How Teens Can Put Breakfast First

Student writing at desk

We've all heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day but why?

Improve overall nutrition:

  • Breakfast gives you energy for the rest of the day.
  • Eating breakfast improves the total daily nutrient intake.
  • A recent study found that teens who ate breakfast ate more protein and carbohydrates but less fat than breakfast skippers.

Improve ability to concentrate:

  • Breakfast helps you think well and do physical activities better.
  • Students who eat breakfast have shown greater improvements in standardized test scores.
  • Students who eat breakfast are more alert and shown increased ability to concentrate in class.

Help keep a healthy body weight:

  • Breakfast helps to keep you from snacking during the morning.
  • Breakfast helps to keep you from overeating at other meals; skipping meals sets up extreme hunger patterns later in the day, resulting in excess calorie intake.
  • Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and the foundation of healthy eating habits.

Now that you know how important breakfast is, how can you get involved and encourage your friends and peers to eat breakfast? Here are some things you can do:

one

Many schools provide a school breakfast program. Since students spend so much of time at school, it may be easy for you to eat breakfast at school.

If your school does not offer a school breakfast program, you can talk to your principle and teachers to find out why. Share with them how important breakfast is and encourage them to have a school breakfast program. You can direct them to this website and they can find out for themselves the importance of breakfast.
two

Talk to your parents and family about the importance of breakfast. You and your family can make a plan to eat breakfast every morning.
three

Talk to the student body government about breakfast foods available at your school. If you have vending machines or student store at your school, find out what food items are being sold. If you have a school breakfast program at school, find out who’s actually eating at school. You and other students at school may write letters, talk to principles, or go to school board meetings to express your thoughts and ideas about making sure students are eating healthy breakfasts at your school.