Know the benefits of eating breakfast but unable to eat? Here are 7 tips.

In a day, it is recommended for an individual to eat three meals; breakfast, lunch and supper. This ensures that we supply our body with its fuel, food. Among these three meals, breakfast is considered the most important. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day because the energy stores of the body needs refill after embarking on an involuntary fasting during the night. Starting the day on low energy can make us to easily lose concentration, lethargic, irritable etc. Breakfast also provides us the energy to sustain us till lunch reducing the number of times we will go for snacks. Additionally, eating breakfast will help not to make an individual desperately hungry to eat just anything, consequently helping the individual to make the right food choices during the day.

Unfortunately, people miss out on the benefits derived from breakfast due to reasons such as not having an appetite for breakfast, not having enough time, not having food around, not knowing what to eat, forgetting to eat breakfast, to save cost and wanting to lose weight. If you experience any of these barriers, below are tips to help you overcome them.

1. Develop an appetite for breakfast by starting with light bite such as a finger of banana each morning. Overtime, your appetite for breakfast will increase.

2. Prepare and/or pack your breakfast the previous night, if your mornings are usually busy and you do not have time for preparing or eating breakfast in the morning. The prepared or packed breakfast can thus be eaten at home or at the workplace.

3. Stock your stores at home and at the office with easy to grab foods such (fruits, nuts) or a box of cereals, respectively. This way, you are assured of having food available  in the morning.

4. Include any food; fruits, vegetable, cereals, grains, other starchy food, milk, meat, egg etc. as well as eat any dish for breakfast. The key thing is to eat something in the morning and not to eat specialised food or dishes in the morning. So choose the breakfast that works for you but make sure you do not eat more than you have to eat. A simple way to know this is that you should feel hungry after 4 or 5 hours of eating a meal. If you do not feel hungry after hours of eating, it could mean you over ate or are your food consumption is above your energy usage.

5. Go for cheaper breakfast options as you can include any food or eat any dish for breakfast. Additionally, spending a part of the lunch budget on breakfast will ensure that one does not overeat during lunch time.

6. Put breakfast on your to-do list or as a reminder, if you are one who forgets to eat breakfast. This way, you have something to remind you to eat.

7. Eating breakfast as mentioned above helps us to make healthier food and eating choices in the day. This thus makes it important for one seeking to lose weight.

Photo (above) credit: tvnz.co.nz

Get more tips from the book, Become A Healthier You.

About contributor

Irene Danquah, ANutr holds a BSc Biochemistry from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana and an MSc Public Health Nutrition from the University of Southampton, UK. Irene is member of the UK Association for Nutrition (AfN) and the Ghana Nutrition Association. She is on the UK Voluntary Register of Nutritionists (UKVRN) as an Associate Nutritionist. Irene is the author of the book, Become A Healthier You. Like the World Bank, Irene also believes "Nutrition is an investment issue and improved nutrition is one of the major drivers of economic growth - World Bank, 2006". 

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Feeling tired and looking for an energy booster? Here are 7.

We are six months into 2015 and fatigue might be setting in so where do we get an energy booster?

It is mostly believed that consuming energy drinks, taking vitamins supplements, detoxing or eating special foods mostly termed as superfoods will boost or help us to regain energy but these are not the best  ways to do so.

While manufacturers of energy drinks claim that energy drinks boost energy, what the consumer may not be told is the fact that  the energy drink is most likely to contain high amount of caffeine and sugar. Consuming more caffeine is associated with nervousness, abdominal pain, irritability, anxiety, stomach upsets and consuming high amount of sugar is mostly likely to lead to weight gain, which is a high risk factor for Type 2 Diabetes and heart diseases.

Also, eating variety of food will provide us with adequate nutrients and hence there be will no requirement for additional supplements unless recommended by a health professional. Additionally, there is no single food (superfood) that can provide our bodies, all the nutrients, it requires perhaps except breastmilk, which is meant for babies. Consequently, there is no need to eat high amounts of these "superfoods' but rather sticking to eating variety. Our bodies are constantly getting rid of toxins form our bodies through urine, sweat etc. hence there is no need for a special detox treatment.

So what then should be the best ways to regain energy and/or boost it? Here are tips to help you.

1. Eat a healthy diet, rich in fruits and vegetables, grains, cereals and other starchy foods. Also have some milk, other dairy products, meat and at least one portion of oily fish (salmon, tuna, mackerel) in the week. Cut down on foods high in sugar, fat and salt. An unhealthy diet is associated with weight gain, which can contributes to fatigue. Get tips to cut down on fat, sugar and salt.

2. Cut down on your alcohol consumption, if you drink. Alcohol especially when consumed in the evening can disturb your sleeping pattern, preventing you from having a good sleep and the result, fatigue. Get tips to cut down on alcohol here.

3. Become physically active and let it be regular. This will help you to maintain a good weight. An unhealthy weight can contribute to tiredness. Also staying active can also help you to sleep better. Get tips to stay active here.

4. Take breaks during task, take your leave at work as well as get more sleep. It is recommended that an individual 18+ years gets between 6 - 8 hours of sleep.

5. Organise your work and learn to manage your time very well to reduce the stress that arises from poor organisation and time management. Stress can contribute to fatigue.

6. Cut down on caffeine containing drinks especially energy drinks as explained above and drink more water instead. NB: Children are very sensitive to caffeine.

7. Contact your health professional to rule out any diseases as some conditions such as anaemia, thyroid problems, food intolerance, sleep apnoea, depression, diabetes etc. may contribute to tiredness.

Above Photo credit: www.health.com

Get more tips from the book, Become A Healthier You.

About contributor

Irene Danquah, ANutr holds a BSc Biochemistry from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana and an MSc Public Health Nutrition from the University of Southampton, UK. Irene is member of the UK Association for Nutrition (AfN) and the Ghana Nutrition Association. She is on the UK Voluntary Register of Nutritionists (UKVRN) as an Associate Nutritionist. Irene is the author of the book, Become A Healthier You. Like the World Bank, Irene also believes "Nutrition is an investment issue and improved nutrition is one of the major drivers of economic growth - World Bank, 2006". 

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Stomach discomfort as result of milk? Here are 5 tips to reduce it.

Do you experience stomach discomfort (diarrhea, bloating, abdominal pains and flatulence)  and are sometimes nauseous few hours after taking milk, other dairy products or any drink that contains lactose? Then you could be Lactose Intolerant. Lactose Intolerance refers to a condition where the lactose, a type of sugar mostly found in milk and other dairy products cannot be digested by the body.

Lactose Intolerance is caused by the body's inability to produce enough of the Enzyme Lactase to aid in the breakdown of lactose in the food consumed. Consequently, not all lactose in the food consumed is digested for absorption and hence passed on to the colon where bacteria (these are not harmful and is not in your colon as a result of infections) ferment it to produce fatty acids and a mixture of gases like hydrogen, methane and carbon dioxide to cause stomach discomfort.

The underlying reason why the body is unable to produce the Enzyme Lactase could be due to gastrointestinal diseases that disrupt the production of lactase, genetic defects that prevent the production of lactase, use of certain medication or overload of lactose intake.

It is advisable to visit your health centre for diagnosis but go with a record of what happens when you consume milk and other dairy products as well as what happens when you do not consume milk and other dairy products. This will help with diagnosis.

 Lactose Intolerance can develop at any age but the risk of people of African, Asia, African-Caribbean descent is very high. It can be temporal or permanent and there is no cure for it. However, a person who has been diagnosed as Lactose Intolerant can use these tips to minimise the effects, stomach discomfort.


1. Avoid dairy products as well as products with lactose additives or consume in small quantities.

2. Choose dairy products which have less lactose content or lactofree by reading the food label.

3. Traditionally fermented dairy products such as cheese, sour milk and yoghurt can serve as substitute for the use of non-fermented ones. The lactose intolerant should however watch out when buying these fermented dairy products as some of them (especially the modern processed) have a good amount of lactose content.





4.  Lactase substitute, a digestive aid could be prescribed to be taken with meals.

5. Consult a dietitian or nutritionist for further advice as removing or reducing milk and other diary products from diet could reduce Calcium and Vitamin D in your diet.


Get more tips from the book, Become A Healthier You.

About contributor

Irene Danquah, ANutr holds a BSc Biochemistry from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana and an MSc Public Health Nutrition from the University of Southampton, UK. Irene is member of the UK Association for Nutrition (AfN) and the Ghana Nutrition Association. She is on the UK Voluntary Register of Nutritionists (UKVRN) as an Associate Nutritionist. Irene is the author of the book, Become A Healthier You. Like the World Bank, Irene also believes "Nutrition is an investment issue and improved nutrition is one of the major drivers of economic growth - World Bank, 2006". 

Read more »