You’ve heard that saying, right? Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. I’m focusing on the “healthy” part today. I had heard that saying a million times but never really thought about the “healthy” part.

You know, they say that eating breakfast can actually help you lose weight. It’s true. Here’s my problem with breakfast, and the problem I’ve had for years up until recently…. I could never get myself up early enough to get myself ready, and eat breakfast before rushing out the door so that I could get to wherever I needed to be on time. Sleep is a precious commodity, even if it’s just an extra 10 minutes.

According to this article, when you eat breakfast in the morning, it helps to keep you from overeating throughout the day. It makes sense! I’m sure we’ve all done it at one point or another. You skip breakfast, and lunch rolls around and there’s not enough food in sight to satisfy your hunger. You scarf it all down so quickly before you stomach has time to tell your brain that “hey, I’m full”… in fact, you were full 500 calories ago.

Another problem that I have with breakfast is what do I eat? The same article gives some suggestions for healthy breakfasts that will give you energy for the day. First up… no surprise here….

• Cereal: Hot or cold, doesn’t really matter. But, the key thing is that the first ingredient should be “whole grain.”
• Smoothies: This is one I haven’t really experimented with… but I should! Blend one cup of nonfat milk plus 1/2-1 cup of nonfat plain or sugar-free nonfat flavored yogurt, plus a cup of crushed ice and a cup of fresh or frozen fruit. Sounds tasty, doesn’t it?
• Waffles: If prepared right! A brand called Kashi has a GoLean frozen waffle. 2 Waffles have 170 calories, 6 grams of fiber (helps you to feel full among other things) and 4 grams of sugar.

Several months ago I made a serious effort to wake up with enough time to eat a healthy breakfast (oatmeal is usually my choice) and have time to pack a nutritious lunch for the day. Every once in a while, leftover dessert like brownies or cake will get the best of me for breakfast, but all in all, it’s usually a healthy breakfast that gets me started. Those two elements (packing a healthy lunch, and eating breakfast), though it requires me to get up a bit earlier, have helped me in my weight loss process.

Oh, and by the way, ‘early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise’ was a saying of Benjamin Franklin. You learn something new every day…

Source: eDiets

Post Tags: breakfast, healthy, weight, weight-loss

 

Additional Reading:
• Farewell Summer - Hello Seasonal Weight Gain?
• Healthy Habits Start in the Home
• How Alcohol Prevents You From Losing Weight
• Sheryl Crow’s List of "Important Things You Can Do For Your Health"

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