Reasons to eat breakfast:

It doesn’t have to be a soon as you get up, but try to have something within an hour or two of waking. Here’s why……

1. breakfast eaters tend to be a healthier weight
2. breakfasts tend to be nutritionally dense with, fruit, dairy, whole grains, setting you up with a healthy start to the day
3. breakfast will stabilise blood sugar levels resulting in enhanced memory, improved cognitive ability, and increased attention span
4. children who eat breakfast perform better in school and in sport. They have better concentration, problem-solving skills, and eye-hand coordination

Here are 5 of top breakfast foods:

Oats – filling, high fibre, low glycaemic index, cholesterol lowering. Make traditional porridge, summer oats, or homemade muesli. Play around with the various oat textures. If you like very smooth porridge, go for Ready Brek; or if you like chunky, nutty and a bit chewy sprinkle some jumbo oats on to some yogurt.

Berries – these are low in calories but pack a mighty nutrition punch. High in antioxidants and anti inflammatory anthocyanins, they fight chronic conditions such as heart disease and diabetes. Add to oats,porridge, greek yogurt, or in a super shake

Eggs – eggs have received a bad press over the years due to the cholesterol content of the egg yolk. We now know that dietary cholesterol doesn’t have a significant effect on blood cholesterol, in fact recent studies show that 2 eggs a day may improve cholesterol levels. They are one of the most nutritious foods that you can eat: omega 3 fats, lutein, choline, all the B vitamins, as well as vitamins A, D, E, K, high protein, iron.  Health benefits: regulate blood sugar, anti inflammatory, heart, brain, hormone, eye and skin health. Have 2 scrambled, dry fried, poached eggs on a piece of wholemeal toast, or try a sweet breakfast omelette.

Seeds – pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, flax/linseed, all provide essential fats that benefit the heart, brain, skin and are anti inflammatory. Sprinkle on to yogurt or into porridge to bump up the protein and good fat content.

Toasted pumpkin & sunflower seeds

Greek yogurt – this type of yogurt has been strained resulting in a concentration of the protein. Normal natural yogurt has 4g protein/100g. Greek yogurt has double this, making it high in protein therefore more filling. Being dairy, it is also high in calcium. Try to buy greek or ‘high protein’ yogurt, as greek ‘style’ doesn’t have the same high level of protein (greek style & normal natural yogurt not a bad choice though, just not as high in protein).

Total Greek yogurt

Danio high protein yogurt