Breakfast is usually the time when you're busiest - what with packing your kids off to school, looking after the house and rushing to work too.
Often moms give a ready-to-serve breakfast with sweet cereals and cereal bars which do not have much of a nutrition profile to boast of.
Children certainly need a hearty breakfast to restore blood sugar levels after the overnight fast, to take them through the morning.
No way should children be allowed to skip breakfast, or remain happy with cereals high in sugar, as they might not perform as well in aptitude tests, both verbal and non-verbal, when compared to children who eat slow-releasing complex carbohydrates and protein.
So what are the healthy breakfast choices? Always include a piece of fruit, or a vegetable such as mushrooms or tomatoes.
Always provide a drink, and aim, also, to give some complex carbohydrates and some protein.
Ensuring that protein is included makes for more morning brain-power than carbs alone.
Some time-to-spare breakfasts 1.
A bowl of old-fashioned porridge made with milk or soya milk.
Sweeten with mashed banana and raisins.
2.
Boiled egg with wholemeal bread.
3.
Grilled bacon sandwich (using unsmoked, lean bacon with fat trimmed) with sliced tomato.
Preferably using wholemeal bread.
4.
Grilled tomato and mushrooms with melted mozzarella on toast.
5.
Bowl of muesli (check the label for sugar content) with grated apple and sunflower seeds moistened with milk or calcium-enriched soya milk.
Some in-a-rush breakfasts 1.
Toasted cinnamon and raisin bagel with cream cheese.
Glass of diluted orange juice.
2.
Some oatcakes spread with nut butter and jam.
An apple.
3.
Low-sugar instant cereals.
Serve with milk, or calcium-enriched soya milk or rice milk, chopped nuts and chopped dried apricots.
4.
Yoghurt with sliced fruit and toast with hummus.
5.
A slice of ham or cheese, wrapped in a slice of bread or added to a rye cracker with a chunk of cucumber.
Glass of diluted mango juice.