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Most nutritionists consider breakfast to be the most important meal of the day. After going 10 ??“ 12 hours overnight without food energy, reserves are low and your body and brain need fuel. What you choose to eat at breakfast can affect your mood, physical and mental performance, weight and your general and long term health.? 

Can breakfast really help me to concentrate?

Yes, a study conducted in Reading showed that a breakfast rich in complex carbohydrates helped maintain memory performance in school children throughout the morning compared with no breakfast and a glucose drink.? 

Glucose is the brains only fuel, its also vital for the manufacture of neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which is important for memory. After fasting overnight blood glucose levels are at a low ebb which may explain why people who don??™t refuel with breakfast have difficulty concentrating and perform less well in the morning.

Will eating breakfast make me fat?

Cutting calories by skipping breakfast is a false economy. If you miss breakfast you are much more likely to get hungry mid morning and end up grabbing a snack mid-morning. The National Weight Control Registry in American, which investigates the behavior of people who have lost an average of 32kg and kept it off for over 6 years, found that nearly 80% of people on their register ate breakfast. A study in the US showed that skipping breakfast was associated with increased prevalence of obesity.? 

Surveys have shown that people who skip breakfast often have a higher body mass index than regular breakfast eaters. This is perhaps because overweight people mistakenly hope that skipping breakfast will help them to loose weight. Instead adopting a structured eating plan, taking time to eat breakfast can make it easier to maintain a healthy weight.? 

Will I get all the nutrients I need during the rest of the day?

Eating breakfast as part of a healthy balanced diet is very important for obtaining vital nutrients to keep your body healthy.? 

A recent review of the literature on the role of cereals outlined the positive role of cereals and cereal based foods in diet and health. Many cereal based foods are consumed at breakfast time and contribute significantly to nutrient intake of both adults and children.? 

Whole grains including whole grain breakfast cereals are a rich source of minerals, vitamins, antioxidants and dietary fiber which may work synergistically to optimize human health. Consuming whole grains as part of a healthy lifestyle is associated with a lower incidence of cardiovascular disease.? 

Will a bar of chocolate do?

Not really, a bar of chocolate will provide an immediate burst of energy which will be shortly followed by a slump in energy levels. A healthy balanced breakfast contains foods, such as wholegrain, that provide a slow release of energy throughout the morning, thus maintaining energy levels and keeping blood sugar levels on an even keel.

Further nutritional breakfast information...

Results from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey of young people highlighted that children who eat above average quantities of cereal had higher total intakes of Iron, B vitamins and vitamin D? 

Researchers in Ireland found that consumption of ready to eat breakfast cereals was associated with greater compliance with dietary recommendations for fat, carbohydrate and fiber and with a reduced risk of dietary inadequacy of Calcium, Iron, and B vitamins? 

Researchers in Scotland found that consuming a breakfast rich in complex carbohydrates benefited short term memory by supplying the brain with a ready available and steady supply of glucose? 

A study carried out in Oxford found that children consuming a breakfast rich in complex carbohydrates including muesli and porridge, consumed significantly less at lunchtime. The results also suggest that there may be a role for complex carbohydrates in weight control and obesity management in young children.? 

A supplement published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition collated the findings studies into the effects of breakfast habits in children. The results showed that those children who didn??™t have breakfast in the morning performed less well in problem solving tasks. Verbal fluency, creativity and the ability to recall newly acquired facts were similarly affected? 

Studies carried out at the University of Wales, found that adults who ate breakfast tended to work faster, made fewer mistakes in logic tests and had better memory recall compared with breakfast skippers? 

A study carried out at the University of Cardiff suggests that breakfast eaters are less likely to suffer from colds and 'flu'.

Studies carried out at the University of Bristol examined the breakfast habits of 126 volunteers between the ages of 20 and 79 and assessed their mental health. The results revealed that, even taking into to account that fact that breakfast eaters tended to have healthier lifestyles, those who ate breakfast everyday were less depressed, less emotionally distressed and had lower perceived levels of stress compared with those who skipped the first meal of the day.

These are helpful tools; sites (not downloads) that you could add to your desk top.

Cooking Measurements
Here is a great site for help with cooking measurements:
http://www.baking911.com/howto_measure.htm

Cooking Units Converter
Converts metric, imperial, etc. units:
http://www.unitsconverter.net/

Please use this link: Special Valentine's Day Recipes

A to Z Recipes continues with its popular Theme Issues. We will share theme recipes and post them on the first Sunday of each month. Send your recipes no later than the last Friday of each month to have them posted in the next monthly theme issue. You may send in your favorite theme recipes in ONE email. If the number of recipes exceeds those needed in the issue, the publisher will post as many from every submitter as possible and save the remaining recipes for the following Sundays of that month. The rules for recipe submissions for the monthly theme issues are the same as ALL recipes submitted for posting.

As a service to your fellow readers, please send only recipes that are in a form that others could easily copy and save for their own use. Recipes that would require a lot of editing or cleaning up or use non-standard measurements should not be submitted. Recipes without a name and location of sender may NOT be posted or posted without any credit given. There will be NO recipes posted that are from other recipe-zines. A to Z Recipes protects the privacy of its readers and does NOT publish email addresses. There will be no exceptions.

See the A to Z Recipes Theme Issues collection here:

A to Z Recipes Theme Issues

The theme issue for Special Valentine's Day Recipes has a deadline of January 28, 2005, and will be posted on February 6, 2005.

Please use this link: Special Valentine's Day Recipes.

As usual, only recipes are to be sent to: A to Z Recipes Inbox.