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The Importance of eating breakfast

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Each week, one of the more than 100 video recipes from the Mayo Clinic Healthy Living Program is featured on the Mayo Clinic News Network — just in time for you to try over the weekend. You also can have the recipes delivered via the Mayo Clinic App.

These recipes are created by the executive wellness chef and registered dietitians at the Mayo Clinic Healthy Living Program. Find more recipes and other healthy living insights on the Mayo Clinic App.

Watch: Make-ahead pancakes for busy school mornings.

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"It’s important to have breakfast before you begin your day but also have the right type of breakfast, as well," says Dr. Tina Ardon, Mayo Clinic family medicine physician.

Watch: The Mayo Clinic Minute

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Dr. Ardon says a healthy breakfast helps improve a student’s mood and his or her level of concentration.

"Studies actually indicate, too, that people who consistently eat breakfast throughout their lives tend to be at a healthier weight, as well," she adds.

Dr. Ardon says before-school meals should include a combination of good protein, fiber and carbohydrates.

"The right combination of those ingredients is better for our kids because they release sugar over a slow period of time and help them stay fuller longer," Dr. Ardon explains.

Dr. Ardon suggests breakfasts like a vegetable breakfast burrito or a whole-grain waffle topped with peanut butter, or a parfait made with plain yogurt and real fruit. As for cereals, ...

"... I would look at the sugar content and look for cereals that have whole grains in them," says Dr. Ardon.

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"For reasons that we don't quite understand yet, eating breakfast  seems to be a marker of, No. 1, less likelihood of having gained weight recently, and, No. 2, ... a smaller belly circumference and less visceral fat," Dr. Virend Somers, a Mayo Clinic cardiologist, says.

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Dr. Somers helped oversee a study that showed people who ate breakfast daily gained less weight than those who didn't eat breakfast.

"Those who ate breakfast very frequently put on less than 3 pounds in the past year," Dr. Somers says. "Those who ate breakfast maybe one to four times a week put on about 5 pounds. The ones who didn't eat breakfast at all put on about 8 pounds in the year prior to them seeing us."

But Dr. Naima Covassin, who led the study, says the correlation between breakfast and less belly fat is even more important to your health. Dr. Covassin is a researcher in Mayo Clinic's Cardiovascular Physiology Laboratory.

"That is the dangerous fat, the fat that is really bad for your health because it's more consistently associated with hypertension, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease. And that's the fat that we don't want to have," Dr. Covassin says.

Both doctors warn this isn't necessarily about eating more or fewer calories. It's more likely about eating the same number of calories but earlier in the day.

So, to lose pounds and belly fat, remember an old saying, "It's eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a beggar," Dr. Somer says.

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