RRSP for health

Breakfast Smarts

It's called the most important meal of the day for good reason. Breakfast is the meal that starts off your day and fuels your brain and muscles. Skipping it puts you at a disadvantage that you generally can't make up for later.

So what's an ideal breakfast? It should include three of the four food groups: grain products (cereal, bread, bagels, muffins or pitas), vegetables and fruit (juice or whole), meat and alternatives (cottage cheese or other cheeses, peanut butter or eggs), and milk products (yogurt or milk).

If "no time" is your excuse for skipping breakfast, plan the night before. Set the table and have food ready so it will take only minutes. Cereal, fruit, sandwiches (made and refrigerated the night before), yogurt, muffins, and crackers and cheese are all fast, easy and nutritious. If you run out of time, portable foods can be eaten on the way.

Make a breakfast shake of milk or yogurt mixed with fruit that's easy for everyone to sip before leaving home.

Breakfast cereal with milk provides a good percentage of daily fibre, calcium, iron and B vitamins. Eat it with fresh fruit and you've covered three of the four food groups at your first meal. Try the whole grain varieties, or hot cereal, which takes only one minute to make in the microwave.

Eating higher-fibre cereals, whole wheat bread or bagels, bran muffins or oatmeal with raisins will go a long way toward meeting your daily fibre needs.

Go with the nontraditional: a tuna melt, pizza, leftover macaroni and cheese, a grilled cheese sandwich, banana bread, soup, soft pretzels, crackers and cheese, or a granola bar.

Granolas may seem like the perfect nutritious breakfast, but many with nuts and seeds are high in fat. Make your own granola by combining different whole grains and going easy on the nuts.

If you can't start your day without a cup of coffee, do so without guilt. Make it a latte, cappuccino or café au lait and you'll get part of your milk allowance for the day.

If weekday breakfasts are on the run, have a family meal on the weekend so everyone will enjoy it and get used to eating in the morning.

If you want your kids to eat breakfast, eat with them.