Jackson Free Press

When I was a child growing up in Montana, my family would take annual trips to California to visit my mom's parents. My Nana and Pompa lived in a big house high above the San Francisco bay. I would wake up every morning to the smell of coffee wafting through the heater vents. As I staggered downstairs, I could hear Pompa watching "Kathy Lee and Regis Live!" in the other room. Nana would make me oatmeal with sweet chunks of peaches and bananas. Ah, breakfast, your beautiful beacon of sustenance and motivation.

Breakfast is a magical time, a sort of gentle awakening to the world. It's also one of the most romantic meals of the day. If you don't agree with me, go watch "Breakfast at Tiffany's" with Audrey Hepburn. The opening scene is beautiful, and will make you love breakfast forever. The rest of the movie is OK… but they don't ever eat breakfast again.

I'm hungry almost as soon as I wake up, and if I don't get breakfast (and that doesn't happen very often), I am a cranky, scary person until I get some food.

Many of us don't have the luxury of time to have breakfast in the morning. Then, when we get busy during the day, it seems easier to just skip lunch. The problem is that by the time most of America gets home every night, hunger is a roaring beast that can only be fed by vast amounts of food. Gorged, we wake up the next morning unable to eat anything else, grab a cup of coffee, and the cycle continues.

While breakfast is one of the most forgotten meals—especially to Americans—it is still one of the most important. All sorts of official studies say that people who eat breakfast are often more slender, perhaps because breakfast kick-starts their metabolism early in the day, helping to burn more calories. Breakfast eaters are also supposedly more productive and alert during school and work.

The word breakfast originated as a verb in 1679. It comes from the concept that sleep prevents eating, therefore eating a meal when you first wake up "breaks" your "fast." For those of us who eat late and heavily, it's not much of a fast.

An old German proverb goes something like this: "Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper," which basically means don't eat like a pig at 10 at night.

Unlike lunch and dinner foods, which are somewhat interchangeable, breakfast foods in the U.S. are distinctive. Eggs, bagels, pancakes, hashbrowns and the like are considered exclusively breakfast items. They can be served for dinner or lunch, but then they are labeled "brunch," or "breakfast for dinner." Unless, of course, you head over to the International House of Pancakes or Waffle House, where you can eat breakfast anytime you desire.

Throughout the world, people drink fairly similar beverages for breakfast, including fruit juices, milk, and hot caffeinated or non-caffeinated drinks. Some people actually drink carbonated soda (aka Coke) during breakfast. Those people should be sent to a remote island… with plenty of soda, of course. One of my personal favorite breakfast beverages is the Mimosa: champagne and orange juice. I mean, talk about a brilliant invention. You get your Vitamin C, and you start the day off on such a great note.

Coffee, the quintessential breakfast beverage, is consumed in several countries throughout the world. In the United States, 65 percent of all coffee consumed is during breakfast.

Try making this recipe before you go to bed. When you wake up, breakfast will be greeting you. It's hard to turn down a friendly meal that calls out your name when you stagger into the kitchen. At least that's my theory. We will have to wait for those official studies to come out before conclusive results can be published.

Crockpot Oatmeal

Non-stick cooking spray
2 cups rolled oats
8 cups water
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup cubed peaches

Spray crockpot with non-stick cooking spray. Place oats, water, cinnamon, brown sugar and vanilla into crockpot. Cook on low heat for eight hours. Just before serving, stir in peaches and sprinkle with additional brown sugar, if desired.

Previous Comments

ID

85015

Comment

I don't do well without breakfast. I have to eat something, even if it's just a piece of fruit. Otherwise, I would have chewed my hand off by 10 AM.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2008-02-28T21:57:01-06:00

ID

85016

Comment

I used to be an adamant breakfast eater in my younger days. Now, I could almost do without it. The most I do these days is either a bowl of cereal or pop a couple of waffles in the toaster. And I'm fortunate if I get to go to IHOP on a Saturday morning.

Author

golden eagle

Date

2008-02-28T22:22:04-06:00

ID

85017

Comment

Well, a bowl of cereal is better than nothing at all. I'm afraid that skipping breakfast will jack up my metabolism. It's already slowed down a little since I hit the big 3-0. Maybe it's just different for females anyway.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2008-02-28T22:53:41-06:00