Starting Your Day the Relaxing Way

I’ve often said how important eating breakfast is to your overall health. It is your first meal of the day…the breaking of the fast from overnight. Your first meal of the day provides your body with the fuel necessary to get started. For that reason, it should be eaten right at the beginning of your day. There’s no sense in “running on fumes” until lunch time.
Studies show that people who eat breakfast actually eat more healthfully throughout the day than do those who skip breakfast, both in timing and in quality. So by eating a healthful breakfast, you are truly setting up your entire day to be healthful.
The authors of the self-help book Five Good Minutes (New Harbinger, 2005) take recommendations about breakfast one step further. They make a number of suggestions on ways to make breakfast the first step in your calm and focused day, thereby reducing stress. First, they say to “take a few moments to respect what you put into your body.” By this they mean to really think about what you are eating and make healthful and tasty choices. Then they say to remove any distractions, such as reading materials or television. Next, actually see and smell your food. “Notice your hunger and sensations in your body.” As you eat, visualize the energy and wholesomeness that is going into your body from the healthful food you are consuming.
These techniques are taught by many health professionals: 1. Choose healthful and tasty foods, and 2. Focus on eating when you are eating (this makes you more aware of what you are eating, and of your body’s cues that you are full). And now, experts on stress reduction are also teaching that a proper breakfast can help reduce stress. You don’t really need any other reasons to be sure to eat a healthful meal first thing in your day.