After a night's sleep, stomachs wake up too and most of us are hungry as hell. The reflex of everyone is therefore to throw themselves on a so-called classic breakfast composed of a slice of white bread, toasted or not, with a spread of chocolate from a well-known brand or butter and jam, a glass of water and an orange juice. The other alternative, just as classic, is a bowl of cereal bathed in cow's milk, often semi-skimmed. These are of course the average habits of the Belgian and French population.

Nevertheless, some people, due to lack of time, do not take the time to make this type of preparation and drink a coffee on the go, nibble on a cereal bar or stop on the way to a bakery to buy a pastry such as a pain au chocolat or a hot croissant.

The two attitudes presented above are not ideal if you want to survive an optimal day without stress, fatigue or fatigue burnout. And yet, these are the typical lunches that we are served in hotels, that are presented in schools or that are shown in advertisements.

The famous spread found on many breakfast tables promises us heaven and earth with its slogan: "It takes energy to be a kid"...And yet, we are far from the truth.

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In addition to the fact that these foods we take in the morning have no digestive consistency, they are also full of fast sugars that cause our insulin to work way too fast and too often.

Don't you ever notice that fatigue spike that comes over you at about 11 o'clock in the morning? If you're at work, you'll inevitably reach for the coffee machine or grab a snack to tide you over until lunch. This process is the result of our inadequate breakfasts that we ingest and that we offer to our children in the morning. They need a much more substantial diet at bedtime, with protein and healthy foods such as fruit and oilseeds.

How to avoid the 11 o'clock rush?

There are many alternatives and if you are worried about not getting used to them, remember that it takes 21 days for a new habit to take root in you. Be patient first.

• Swap the overly sweet and fatty breakfast for healthy snacks. Forget about cereals soaked in milk, chocolate bread, white bread, jam that is always too sweet, etc.
• Try protein-rich breakfasts that will provide much more energy to last until the next meal: Omelette, lean ham, goat cheese, smoked salmon, boiled or fried egg, etc. If you have a sweet palate and cannot eat salty food in the morning, it is possible to adapt to your case of course. Prefer porridge with fruit, granola bars or yogurt with a sprinkling of protein-rich chia seeds.
• Opt for a fruit plate: an apple with a banana and a kiwi for example, to which you will have added nuts of all kinds, some chia seeds, sunflower seeds and a dash of lemon. At the same time, you can drink a glass of almond milk (Always be careful to read the labels on this type of drink to make sure you are not drinking water with added sugar)
• Also always start your morning with a glass of pure water and then a glass of water with a few drops of organic lemon. This daily mechanism will become a reflex as the days go by and it will allow you to get your body up and running in an optimal way.

Good to know

1. Coffee will not wake you up because it excites you instead of stimulating you. Moreover, by mixing it with milk, your body has to make an effort to digest it, too tiring as soon as you wake up!
2. Orange juice in the morning is not the best drink. In fact, it acidifies the body which has to fight against the buffer system and therefore this morning drink also tires the body from the first hours. Choose a chopped orange if you want to include it in your breakfast, which will then have much less sugar.

Breakfast is a very important meal because it will define your condition for the day. Think of adapting it well for a day full of vitality and less fatigue throughout the hours that will pass.