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Health Tips for Students: Fueling your mornings
Fiber is one important nutrient
By Rebecca Kolar
Other ways to get adequate fiber intake (25 grams/day): * Fruit (apples, strawberries, pears, oranges, etc.) * Granola bars (preferably Fiber One, or any other type with five or more grams of fiber/bar) * Vegetables (carrots, broccoli, beans, etc.) * Kellogg’s All-Bran Fiber Drink Mix (10 grams of fiber with only 20 calories) * Whole wheat bread 8Popcorn (with moderate butter and salt) * Whole wheat pasta * Nuts and seeds
Breakfast. It's the most important meal of every day. Yet far too many people put little thought into choosing what to eat for breakfast, if they eat any at all. Often students will grab a doughnut or muffin and think they've done a good job in giving their body proper nourishment. People who are trying to lose weight might think that skipping breakfast is the right move to cut calories, but unfortunately they are misinformed. Recent research also shows that they’re even doing their body a disservice with this choice, since one’s metabolism actually slows down when healthy food is not eaten in the morning.
After a full night of sleep the body is completely out of its main fuel source and is fully reliant on stored fat to keep you going. To many of us this may sound wonderful. You’re eating up fat cells without even exercising. But alas, there's more to the story.
The human brain runs almost completely on carbohydrates, which are not exclusively stored for the brain's personal use. If your stomach is completely empty, your brain has nothing to run off of, which can be disastrous if you're trying to stay awake in class or properly take an exam. Running on "empty" is okay for short periods of time, but think of how much more alert you would be if you gave your body the nutrition it needs by eating a healthy breakfast. Now, what should the average college student be consuming for breakfast? As mentioned above, a strong source of carbohydrates must be included, preferably complex carbohydrates. Lucky for you, many common breakfast cereals have added complex carbohydrates to the ingredient list, not only for added nutritional value, but also to simply make you feel more full.
When choosing a cereal to consume, the amount of fiber per serving is one of the most important factors to look for. In order for the cereal to be considered fibrous, each serving should contain at least five grams of fiber. With all the cereal choices out there today, this should be quite easy to accomplish. Some possible choices include: Raisin Bran, Fiber One, and Frosted Mini-Wheats.
Not only will fiber keep you fuller longer, but it will also help you eat less over the course of the day, which is helpful with weight loss. Other benefits of consuming 25 grams of fiber daily include decreased risk of heart disease, obesity, cancer, diabetes and digestive problems.
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