Wellness Wednesday – Healthy Breakfast with Nurse Lauren

Hi there, Nurse Lauren here with your Wellness Wednesday tip! Today, let’s chat about how to kick start your day in the right direction by consuming a healthy breakfast.

Why is eating right first thing in the morning so important?

• Breakfast foods are packed with important nutrients.  Your body needs these to give you energy for your day. 
• Breakfast kick starts your metabolism. If you are looking to lose weight, start by eating a healthy breakfast.

What will happen to your body if you skip breakfast? Why would you ever do this? Breakfast means to “break the fast” from sleeping through the night.

• You will overeat during the day because you will be hungry. This leads to eating too many calories in the day and making unhealthy choices because your body is starving.
• You will be behind in your daily nutrient count and playing catch up for the rest of the day.
• Breakfast is your morning fuel. Miss it and it can effect your concentration and productivity for the rest of the day.
  

Here is a great healthy option for your first meal of the day:

Egg whites, Canadian bacon, spinach, tomatoes and some berries on the side
2 scrambled egg whites – 34 calories
1 slice Canadian bacon – 45 calories
1 cup spinach- 7 calories
1/2 medium red tomato – 11 calories
1/4 cup blueberries – 22 calories or 1/4 cup of raspberries – 16 calories
Total calories: 119 or 113

Remember that the number of calories you should consume in one day can vary depending on many factors. Things to consider: your age, sex, height, weight, how much you exercise, and if you trying to maintain, lose or gain weight. Check out this table from the health.gov dietary guidelines for an estimate of how many calories you should be taking in per day.

According to the Scientific Report of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, about half of American adults have one or more preventable, chronic diseases (examples: cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers.)  In addition, about two-thirds of U.S. adults are overweight or obese. For the past two decades, poor diets, consuming too many calories, and lack of physical activity are the main reasons for the alarmingly high number of Americans with diseases. To read this report in its entirety, click here. Starting your day off with a healthy breakfast is the first step in improving your diet and making sure you don’t over consume calories during the day. Check out my post on Keeping It Movin’ for ideas on how to become more active.

This is Nurse Lauren, contributor of NursesNOW, signing off with your Wellness Wednesday tip!