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IT’S
true! Breakfast, which means “breaking the fast” or
refueling one’s body after going without food all night,
is actually the most important meal of the day. Eight to
12 hours after one’s last meal or snack, our bodies and
brains need food to replenish blood sugar or glucose,
which improves our ability to function.
Morning
is the time of day when the body has peak energy
demands, yet it has the lowest energy reserves. Studies
have shown that when children have breakfast, they are
more alert, participate more fully in school activities,
and they usually are on their best behavior. They have
longer attention spans, score better on tests and
improve their grades, are less tardy or absent, and make
fewer visits to the school nurse. They also are not as
easily distracted and are less squirmy, irritable or
tired. Children who regularly miss breakfast are unable
to reach their learning potential, and they get further
behind in their schoolwork. (This applies to adults in
the work place, too!)
Unfortunately, not all breakfast foods are healthy,
especially in the Philippines. The typical Filipino diet
may not always be rich in complex carbohydrates and
dietary fiber, which have been shown to occur naturally
and in substantial qualities in whole grain. For
breakfast, most Filipinos eat polished rice, a refined
grain that is already devoid of some nutrients,
including dietary fiber. The typical Filipino breakfast
is the popular tapsilog (tapa, sinangag and itlog) or
any fried meat with fried garlic rice and fried eggs,
which are very high in fats and cholesterol.
Dietary
fiber, on the other hand, has been proven to be
nutritionally beneficial to growing children and adults
alike. Health and fitness experts are one in
recommending dietary fiber as a nutrient that can
prevent many health problems, such as diabetes mellitus,
heart disease and certain types of cancer, as well as
childhood obesity. Even the United States Food and Drug
Administration has not only approved the inclusion in
food labels of health claims that dietary fiber can help
prevent these diseases, but has even recommended eating
at least three servings of whole grains each day.
A part
of ongoing efforts to create awareness on the importance
of whole grain to a healthy breakfast regimen, Nestlé
Philippines launched its Healthier Breakfast Advocacy
through the “Whole Grain Campaign,” which was held at
the Mandarin Oriental Manila in
Makati
City
recently. The kick-off was attended by luminaries in the
medical, scientific, education and nutrition
communities, headed by former health secretary Dr. Jaime
Galvez Tan, multiawarded nutrition scientist Dr.
Trinidad P. Trinidad, Mayor Ma. Lourdes Fernando of
Marikina City, Assistant Education Secretary Teresita
Inciong, and Nestlé and General Mills Cereal Partners
Worldwide Global Nutritionist Brigid McKevith.
“Whole
grain, which is acknowledged to be one of the best
sources of dietary fiber, is not popular with Filipino
mothers. Due to time and budgetary pressures, many
mothers tend to serve processed-meat products for
breakfast, even if these are loaded with excessive
amounts of refined sugar, sodium and cholesterol and
have no real nutritional value,” Tan said.
Moreover, these instant fixes do not provide the
necessary fuel to see their children through their
morning activities as these food items are made of
refined grains and sugars that quickly release glucose
into the bloodstream, which falls just as quickly after
an initial spike. When their blood sugar falls, these
children will once again become lethargic and unable to
concentrate on their task ahead.
In
contrast, children who take breakfast with whole grains
are able to sustain their physical and mental
performance and do well at school throughout the day.
This is because whole grains slowly release glucose in
the body, providing it with a longer-lasting source of
energy. In fact, studies have shown that adding whole
grain to one’s breakfast is effective in helping people
stay alert throughout the morning. Thus, it is not
surprising that all over the world, it is becoming an
important part of people’s diets.
It is
important to have breakfast, but the reality is that
hectic schedules make it hard to choose nutritious
foods. Still, it should be noted that breakfast skippers
may not get the nutrients missed from other meals and
snacks during the day. On the other hand, the eating
patterns of people who eat ready-to-eat cereals for
breakfast usually include more vitamins and minerals and
less total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol and calories.
Thankfully, the benefits of whole grain are now readily
available to more Filipinos following Nestle
Philippines’
groundbreaking initiative to include whole grain in all
of its cereals. Among those now available in the
Philippines, Koko Krunch was the first to be transformed
into a whole-grain cereal. A new Nestlé Whole Grain
symbol will appear on all packages to help identify
Nestlé breakfast cereals that are made with whole
grain—proof of Nestlé’s commitment to the development
and nutritional well-being of Filipinos. |
