Dr Hector PereraƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  London

There was an article in a leading news paper in Sri Lanka, reporting that some children fainted at a school. First they suspected due to a bug or a food poison but with more investigation, the police found out that none of the children had any regular breakfast. Studies show thatƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ children who eat breakfast perform better on cognitive tests and in school. Maybe it works that way for adults too. In any case, skipping breakfast is probably a bad idea.

Skipping breakfast is a common strategy for people who are trying to lose weight, but it’s usually not a successful one. Your body (or may be your brain) expects to be refuelled a few times each day, so when you skip meals you may feel so hungry that when lunch time comes, you over-eat or may be you choose foods that are not the healthiest choices.

Actually, eating breakfast may be good for losing weight. People who eat breakfast are more likely to maintain a healthy weight. Some experts believe eating breakfast keeps yourƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ metabolismƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ running because skipping meals causes the body to kick into ‘starvation’ mode. This really isn’t the case, however, because it takes three or four days of not eating for the body to start gearing down. It’s more likely that people who regularly eat breakfast also make good dietary choices the rest of the day.

One early morning, I was in a queue to buy something in a bakery at Nawala road Koswatte, then I saw a few children and adults were buying breakfast type food, egg and bacon rolls, mutton rolls, cheese cakes, chocolate cakes, fish rolls and many similar items. In the forecourt of the bakery there were three wheelers, four by four and many cars where children were going to school. Along with the list of items, they took fizzy drink cans as well. I was wondering why not they had any other healthy breakfast at home for example bread, butter, jam and bananas or any boiled chick peas or sweet potatoes. What they buy at these bakeries was not healthy with compared to chick peas and boiled mung beans.

Eating a Healthy Breakfast

While any breakfast may be better than no breakfast, there are some foods you might want to avoid because they’re high in sugars,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ sodium, saturated fats and calories. Cut back on sugary cereals (over 5.0 grams per serving), high-calorie pastries, and meats like bacon and sausage those are high inƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ saturated fatƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ and sodium.

Breakfast should include protein and plenty of fibers; the combination will help satisfy your hunger and will keep you feeling full until lunch time. The protein can come from low-fat meat, eggs, nuts or dairy products. High-fiber foods include fruits, vegetables andƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ whole grains. A healthyƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ breakfastƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ doesn’t need to be extravagant or take a long time to prepare. Try something simple like a hard boiled egg, whole grain toast and 100% fruit juice. And there’s nothing wrong with a bowl of whole-grain cereal with berries and low-fat milk.

If you really don’t like to eat breakfast, you can split it up into two smaller meals. Eat a hard boiled egg at home, and an hour or two later, take a break from work and snack on an apple and a handful of healthy nuts like pecans orƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ walnuts.

Choice of breakfast

I am sure the school children might be able to have bread, jam, butter, margarine, a toast, and bananas, boiled chick peas, mung beans, boiled butter beans, boiled egg and bread as breakfast. Sometimes an omelette with two slices of bread also satisfies as a breakfast. There are plenty of fruits, bananas, apples, oranges, mangos and pineapples. If possible slice a mango, peel and cut a mango and an orange, a slice of papaw and an apple into a deep dish, then add a tea spoonful of sugar, few drops of vanilla essence and mix it gently. The fruit salad is tastier with a tea spoonful of condensed milk or some coconut or kitul trickle. Again the sugary stuff should not be too much but for growing up children, a tea spoonful of sugar might not do any harm. This is freshly made fruit salad. I am sure once in a while; you can have some fruit salad for your breakfast. One might say who got the time to boil chick peas or mung beans for breakfast. Actually it will take not much time if you know exactly how to cook them. This is one of the reasons, I said before the children should learn simple basic cooking. That would certainly help them in future as well when they gradually gain independence in further studies and work.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  I wouldnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t write it if I cannot practically show it. Again let me come back to the technique of energy saving cooking. I apply that technique in cooking or boiling chick peas, mung beans or even making milk rice. Most of the time, I do not hang around doing nothing while they cook.

There is nothing wrong having cereals but the only thing is, itƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s not quite healthy to have them on daily basis because there are added sugars or salt in them. The egg and bacon rolls are again not quite healthy on regular basis because they are loaded with saturated fats, oils, salt and various sauces. The best thing is to have different things for breakfast than having the same thing again and again, have variety.

May be in the weekends or on holidays, other cereals or grains such as maize, wheat, barley, sorghum, millet, oats, rye, can be boiled for breakfast.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Apart from these in Sri Lanka, they grow a grain called ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-kurakkanƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ which is highly nutritive but I have my doubts whether the children would like them. Other forms of breakfast are string hoppers, white hoppers or egg hoppers, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-pittuƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ and roti. These cannot be prepared easily unless you buy them from a near by shop. In a way they are healthier than bacon and sausage rolls and cost less money. There is no reason why the children should go to school in empty stomach; there are plenty of choices for breakfast.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Email perera6@hotmail.co.uk