Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. Breakfast provides me the energy to start each day with purpose. I interchange my weight and cardiovascular training schedule everyday; if I lift weights in the morning, I’d do cardiovascular exercises in the afternoon, vice versa. Also, I, just like most of you, burn more calories during the day; therefore, I am not as strict with the amount of carbohydrates or fats that I consume in the morning. For example, I can have dried fruits (high in glycemic index), couple spoons of peanut butter, homemade jam, and other fruits without worrying about consuming too much sugar and fats.

Because of my love for breakfast, I have adopted the good habit of going to bed and waking up earlier in the morning. I am proud to say that I have become a morning person. Many of my friends think that waking up in the morning is one of the most difficult tasks. I often make the analogy that if they look forward to a savory breakfast meal, like a little kid who looks forward to a field trip, they’d be able to get up without any obstacles.

I wanted to make some homemade jam this morning. I put some blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries into a bowl and simply heat them up in the microwave for 45 seconds. The berries became soft from the heating process and I was able to crush them and spread the juice and residues onto a toasted whole grain bread. Alongside the toasted bread, I also cooked up some eggs. See, a healthy and flavorful breakfast does not cost a fortune and is not time consuming. Just try waking up a little earlier and make the effort to cook something for yourself, I guarantee your day would be much better without feeling guilty about gorging down the ham-n-bacon sandwich from the Mickey-D’s.