Wake up and smell the coffee

Puttu and kadala happens to be one of the most nutritious breakfasts in town. However, today this ubiquitous Malayali breakfast is not commonly found on many dining tables since not many youngsters get the time to savour it or even gulp it down. That is because most of them do not eat breakfast, as it no longer figures on the list of three meals a day in many a home.

“The reason is that I hardly have any time to eat a proper breakfast. I wake up late and to reach the college on time, I invariably skip breakfast. I eat in the morning only on holidays and that too because my mother keeps scolding me,” says Aswathy Ayyappan, a student.

Tara Hari is another student who skips breakfast more often than not. She adds that it is the same with all her friends. “I do not feel particularly hungry when I wake up and I usually have to rush to college anyway. If we have time, we will grab a piece of toast or bread and butter as it is simpler to eat on the run.”

Yet, teachers, nutritionists and doctors are concerned about this missing meal because in the course of their work, they encounter, on a daily basis, the results of what happens when breakfast is no longer the most important meal of the day. Listless students and employees and kids with severe vitamin deficiencies and various dietary issues are merely the tip of the problem.

“Every day in school, we have to deal with students who have not eaten enough or eaten at all. Weary and sleepy, they somehow manage to get through the day without taking an interest in class,” says Reji S.S. who teaches English for science stream students of Plus Two in St. Thomas Residential School.

Food fads, that obsession for size zero and the sheer lack of time are forcing people to push breakfast off their plate.

“Ninety per cent of the patients who consult me have some kind of problem or the other because they don’t eat breakfast as a routine. As students, they avoid it to save time and that bad habit continues when they start their life as employees. I always tell my patients to begin eating a good breakfast,” says Jayasree N.N., dietician of KIMS.

Nevertheless the fact remains that for various reasons breaking the fast after a good sleep is not always easy for all of us. To remedy this, Sangeeta Menon, Associate professor, Department of Gynaecology, Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram, says that parents should make it clear to their children that there are negotiable and non-negotiable issues. “Eating vegetables and a balanced diet is non-negotiable while when to study and how many hours can be negotiable. Indulgent parents who go along with the food fads of their children should remember that the damage to their child’s health can be dangerous,” she adds.

Reasons for putting breakfast on the backburner are many. Parents with erratic work hours and schedules are late risers and so breakfast often comes out of a box, if there is one at all. With additives like sugar and other taste makers, these alternatives might not be the best solution very day. “But it is better than no breakfast at all, I often tell my patients to eat fruits or fibre rich cereals if they don’t find the time to cook breakfast ,” adds Jayasree.

A Plus Two teacher feels that given the punishing routine of Plus Two students, it would be best if they were allowed a break in school for breakfast or even served a compulsory meal in school at about 8 or 10 a.m.

“If she is a science student, chances are that she begins the day at 4 a.m to go for private tuitions that begin as early as 5 a.m. Who can have a heavy breakfast that early? And remember they reach home only in the evening after school or even later if they have private classes in the evening as well. So the entire day she practically starves,” explains the teacher.

She feels that it would be better if schools make it mandatory for students, at least in the higher classes to have a healthy breakfast in school at about 10 a.m.

“It would be a happier situation for the parents, teachers and students,” she adds on the condition of anonymity.

Jayasree’s advice to young employees is to squeeze in time for breakfast and make it as important as, say, personal hygiene.

“And anything wont do. It has to be a nutritious wholesome breakfast that has a mix of protein, carbs and vitamins.”