How many of us are regular on meals? A very difficult aspect of our food habits to comment on!

Hampered by busy morning schedules, skipping breakfast is a common feature with not only housewives but also with working ladies, men and children.

Even some people, who do take breakfast, take it on a run and that too an inadequate amount. A breakfast should provide enough energy to realize the daily activity until noon or lunch but it should also be light enough as to be easy to digest.

Our body also has a clock related to our food intake on fixed intervals. Even if we avoid eating food, our body will remind us on the particular time interval and we will start feeling hungry. The word breakfast derives from the idea of breaking the involuntary fast of sleep, thus signifying the first meal eaten after awakening. After fasting during night, breakfast plays a very significant role in refilling our energy. Some studies conducted years back showed that efficiency in physical performance decreased in late morning hours when breakfast was omitted. In children attitude towards schoolwork was poorer when breakfast was omitted.

The importance of breakfast is duly indicated in an old saying, ‘ Eat breakfast like a King, Lunch like a mediocre man and Dinner like a poor man’.

Some people omit breakfast thinking skipping calories to be taken as breakfast will help them in weight reduction. The fact is that these people while on a weight reduction regimen experience a greater hunger in addition to being physiological inefficient.

Studies have indicated that children and adolescents who usually have breakfast generally consumed more daily calories than those who skip this meal and, yet, are less likely to be overweight. The changes which we can make to better breakfast habits can be :

1. Planning simple, easy to prepare but varied meals
2. Getting up sufficiently early so that there is time for eating breakfast.

Breakfast can be light or heavy depending upon the activity level and preference of an individual

A few sample breakfast menu are given below:

1. Orange Juice or milk/Boiled egg, Bread and butter, any fruit
2. Wheat porridge with milk, sandwich, any fruit
3. Stuffed praantha with minimum oil and curd, any fruit
4. Idli/Vada Sambhar/Pongal, Tea or coffee
5. Poha/Upma, Tea or coffee or milk