Why breakfast?

Breakfast is a great kick-start to the day. True to its name,''breakfast'' breaks the ''fast'' of the night and offers a healthy and nutritious way to start the day. Breakfast is essential in kick-starting your metabolism and getting essential vitamins and minerals into your body to help you take on the day. However, despite breakfast being the most important meal of the day there are still over half a million kiwis who skip breakfast every morning!

Benefits of eating breakfast

1. Kick-start your brain with breakfast:
   Eating breakfast provides energy for the brain and it has been shown to improve alertness – which is important for learning. Additionally, breakfast restores the body’s glucose levels – the brain’s energy source. 
   
2. Think smarter and run further with breakfast:
   Children who eat breakfast have better concentration and memory performance than those who don’t. After fasting overnight, eating a good breakfast ensures that our bodies are fuelled and ready for physical activity. 
   
3. Power through your day with Breakfast:
   Eating a nutritious breakfast gives your body the energy and nutrients it needs to get through the morning. We know that those who skip breakfast often don’t make up for the missed nutrients later on in the day. 
   
4. Get your body pumping with breakfast:
   A good breakfast can provide protein (for building and maintaining muscle), carbohydrates (for energy), fibre (for healthy digestive function), calcium (for building strong bones), iron (for healthy red blood cells and oxygen transport around the body), plus additional vitamins and minerals. These nutrients are essential for healthy growth and development. 
   
5. Keep your weight healthy with breakfast:
   When you miss breakfast, your body''s general functioning (metabolism) slows down and remains low for the rest of the day, making it harder for your body to use up the energy from the foods you eat later, and possibly leading to weight gain over time. Also, without breakfast, we tend to feel very hungry mid morning and may be more likely to fill up on snack foods that are convenient but don''t have a good nutrient balance