I am a charts, graphs and diagrams kind of gal.
I love the visual representation of data which is one reason why I was so attracted to Economics as my college major. Â Those of you who have taken Economics know what I’m talking about here – charts, graphs and diagrams galore!
Because of my personal predilection for pictorial data, I really am enjoying this new trend toward colorful Infographics.
The latest infographic that really grabbed my attention was this one below that summarized all this neat information about the most important meal of the day – breakfast.
Check out this really cool infographic and share in the comments section which factoid or factoids jumped out most at you.
My personal fave is that 50% of people give more thought to their outfit for the day than their breakfast. Â No wonder we have such a health crisis in this country!
Another keeper is that folks who skip breakfast have more carb cravings later in the day. Â Beware that 3pm Snickers attack if you didn’t take the time for a decent breakfast my friends!
Want your kids to do well in school? Â Ensuring they don’t go out the door without a decent breakfast is one of the most practical things you can do every day. Â Students who eat breakfast have better grades and are more likely to get that diploma!
Hint: The Standard American Breakfast of a bowl of cold breakfast cereal topped with skim milk and a glass of store OJ is not your best choice.  For some healthy ideas based on how Traditional Cultures started their day, check out this listing of breakfast recipes.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
“For optimum breakfast benefits, choose whole grain and non-fat dairy products…” ?? Umm… no thank you.
At some point, hopefully, people will learn, that whole grains or any type of grain is one of the leading contributors to diabetes. Many think it is plain ol sugary products. That is bad too, but it is the starch from many of the things we eat like pasta, beans, potatos, corn, rice, and every cereal, that converts to sugar and sits in our bodies and does all manner of bad things (including fueling cancer – cancer loves sugar)
I have a theory 🙂
I think the reason that people who do not eat breakfast are overweight is because their sleeping patterns are off. If you wake up groggy with only enough time to get dressed and get out the door to make it to work on time, you will not have the time or energy to make a wholesome breakfast. I also know people who eat breakfast and are still overweight. The main thing to me is that breakfast is somewhat of an indication of how well you slept the night before. People who are overweight tend to have disruptive sleeping patterns which lead to hectic mornings. I could be way off base, but this seems to be my own personal experience.
Definitely the right way to start the day! I am sometimes a bit late on mine, but have had great success since ditching the urge to skip breakfast that plagued my early professional life 🙂
LOL!! After all the blabbering that woman did yesterday about the ad for CapriSun – guess what? Today – for the first time – there’s an ad for CapriSun! There must be a machine somewhere that figures if that’s what’s being talked about, that must be what we all want to have. Like – what you focus on you create?
Duh — It’s not the first time – that was my point – there was already an ad for the sugary drink capri sun. that’s what started my ranting.
There was an ad, and it will show up again, regardless of weather we mention it or not – I could talk about bycicles for twenty pages and that won’t prompt an ad for a bike.
Have you ever wondered how “bacon & eggs” came to be a breakfast food? An advertising/propaganda genius named Edward Bernays was hired to sell more bacon. His advertising campaign used a doctors survey that said “heavy breakfasts” were better than “light” ones. They they did a nationwide campaign saying “bacon & eggs” are a good breakfast. You can watch Bernay’s interview about how he did this here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLudEZpMjKU Bernays also used the feminist movement in the early 1900’s to increase cigarette sales by getting rid of the taboo for women to smoke. He paid women who were models to smoke in the 1929 Easter Parade in NY (known as the Torches of Liberty Brigade). http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/31/nyregion/fyi-293806.html
I LOVE breakfast! I can’t even begin to imagine how people skip it. And its true, the days I eat a less healthy breakfast are the days I’m snacking in the afternoon and also the days I’m less energetic. Every morning is a good big healthy breakfast for me! My favorite meal of the day!
I have maintained my weight within 2 lb for over 3 years just by eating an egg and a little carb with butter for breakfast. Makes eating well the rest of the day easier!
Aaaah, breakfast is my bane! Culturally, it’s hard to find a variety of hearty breakfasts that don’t take a long time to prepare. I will be checking out the breakfast recipes link you have. Thanks!
I always have ready-to-use chicken or beef stock in the fridge. This way, it takes me less than 5 minutes to get breakfast on the table. And I only have to wash a small pot, bowls and spoons (which I do by hand).
I make tiny ground beef and liver meatballs, which I keep in the freezer and just take as needed. I just bring the stock to a boil and drop the meatballs along with pre-minced onions and kale.
I also keep minced beef in a jar (with a spicy garlic marinade), which I use throughout the week. In another jar I have sliced shallots, mushrooms, and carrots.
The soups are topped with chopped scallions.
But with a sourdough starter going, and lots of fermented vegetables in the fridge, it’s so easy to do breakfast. Just grab whatever you like, and it’s done 🙂 Worst case scenario, I grab a can of sardines and eat it on a slice of sourdough bread. Or, liver pate, which I generally have in the fridge. Or a big hunk of cheese!
The only comment I didn’t like was eating “non fat dairy products”. I do well throughout the day when I eat eggs for breakfast (love them).
“Those who skip breakfast consume: 40% more sweets, 55% more soft drinks, 45% fewer vegetables, 30% less fruit. People who eat breakfast everyday are also: 34% less likely to develop type 2 diabetes… … and 40% less likely to develop fat around the belly than those who don’t.”
There are loads of confounding variables, you can’t tell whether it’s the direct lack of breakfast or just that those were people who don’t care about what they eat. It’s called health consciousness. When you’re eating a high-carb low-fat diet, which is what the subjects are most likely eating when they go on in that iconograph to say that breakfast improved test performance; they’d be hypoglycaemic without breakfast as they have unstable blood sugar from their high-carb low-fat diet so of course breakfast would improve their results, it’s correcting the hypoglycaemia. Notice they recommend non-fat dairy for a healthy breakfast, along with grains.
If you eating plenty of fat and not eating too much carbs then blood sugar is stable all day long and it doesn’t matter what time you eat. And in fact skipping meals (even breakfast) has been shown to improve insulin sensitivity, blood cholesterol, and help people loss excess weight… without restricting calories! It’s called intermittent fasting.