IT'S NEW Year's Day and many people will be dusting off last year's long list of resolutions, yet to be fulfilled. Now, here's a simple and healthy New Year's resolution that you can actually keep resolve to eat breakfast every morning.
Why is this so important? Well, eating breakfast provides the body with the energy needed for work and play; poor dietary habits are associated with most of the chronic, lifestyle diseases diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, obesity and even more importantly, research coming out of the American Dietetic Association (ADA) says that those who eat breakfast have better control over their weight, have lower cholesterol, learn better and cut their heart disease risks.
Dr. Pauline Samuda, Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute's (CFNI's) nutrition educator, said that although most of the studies on the benefits of breakfast are carried out in relation to children, ideally adults and children should consume about one-third of their daily amount of calories at breakfast time and the balance at lunch and dinner times.
Adults, particularly those involved in manual labour, should eat breakfast to pack in the energy needed to carry out their heavy-duty tasks. Growing children require a certain amount of nutrients for healthy development and Dr. Samuda said that to effectively get these nutrients into the child's small system, the nutrients should be broken up into portions throughout the day.
"The first portion (breakfast) is very important because if anything else happens throughout the day to prevent you from consuming the right nutrients, you should at least get them in at the beginning of the day; and that is especially true for children," she said.
So eating breakfast is important but what you eat is also critical. Excellent breakfast choices are fruits, cereals (not only the commercial cereals but traditional cereals such as cornmeal, oats and rice porridges). The milk added to the cereal is a good source of protein and Dr. Samuda said that everyone should try to consume some of their daily vitamin C requirements in the mornings this would come mainly from the fruits.
But although you are trying to pack in portions of all the critical nutrients your vitamins and minerals, protein, carbohydrates the nutrition educator said that breakfast doesn't have to be a complicated meal. It can be as simple as a healthy sandwich made with chicken left-overs and some vegetables, of course, and a cup of your favourite fruit juice. Another option a bowl of porridge with a fruit.
"We have to bear in mind that people are busy and rushing off to work in the mornings and the anxiety of getting dress, taking the public transportation to work, takes away their appetite. You can, in fact, eat some of your breakfast at home and take the rest for your mid-morning break at work. So, you don't have to pack in all the nutrients at one time," she advised.
What about the Jamaican tradition of the piping hot cup of tea or coffee first thing in the mornings? Well, although Dr. Samuda says that this cultural belief of "taking off the gas" with a hot drink in the morning persists, there is really no scientific evidence to support it. A fruit juice will do just fine. But soft drinks are not encouraged this packs on the calories but not the nutrition, defeating the purpose of eating breakfast.
What about eggs? A maximum of three per week, eaten every other day or one every two days is the recommendation to limit the cholesterol intake. And the traditional Jamaican breakfasts ackee and saltfish, mackerel and banana, callaloo and saltfish ackee is fattening and should be taken in small portions but the real negative against the traditional breakfasts (beside the loads of fat calories) is that they take lots of time to prepare. It might be more convenient to prepare these dishes on weekends.
