How many times have we heard the saying, "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day" or "Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a beggar"?
While the latter is more a matter of habit (factors such as students' individual schedules must be considered), it is an immutable truth that breakfast is one of the most important things in a student's diet, whether you eat it at 7 or 11 a.m.
That's why, regardless of how we manage the rest of our meals throughout the day (and snacks during classes), which of course should also be healthy, breakfast should not be ignored and should be very nutritious.
Keys to Making Breakfast an Adequate Source of Nutrition for Students
Breakfast is important because during sleep our bodies obviously go through a long period during which there is no nutrient boost, so most of us don't wake up as energetically as we would like. Your brain activity will not function as it should, so if you can't handle your homework, you can pay for essays or research papers.
To restore all that energy, we need a quick intake of proteins, vitamins, minerals, and carbohydrates, which we must replenish every two to three hours during lunch, dinner, snacks, and supper.
This is important because the activities of the average student require travel, moments of high concentration, exercise, and episodes of stress, so if we lack the defenses that provide these nutrients, we can suffer from difficulty concentrating, headaches, sleepiness, and, as a result, a bad mood caused by not "getting things done" the way the student program requires.
What a Proper Student's Breakfast Looks Like
Where to find the proteins, vitamins, minerals, and carbohydrates needed to start the day right? There is an infallible trident that will give us everything we need:
- Whole-grain cereals (avoid ultra-processed ones that are high in sugar)
- A dairy product (it can be yogurt, milk, or cheese)
- Fruit (preferably not in juice, because in this case, we do without the skin and pulp, which contain most of the nutrients).
With these three elements alone, we have everything we need to face the day. As you can see, there is no need to plan an entire banquet or buffet worthy of a hotel. As with study hours, bedtime, and other similar approaches, the key is to find a formula that works best for everyone within certain limits: if we don't feel like eating too much as soon as we get up, we can incorporate these three groups by eating a piece of whole-grain toast with cheese and some cold meat (it shouldn't be greasy), milk or yogurt and a piece of fruit or juice (we insist: a whole piece is much better).
In the middle of the morning, another piece of fruit, a handful of nuts and dried fruit (natural, not industrially prepared, which contain excess salt and saturated fatty oils) or a light sandwich, such as a piece of whole-grain bread with turkey, is enough.
What about coffee? One can argue for a long time about whether coffee is good or bad for the student. A cup a day can help improve concentration, and when combined with dark chocolate, it's a powerful extra dose of invigorating energy that's perfect for days that never seem to end. The problem arises when drinking coffee becomes more of a necessity than a pleasure. Substitutes, such as tea with lemon, can be found for this.
Myths and Truths About the Importance of Breakfast
In this article, as in many others where recommendations are made, it is worth noting that what is recommended does not have to be "what is mandatory": the key, which we once again insist on because of its importance, is to find a formula that works best for us. Nevertheless, what are the myths and truths about the importance of breakfast?
Is breakfast the most important meal of the day?
This statement is made in the sense that it is a meal that we cannot skip, as in the case of lunch or dinner. This does not mean that it has to be the most bountiful: we can eat more than breakfast, as long as we remember to include the necessary nutrients to "start" the day.
Are there negative consequences of not eating breakfast?
Breakfast, as we have insisted so far, is vital. This does not mean that if we don't eat breakfast, we will have cardiovascular problems, lack of responsiveness, etc. We make this strong statement because not eating breakfast is emblematic of and a consequence of other bad habits, such as stuffing ourselves with sweets in the middle of the morning, causing our metabolism to work irregularly and incorrectly, etc.
If instead of eating breakfast right after we get up, we eat it when we are a little more active, the consequences will not be drastic for our bodies. So if it's better for us because we don't feel able to start the day with a lot of food, it shouldn't be a problem as long as we don't skip it.
"It's much better to eat a powerful breakfast"
It's much better if meals are rationed and nutrients are provided every two to three hours. An "American-style" breakfast with bacon and eggs and lots of calories can cause a heavy stomach and the need for the body to ask for more fuel after a few hours, which is counterproductive. It is much better to eat too little five times than too much once.
"By skipping breakfast, we lose weight"
We insist: it's better to finish breakfast or control the amount depending on what works best for us, but never skip it. The claim that skipping breakfast causes us to lose weight is that by not providing the body with nutrients, it is forced to get them from stores. The problem is that it takes those stores, not from fat, but muscle protein, affecting the muscles more than the "love handles", resulting in more lethargy, feeling less energetic, and therefore less strong and healthy.
As if this consequence wasn't enough to disprove this harmful claim, not eating breakfast makes us anxious about our next meal, making it easier for us to "stuff ourselves" at lunch or dinner, in which our bodies will also take even more fat reserves for fear of another deficit, and therefore we are more likely to gain weight.
Conclusion
Now you know the importance of breakfast and proper nutrition for students: no matter how much you skip it, the most important thing is that you feel good and that your habits allow you to go as far in your daily life as you set out (and eat cereal, dairy, and fruit).