Have You Had Your Breakfast Today?

I hope your answer to that is a YES.

Breakfast is the MOST important meal of the day and I can not stress enough of how important it is because there are so many health benefits you can get by eating breakfast everyday. The term 'breakfast' itself means to break the fast, literally. At night time when you are asleep, your body is under a fasting state because for 8 hours or more, you are not consuming any foods or drink. During this fasting state, your metabolism slows down so your food is being digested at a slower rate and your body is conserving energy rather than burning it off. So when you eat breakfast, you are breaking this fasting period which will help to kick start your metabolism again.

If that's not enough to convince you... the Dietitians Association of Australia (DAA) has confirmed that eating breakfast can have all these awesome benefits:

• It can assist you in maintaining a healthy weight - breakfast skippers are more likely to binge at lunch and, as most of us are aware, a habit of binge eating can lead to an unhealthy weight gain over time. So, eat breakfast if you want to keep at a healthy weight.
• It improves your alertness, concentration, mental performance and memory - definitely useful for all you school kids and uni students!
• It provides energy and important nutrients so you won't feel so tired and lethargic in the morning
• Reduces your tendency to snack on unhealthy food during the day
• Improves your mood - for those of you who are not a 'morning person' like myself, eating breakfast can help us to feel less irritated and grumpy in the mornings (which I'm sure our family will appreciate... haha)
• Leads to a higher intake of nutrients for our body such as carbohydrate, calcium, fibre and some vitamins and minerals - of course, this is only if you choose a nutritious and healthy breakfast.

So... What is considered as a healthy breakfast?

Well, DAA has defined it as one which is low in saturated fats, high in fibre and packed with lots of vitamins and minerals. Saturated fats are 'bad' fats which increase your 'bad' cholesterol levels and these are usually found in animals or animal-made products such as milk, cheese, butter etc. So if you are having milk or other dairy products with your breakfast, try to choose the low fat variety. Fibre can be found in some fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds and wholegrain foods. It is beneficial for your digestive health and research has shown that it lowers your risk of obesity and chronic diseases such as diabetes and coronary heart disease. Therefore, choose breakfast cereals with a high fibre content or choose wholegrain foods (e.g. wholemeal bread, oats, muesli) which are naturally rich in fibre.

Here are some suggestions of easy, quick and healthy breakfast ideas:

A fresh fruit smoothie made with skim milk and yoghurt - sometimes I would add a tablespoon of wheat germ to make it more filling

My Blueberry and Green Apple Smoothie  :)

A bowl of wholegrain cereal with low fat milk and fruit

Muesli with a variety of fruits and nuts - can be topped with low fat yoghurt

This is me trying to be creative with my food (muesli, yoghurt & kiwi fruit)

Pancakes with fruit and yoghurt - not cream (maybe only on occasions and try to minimise the portion)

Scrambled eggs with wholegrain toast - my personal favourite is having it with fresh baby spinach and mushrooms (Yumm!!)

Excuse my half eaten food, but you get the idea...

Just looking at these pictures makes me want to eat breakfast... :)

Personally, my usual breakfast is a bowl of cereal consisting of 2 weet-bix with a cup of skim milk, and a piece of fruit. Usually, I would have one nectarine or a banana or a handful of grapes - it just depends on what we have available at home. I know it is common for a lot of people to be rushing for time in the mornings, so some tips would be to always have good, wholegrain cereals in your pantry (this is a quick and easy option). You can also prepare something the night before (this works well for smoothies or pancake batter which you can cover and keep in the fridge overnight) or buy small snack-size cereal boxes to take to work or uni. I always make sure that I eat breakfast even when I am short of time - for me, when I'm in a hurry, I would grab a banana, or a breakfast drink (like Up&Go) and something small like a muesli bar to eat on the go. If you wake up not feeling hungry, you can delay the time of eating breakfast for another half hour or so, but the most important thing is to not skip the meal completely.

Make a habit to ensure that you always start your day off with a healthy breakfast :)

Until next time...

- Fitria

Skip the diet. Just eat healthy.

As a young female, I understand that there are so many unrealistic expectations in today's society for us young girls. The media tells us that we need to dress a certain way, look a certain way and even eat a certain way. If you look through any magazine, I am 100% certain that almost every single one of them will have some raving new articles with titles like "How to Lose Fat Fast", "Kim Kardashian's New Diet (or insert other celebrity name)" or "Tips on Getting That Summer Body".  All of these expectations and 'standards' create so many body image problems and it is so sad to see that it affects negatively in so many young girls. (To be fair, I will also mention that some young men can also be affected by the stereotypical expectations to be built and 'muscley', although majority of the time, girls are more likely to experience body image problems). 

As a result, many young people go through unhealthy eating cycles and habits in order to try and achieve the ultimate ‘ideal’ body and feel good about themselves. 

This is WRONG.

Fad diets come and they go. How many of you have ever tried crash dieting where you starve yourself? Or cut out having every type of food except a salad or something along that line? And how long did that last? Not very long right? People binge. People vomit their food. People starve. People over-obsess about their body. They diet in such an unhealthy way that they don't realise that it's not helping them at all, physically or mentally. 

This is where nutrition comes in. As a nutrition student (and future dietitian hehe), I believe that the most important thing is to be  H E A L T H Y. It is not about being skinny or being the most built or 'muscley' person. Everyone is unique and we all have different body types, so it is not always possible for everyone to be six feet tall and a size six. I believe in counting nutrition, not counting calories or kilojoules. Although it is important to an extent, however, in reality, we as humans eat food. We don't just eat one protein, or carbohydrate or fat. We eat breads and meat, fruits and vegetables. Foods can and should be eaten in moderation. We are supposed to ENJOY food. Food bring people together and they can define cultures and backgrounds. Most importantly, they are essential for our lives, our health and well-being. That is why I believe that being healthy is a lifestyle and it is all about balance! 

Yes. ONE meal will not make a difference

However, by putting in consistent effort to have a balanced lifestyle by staying active and eating healthy meals everyday WILL. As they say, "Old Habits Die Hard" - which is why it is a lot easier to make small and gradual lifestyle changes instead of just jumping on the bandwagon and then relapse one week later.

Overall, this is just a general introduction into what I believe nutrition is all about. My future posts, hopefully, will focus on controversial nutrition and health topics and will include some advice along with some motivational quotes/pictures to encourage you guys to make small changes to your own lifestyle for a healthier, new you :) 

Until next time..

- Fitria

Welcome to my blog!

I am a Nutrition and Dietetics university student from Brisbane, Australia, and I am currently on a roller-coaster journey to becoming an accredited dietitian. This blog will be dedicated to my love of food and my passion for nutrition, health and wellbeing. I am so incredibly nervous but excited at the same time about starting this but I appreciate those of you who have taken a few minutes out of your time to read :)

I know that nowadays there is such an overwhelming amount of information you can find about food and nutrition, whether it be on the internet, books or magazines. However, what I find really unfortunate is that many of these sources portray such terrible, false, non-evidence based information which can mislead a lot of people into having the wrong ideas about dieting and nutrition in general. This is why I have decided to make this blog in order to share my knowledge, opinions and advice on what I know and have learnt so far about food and nutrition. I will try to keep updating this page as often as I can and, hopefully, I will be sharing  my future experiences and new knowledge that I gain throughout my journey of becoming a dietitian.

Feel free to post any comments or feedbacks!

- Fitria