Maybe it was Your Breakfast

The Fruit Center will help you Bring Back Breakfast!

~ By Michael Dwyer

 

Trends in food seem to be constantly morphing. New cuisine styles, popular diets and exhaustive nutritional guidelines make eating endlessly fascinating but complex. Yet, with all the recent changes in the food environment, one concept, one tried-and-true tradition, has remained as important as ever – breakfast is still the most important meal of the day.
The car analogy may be cliché, but it only makes sense that your body needs to re-fuel in the morning to perform at its peak throughout the day. With a fresh-food lifestyle – that is, preparing most or all of your meals with fresh, seasonal ingredients – breakfast can be the nutritional spark your body is craving.

Not only is there the nutritional aspect to your first meal of the day, but there is the mental relaxation. Think of the breakfasts you’ve enjoyed at fine hotels or resorts when traveling.

Or perhaps you’ve experienced a delightful brunch at one of the South Shore’s fine restaurants. Capturing that feeling on a daily basis is a treat for the mind and body. One of the simplest ways to realize that goal is to stop by the Fruit Center Marketplace. With locations in Hingham and Milton, the Fruit Center offers the finest, freshest produce on the South Shore along with a wide variety of gourmet and specialty items sure to excite your senses and make breakfast planning effortless.

The tradition of breakfast varies greatly around the world, from the romance of the French “Continental Breakfast” (typically café au lait and bread) to the meat-heavy British breakfast (featuring sausage, mutton and grilled kidneys) to the Southeast Asian custom of rice and noodle soups. To the contrary, American breakfast habits have changed dramatically over the last hundred years. In the early 1900s with the farmhouse breakfast of stacks of pancakes, eggs and bacon straight through to the “Leave It to Beaver” era, breakfast was the family gathering that framed the day. But as society became more competitive and food manufacturers developed more ready-to-eat products, the importance of breakfast diminished. In this new century, according to a recent study by the Oregon Health & Science University, one-third of all adults and one-fifth of all children skip breakfast.

The facts about eating breakfast are well publicized, but they certainly bear repeating:

• Breakfast gets the body’s metabolic rate going, burning calories faster than if the meal had been skipped. Conversely, missing breakfast does not help with weight loss or maintenance. Those who do not eat breakfast end up consuming empty calories throughout the day, setting themselves up for low energy which will affect both mind and body. The truth is, someone who skips breakfast tends to eat more calories throughout the day.
• Breakfast eaters have a more positive attitude and perform better at their job. They also have more strength, endurance, concentration and productivity.
• According to CNN.com, studies have shown that regular breakfast eaters have lower cholesterol levels, which reduces the risk of heart disease.
• It is essential for kids to have breakfast. According to KidsHealth.org, children who eat breakfast perform better in school, are more likely to participate in physical activities and eat healthier overall. They also have better concentration, problem-solving skills and hand-eye coordination. Eating breakfast also leads children into better life-long eating habits.

Of course, anything that holds great possibilities is not always simple to execute. Go to your favorite bookstore and look in the cooking section. You’ll find cookbooks on every cuisine and diet imaginable, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find any breakfast-focused tomes. You may have more luck online, but even Amazon.com’s top-selling breakfast cookbook is ranked at around number 15,000.

Then there is the issue of time. We all fight for more time in the morning when that precious resource seems most scarce. Certainly the notion of spending it to prepare and eat a meal can be overwhelming. Train yourself to prepare breakfast by realizing two simple principles: 1) eating breakfast will help you be a healthier, happier person, and 2) preparing breakfast is really a lot easier than you think.

In order to get your breakfast off the ground, try following some of these time saving tips:

• Set out bowls, spoons and cereal the night before.
• Select your favorite yogurt and add cereal from a Zip-lock bag you filled the night before.
• Pack fruits and veggies in small Zip-lock bags to grab out of the fridge.

A fresh-food, healthy breakfast can be as simple as a piece of fruit. Any hand-held fruits – apples, bananas, peaches, plums – offer loads of vitamins and, in a pinch, can be taken “to-go.” In fact, fresh, in-season fruits are incredibly versatile in creating a variety of nutritious breakfasts. Smoothies made with berries, low-fat yogurt and soy milk are simple to make and refreshing. Oatmeal, prepared the night before and then microwaved in the morning, can be topped with berries, bananas or sliced apples (we recommend McCann’s Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal). Refrain from cereals with dried fruits already in the box. Instead, cut fresh fruit into a whole grain, all-natural cereal. Even if your kids are fans of frozen pancakes, French toast and waffles, try serving them with fresh strawberries or blueberries. Keep in mind that the time and energy expended will be minimal compared to the benefits you and your family will realize.

Weekend brunch can also be an occasion to display and share your creativity. Use brunch to gather friends and family together and try a more upscale assortment of breakfast dishes: try omelets with leeks and chevre (a fantastic goat cheese), chorizo instead of sausage, crumpets, Stonewall Kitchen jams, and Danish or Irish butter. The bottom line is that brunch and breakfast are opportunities: opportunities to experiment, to socialize and to create a healthier, happier you.

It’s all about you, really. It’s about your well-being, your lifestyle, your own peace of mind. It’s about starting your day in a way that enhances your mood and propels you through the rest of the day. And it’s never too late to start treating yourself to a fresh-food lifestyle. Simply wander the aisles of the Fruit Center Marketplace and get inspired.

You can find Fruit Center Marketplaces at:

10 Bassett Street – Milton • 617-696-5274

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79 Water Street – Hingham • 781-749-7332

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