Why you should NEVER skip breakfast

Breakfast literally means “breaking the fast”.

If you think about it, your body has had nothing to eat since you're evening meal – that’s a 12 hour fast! (excluding any extra evening nibbles).

So skipping breakfast is an awful thing to do yourself as it extends the fast way beyond the norm and makes it hard to get going in the morning. It’s like trying to drive your car on fumes!!!

For younger children, this overnight fast can be as long as 16 hours. So it’s important to support their little brains working properly that they have a good, healthy breakfast.

Many cereals are high fiber and nutrients (choose carefully by looking at the labels, avoid highly sugary ones and go for high fibre for slower release of energy through the morning).

Add some protein for sustained hunger control by adding milk (full fat if under two years) or yogurt and include antioxidant-rich fruits to boost the immune system, like berries, orange or banana.

Importantly for weight loss, if you are hoping skipping breakfast reduces calories so you’ll lose more weight, think again! 

The extended fast starts to put you into “starvation” mode, which means your body’s metabolism is at a real low. This switches off the fat burning process to try to save energy - a bit like hibernation really.

Having even a small breakfast helps to balance the food intake throughout the day, reducing hunger and cravings and therefore making overeating less likely.