A Smart Breakfast Leads to Healthy Kids

The word breakfast simply means “breaking the fast.” Since breakfast is the meal we eat after our longest period of rest it has special significance to our metabolism.

Just as getting enough sleep is important to a person’s performance during the day, eating a good breakfast is equally important. It provides the vital nourishment and energy we need to start and carry out our day. In today’s fast-paced society breakfast tends to be neglected or substituted with highly processed foods stripped of nutritional goodness. This corresponds with unprecedented obesity, chronic disease and a culture of fast and busy lifestyles.

The beneficial effects of breakfast include physical performance, psychological health and cognitive ability. A morning meal can decrease hunger throughout the morning resulting in less snacking. Research has also suggested that breakfast consumption is associated with lower mortality and reduced susceptibility to physical illness. In one study people who ate breakfast every day tended to have high energy and were relaxed rather than tense. The study showed a link between breakfast habits and measures of stress and emotional distress.

Regular consumption of breakfast is associated with higher intelligence scores in primary school children through to the elderly. It improves memory and cognitive function, contributing positively to mood and mental health.

Breakfast can enhance mood through the supply of micronutrients and amino acids in the cellular biochemistry cycle. Protein is an essential building block for your body and mind. Proteins are made up of smaller units called amino acids. One essential function for amino acids is in the construction of the brain’s neurotransmitters – the chemicals that tell your brain what to do. Without the right amino acids in every main meal (three meals per day) your brain does not receive the proper messages. It cannot produce serotonin, the “feel good chemical” if there is none of the amino acid tryptophan; it cannot produce dopamine, the stabilizing brain chemical, if there is no tyrosine. If cysteine and methionine are not present it can’t produce taurine, the calming neurotransmitter. Without these amino acids and the right digestion in a healthy gut, your brain gets lots of mixed messages and you can experience increased incidence of chronic mental illnesses including depression, anxiety and ADHD.

Another important aspect of breakfast is that because it is harder to keep an eye on the food kids eat away from home – at school or at their friends’ homes – it is more important than ever for kids to have a particularly nutritious breakfast. For some kids this may be the most nutritious meal of the day, and is therefore essential to long-term health and the avoidance of chronic disease.

This article is written by Dr Dingle, Australia's favourite speaker, motivator and sustainable health expert. For more information from Dr Dingle visit his website. Dr Dingle