What Makes A Good Breakfast
Let me start by telling you what a good breakfast is not:
- Dinner the night before
- Coffee
- Donuts
- Donut Holes
- Pop, soda, coke (depending on where you're from)
- Red Bull
- Cappuccino
- Sugary cereals
- A Candy Bar
- Pop Tarts
- Greasy, fatty food (I'm thinking fast food breakfasts)
Those are just a few, but you get the point. Basically, anything that comes in a box, is sold at a gas station, fast food restaurant, or at the local coffee shop doesn't make for a good breakfast. I know a lot of you are addicted to coffee, and that's okay because coffee isn't that bad for you, but you need something more with it. Coffee boosts your alertness and reaction time, but it doesn't generally improve your concentration, just makes you more jittery. If you need more than two cups to get you going in the morning, you're definitely on the wrong track. Eating good foods with coffee will help tone down the jitter and improve your concentration. That way you'll get the bonus of being able to think clearly while also being more alert.
So what do all the foods in the "not good breakfast" list have in common? They all have lots of sugar and are processed by your body very quickly, which is why you crash from your sugar high about an hour after eating them. They can sustain you about as well as a bunny can sustain a calculus test. If you check the ingredients on all of them you'll probably see high fructose corn syrup listed. High fructose corn syrup is like kryptonite for your body. Your body and brain run almost exclusively on glucose, not fructose. So anything that has high fructose corn syrup in it isn't doing your brain one iota of good. Instead it's usually converted to fat and then checks into your fat cells. And it usually overstays it's welcome, kind of like that family friend who you tried helping out and they ended up living in your basement for 13 years. Fructose tends to live in people's, um, "basements", for years too.
Here's what you should eat: good foods. Things like whole wheat bread, peanut butter, eggs, veggies, fresh fruit!, milk, real juice, nuts, yogurt, honey, bran cereals, granola, oatmeal, and even meats like lean sausage and ham. Get the point? What do all these food have in common? Yes, they're actually real foods! This list contains foods that provide your body with a wagonload of glucose and neurotransmitters which means your brain will work better and you will be smarter. You need these types of foods to break the fast since last night's dinner. That's why it's called break-fast. If you've read the articles about cardio exercise, you know what happens to your brain cells when they don't get the nutrients they need - they die! If you starve your body until lunch the next day, some 16 hours after dinner the night before, do you think your brain is making new brain cells? From your body's point of view, that would make about as much sense as buying a Porsche when you're living in a straw hut.
Furthermore, real foods are processed more slowly by your body which means your energy, focus, and concentration will be sustained than with donuts and coffee, getting you to lunch without that horrible rumbling feeling in your stomach, and without the blank stares at the walls wondering why you can't still be at home sleeping (obviously I've experienced this before). If you start eating real breakfasts you'll wonder how it's possible to be this alert all morning and will accomplish more during the morning hours than you'd typically accomplish during the entire day. Since I started eating real breakfasts my morning productivity has doubled. Do you think the quality of your life would improve if every morning from now on you accomplished twice as much? If you're in school, that's a whole lot more information you can absorb the first time around. So how about you take that waffle off your head and put it in your belly!
So here's the take-home message:
A good breakfast gives your energy and intelligence a huge boost, allowing you to learn more, remember more, and accomplish more. Unlike bad breakfast foods, good foods like the ones I've listed contain real fuel and nutrients which is exactly what your body needs to sustain you until lunch and make your productivity go through the roof.