Three of Five Positively Healthy Choices Everyday!

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It refuels your body and energizes your mind for the beginning of a new day. Now I have always been a big breakfast advocate. It is easy and cheap to make and generally children love breakfast food. I know it sounds crazy but my children always had a hot breakfast even when I had to be to work by 7:00 in the morning. Most of the breakfasts took less than 10 minutes to make and no, they didn’t have cold cereal every day. I fact my daughter would look at you like you were crazy if you thought she was going to eat cereal more than one day a week and then it had better be Lucky Charms. Each of my children has their favorites. One likes waffles, the other french toast and the other anything as long as there was bacon. Sometimes we would even have breakfast for dinner.

I recently discovered something I didn’t know about breakfast. To make a breakfast truly healthy you need to eat at least three of the five food groups. It doesn’t matter which three as long as there are three represented on your plate. It may seem silly but it really does make a difference. For years I have told friends that cereal for breakfast never filled me up. It was like the old expression about Chinese food, you eat it and an hour later you are hungry. In my quest to improve my health and keep an eye on my cholesterol number I have been eating more whole grain cereal for breakfast. What I never realized was that in the past when I ate cereal I was only eating from two of the five food groups, grains and dairy. No wonder I always felt hungry when I ate cereal and not other food for breakfast. Since I discovered this I simply add a banana to the cereal and it fills me up until lunch.

The other meals in the day need to follow that same rule by containing at least three of five food groups. It just seems that the other meals take care of themselves better than breakfast does. Poor breakfast, the most important meal of the day, gets pushed and shoved around. Some people eat nothing for breakfast and run out the door with a coffee cup in their hand then wonder why they can hardly move for most of the morning. Or they make a quick stop for a donut or pastry and feel fine for a short time until the sugar high runs out.

The important thing about breakfast is that it doesn’t need to be hard, time consuming or complicated to make. Remember it only needs to be three things to be healthy. Pick a fruit, add a protein, drink some milk and you have three of five. Make a peanut butter sandwich then add either a piece of fruit or some milk and you have three of five. Grab a yogurt a small bag with dry cereal add some fruit and you have three of five. Make a homemade egg sandwich (egg, english muffin, cheese) again three of five. Your three of five doesn’t even have to be what most people would consider breakfast foods. How about a ham and cheese sandwich, guess what it is three of five. Even pizza is three of five. All of these take five minutes or less to make and are highly portable. You would even be able to count your coffee as one of the food groups if it contains a cup of milk. That is of course if you leave out the fancy flavorings and whipped cream on top. Can you say Latte?

Become a three of five breakfast advocate at your house and make breakfast the most important meal of the day. This simple healthy habit will follow everyone you live with through their lifetimes and help create healthy lifestyles. Remember that breakfast doesn’t need to be big and fancy, save those three course breakfasts for special days or the weekends. Make breakfast fun and keep things easy. By keeping breakfast simple everyone can start their day healthy and ready for what the new day holds. Make three of five one of your family's positively healthy choices everyday!