Make your day with a breakfast

Skipping food in the morning is the worst thing for your body. Christine Doyle explains how to avoid those mid-morning drops in energy without piling on the pounds

Most people value the days when they wake up in a good mood and full of energy, ready to tackle whatever lies before them. Many, though, find their good cheer and resolve seeping away after a long commute or taking children to school.

Even those who energise themselves, by walking briskly to their train, or who pedal for 20 minutes on their exercise bike before starting the day, are sometimes surprised by how swiftly the supposedly healthy start to their day fizzles out.

The answer could lie with what they eat - or do not eat - for breakfast. This week, food experts at a conference in London will discuss how to re-engineer the nation's diet in an attempt to reverse the growing trend to tubbiness and the allied risks of heart disease, diabetes and strokes. Breakfast, as the speakers will emphasise, is pivotal to staying in good health.

After the overnight fast, the body needs a rise in blood sugar to recharge the metabolism and get the brain and muscles into top gear. The trick is to eat food that does not cause a swift rise and fall in blood sugar levels, followed by a slump in energy and the desire to eat a sugary snack. This only leads to a further rise and fall in sugar levels, and a craving for an early, calorie-packed lunch. Skipping breakfast also encourages a mid-morning croissant binge, with a similar result.

Oats, wholegrain breads and baked beans are among the "low glycaemic" carbohydrates that result in a sustained but powerful release of insulin and steady blood sugar levels. This regulates the body's biochemical harmony and improves mood and decision-making.

"A heartier breakfast also helps slimmers," says Lyndel Costain, a member of the British Dietetic Association and author of The Body Clock Diet (Hamlyn, ?9.99), citing the latest research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. "Breakfast eaters consume fewer calories during the day than those who skip this meal.

"They also have better appetite control and lower blood cholesterol level with especially lower levels of lower-density lipoprotein, the damaging component in cholesterol. Those who eat a regular breakfast are about

50 per cent less likely to become overweight than those who don't. And if they are slimming, they are more likely to keep the weight off."

Breakfast is also one of the best ways to get fibre into the diet, says Claire MacEvilly, of the Medical Research Council's human nutrition unit in Cambridge. "The daily recommendation for fibre is 18g, but very few people consume that level. A bowl of cereal is the best way to get 6 to 7g very easily. A bowl of AllBran would provide 12g."

Some food experts are worried that a proposed new traffic light system to label foods according to a high, medium or low sugar and salt content may confuse consumers, says MacEvilly. "Some people might simply stop eating cereals if they have a red or amber label. We don't want them to give up. We want to encourage them to read the labels and make healthier choices within categories."