It All Starts with Breakfast!

If we've heard it once, we've heard it a hundred times: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Well, I'm here to remind you how true that is. If you want to maintain your health, your body needs fuel. It's important to remember that although YOU may be asleep, your body is still working for you all night long... pumping your blood, keeping you alive. Right? But it's doing all that on no fuel, no food - for a good 6-8 hours. So, in general, breakfast is just important for a good "fill up."

But especially if you are changing your eating habits because you want to a) change the shape of your body and/or b) lose weight... there is nothing you can do better than to fill up first thing in the morning. The key to weight loss (that took me 45 years of hearing, not believing, then waking up and realizing I was wrong) is not simple reduction in calories. It's absolutely, first and foremost changing your metabolism (and eating enough, not too many, calories). And you know what comes next, right? To boost the metabolism, you start out by feeding that body that has already been starving during those sleep hours. Just go ahead and give it a kick start every single morning.

So, not having been a fan of the breakfast previously, I find my breakfast choices tend to get boring. This morning I experimented a little and I loved the result. Perhaps you do this already, perhaps not. I do love hot oat bran cereal - reminds me of my childhood Cream of Wheat days. But of course, here is a healthier version:

1/2 c oat bran

1 1/4 c water

1/2 banana (sliced)

dash of salt

1 tsp pure maple syrup (optional)

Combine the oat bran, water, salt and sliced banana in a bowl. Microwave on high for 3 minutes. It will look like it's still watery when you take it out but once you stir up the bran from the bottom it will be fine. While stirring, mash the banana so that it mixes in with the hot cereal. If desired, add 1 tsp pure maple syrup for added flavor.