to weigh-in and eat it right after I face the scale. Still not breakfast. When the meeting is over, I walk straight home and fix myself a meal fit for breakfast and lunch. By noon I am well fed. Sundays, I have some fruit and milk and wait until after I come home from church for my real breakfast. That is around 10:30. Sunday breakfast is always great. I am not making excuses, just saying how it is. And notice that I do start off with a little something, then get to breakfast late.
The rest of the week I always eat breakfast within an hour of rising.
Most people who skip breakfast do so nearly everyday. And they have excuses everyday.
“I can face the day better if I just get a couple of more minutes sleep. I’d rather get that sleep than eat.”
Who doesn’t like an extra little bit of sleep? But that extra 10 minutes will not make you more energized to face the day than a good breakfast. I call it feeding the machine. For a machine to work right, it needs an energy source. You body is a complex machine that needs a lot of fuel. Feed it. If you invest that extra 10 minutes you would have spent sleeping in eating a healthy breakfast, you will be more energetic and awake.
“I have kids and I have to get them dressed and out the door for school. The little one needs to have her diapers changed. You get the picture. I just don’t have the time in the mornings for something like breakfast.”
The kids! Breakfast is so important that you really do want to feed the kids and teach them how important it is to eat breakfast. With all the energy it takes to get them out the door, you need breakfast to feed your machine. And theirs too! It may be tempting to give them some Pop-Tarts(!!!) or donuts or set out some Froot Loops, but those are not a good breakfast. No time? Try setting something up the night before, after dinner. that can be warmed up for breakfast. Toaster waffles and fruit don’t even need that much set up. Plan breakfast ahead and be ready in the morning.
“All breakfast ever does for me is set me up for a sugar crash later in the morning.”
Then your breakfast is too sugary. Stay away from the donuts and the sweet coffee. Whole wheats and proteins are best to make your breakfast stretch. The regular breakfast food like cereals, toast, eggs, bagels etc. are high on simple carbohydrates. When you eat simple carbohydrates your blood sugar goes skyrocketing and the food is easily digested, leaving you feel ravenous when your blood sugar levels come down. Make sure you pack your breakfast with protein to stay full. Try peanut butter on whole wheat bread or a whole grain bagel along with some cottage cheese; you can also try yogurt or a Nurtigrain bar. And always include a cup (8 oz) of fat-free milk.
“I can’t eat right away. It turns my stomach.”
Make a take-along breakfast. It’s actually quite normal for your t stomach to object to food first thing in the morning, especially if it’s not accustomed to being fed. You could try starting with a glass of juice and a piece of bread then graduate to a little more gradually. Don’t wait to eat the donuts from the kitchen at the office or cracker packs from the vending machine. Takes some granola bars or some fruit with you and eat it later. Instant oatmeal with a little milk in a coffee mug in the kitchen microwave is something you can eat at your desk. Pack up a PB&J to take to work. Be creative, but get those proteins and complex carbs into you.
“I don’t like breakfast foods.”
A lot of people don’t. What about “chilled Italian cheese toast?” What is that? Is there a recipe? Sure is. Take a slice of pizza. Put it in the fridge over night. Eat it in the morning, hot or cold. I exaggerate, but the point is, if you would prefer last night’s pizza to a spinach, mushroom, and feta egg white omelette, by all means, eat last night’s pizza. I have been known to eat chili over toast for breakfast. Not awful. Actually pretty good because it was what I wanted to eat.
The worst excuse: “I’m trying to lose weight and I can’t spare the calories.”
As counter-intuitive as it may seem, eating breakfast will actually help you lose weight. Breakfast is not wasted calories. If you skip breakfast, you will be hungrier in the morning making it more likely that you will binge eat for lunch or hit the vending machine before lunch. You may have thought you were saving calories, but that plan backfired on you. Topping off your tank at the start of the day, rather than starting with an empty tank helps keep you in control.
