The word breakfast comes from break (v.) + fast (n.). "to break the fast." The word derives from the concept that sleep prevents eating, thus an involuntary fast occurs during sleep; this fast is broken by the first meal - called breakfast. Some have said it is the most important meal of the day. Yet many people, including children, skip this meal on a regular basis.

Excuses on why people skip breakfast abound. "There is not enough time, I am not hungry, it makes my stomach hurt" are just a few, so if any of this sounds familiar you may be interested to know that kids who skip breakfast are more likely to be overweight, and do poorly in school. Kids most prone to skipping breakfast are ones whose parents skip too.

Eating breakfast revs up the metabolism for the day and gets the calorie burning machine started. Those who do not eat breakfast do not experience this increase in metabolic rate and continue to burn calories very slowly. However, by the time lunch rolls around the body starts to revolt and hormone levels that increase food intake go into overdrive which leads you to overeat and store more fat for the rest of the day.

If you and/or your children are in the habit of skipping breakfast and you don't think you can change that habit think about this. It takes about two weeks of eating breakfast consistently everyday to reset the body's morning appetite and feel hungry in the morning. So, try it out, two weeks isn't that long and who knows you might even feel better.

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