Believe it or not, that old adage ‘breakfast is the most important meal of the day’ is far from an old wives tale and is in fact sage wisdom. Studies show that eating a nutritious and healthy breakfast in the morning will help you prepare both mentally and physically for the day ahead. Eating breakfast also helps to stabilise blood sugar levels and metabolism which are both integral to weight loss.

So what other reasons are there for not skipping breakfast? Well, for a start, skipping on breakfast can lead to fatigue, poor concentration and feeling poorly later on in the day. Without breakfast, you will not only be feeling very hungry come mid morning but are also more likely to snack on less nutritious foods such as chocolate, crisps and sugary drinks in order to boost your sugar levels quickly. High intake of unhealthy foods combined with fluctuating blood sugar levels can provide the perfect breeding ground for diabetes while eating breakfast has also been proven to protect against high blood pressure and heart disease.

People’s perceptions of what constitutes a ‘healthy breakfast’ can vary greatly. Ideally eating a light, low fat breakfast is the best route to take. A breakfast loaded with starchy foods is a great way to fuel up for the rest of the day while foods such as wholegrain cereal allow energy to be released slowly and steadily, as opposed to small, infrequent bursts. Non-sugary, high fibre cereals such as porridge and bran flakes are excellent choices, especially when paired with semi-skimmed or soya milk as well as some chopped fresh fruit.

Believe it or not, eating a healthy breakfast can also reduce the risk of obesity and is particularly important for people wanting to loose weight. Eating pieces of fruit for breakfast allows those with a persistent sweet tooth to enjoy a low impact sugar hit instead of high-fat chocolate bar or can of cola. As mentioned earlier, eating breakfast everyday gives your metabolism an earlier morning wake up call. By getting your metabolism woken up early on, your body will begin burning through calories which is why skipping breakfast altogether actually has adverse effects.

Finally, enjoying breakfast doesn’t only have a positive effect on your mood, waistline and energy levels but could also save you money. Planning ahead and including breakfast foods in your weekly shop will prevent unscheduled snacking or picking up extra meals during your working day that can rapidly see costs add up. The decreased risk of obesity, heart disease and diabetes also means you could stand to save money on your health and life insurance premiums. Saving money across the board thanks to the introduction of a healthy breakfast will allow you to reroute funds into other areas of your life and with new found early morning energy there’s nothing to stop you!