If you're the type of person who "hates breakfast" or you love it but pretty much eat the same thing everyday, your breakfast routine could be long due for an overhaul. Get the balance right and you could find that your concentration, mood and focus improves at work, plus your ability to get a lot more done in the morning.
Karen Poole, expert nutritionist says: "Lots of people think it's a meal you can miss, but it's so important that you don't. When you're asleep, you think you're resting, but your body is making vital repairs to cells and tissue. You brain lays down all the information it has acquired over the day and your liver does most of its work during the night. So if you've had too many drinks, that's why you wake up at three or four in the morning.
"The liver helps regulate blood sugar, stores energy and vitamins and it's part of the immune system because it's detoxing the body."
Breakfast: 10 Ways To Boost Your Metabolism
It sounds really obvious, but a crucial reason to eat breakfast is, as Karen says, because your body has effectively been under a 12-hour fast, if you eat dinner at 8pm. "If you haven't eaten breakfast," she says, "you've impaired your body's efficiency to keep going."
Yvonne McMeel, nutritionist at Harrods' Urban Retreat agrees and says: "When you wake up, it’s good to give the body time to wake up first and have a drink of water or hot water and lemon rather than eating straightaway."
KEY DO'S AND DON'TS
Limit the amount of juice you drink
"Breakfast juices can be high in naturally-occurring sugars," says Yvonne, "but how many people sit down and eat three or four oranges in one go?"
Plan ahead
"Work out what you are having the night before," says nutritionist Laura Church "as you will then make better choices than just reaching for the cereal."
Don't stick to cereal or toast
Laura says: "The worst food you can give your kids is cereal. They get to school, they have a slump and are craving sugar. It's the same with adults. You get a massive insulin spike when you get to work and then want a coffee with sugar and a biscuit." If you do go for cereal however, Karen recommends the ranges that are no added sugar or salt.
Here are top tips from the nutritionists on the best breakfasts to give you a great start to the day: