Leading nutritionist Fiona Hunter explains why breakfast is the most important meal of the day:

“Breakfast, as the word suggests, literally means ‘breaking the fast’. After 10 - 12 hours without food, our blood sugar is low and our body needs fuel, which is why many nutritionists consider breakfast to be the most important meal of the day.  A good, healthy breakfast will set you up for the rest of the day.  In fact studies show that what you eat at breakfast can affect your mood, your physical and mental performance, as well as your weight and long term health.”

Food for thought

“Trying to get your brain fired up in the morning without a proper breakfast is like trying to run your car without petrol.  A paper published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, which combined the findings of a number of different studies on the breakfast habits of children, revealed that those who did not have breakfast in the morning performed less well in problem solving tasks. Verbal fluency, creativity and the ability to recall newly acquired facts were similarly affected. But it isn’t just children that perform less well if they skip breakfast. Other studies found that adults who ate breakfast tended to work faster, made fewer mistakes in logic tests and had better memory recall compared with breakfast skippers. Glucose is the brain’s only fuel and it is also vital for the manufacture of neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which is important for memory. After fasting, overnight blood glucose levels are at a low ebb which may explain why people who don’t refuel with breakfast have difficulty concentrating and perform less well in the morning.”

Patrick Holford, Chief Executive for the Food for the Brain Foundation, and Founder of the Institute of Optimum Nutrition recommends nairn’s oatcakes, “To keep blood sugar even, the single best carbohydrate food is oats,” says Holford.  “For example, having wheat-free oatcakes is four times better than bread for balancing blood sugar levels.  Keeping your blood sugar evenly balanced not only determines your weight; it is also the key to high energy, stable mood, concentration and longevity.”

Foods that provide slow release carbohydrate, like oatcakes, are the perfect choice for breakfast because their carbohydrate is converted into glucose gradually throughout the morning which helps to provide fuel for the brain and keeps blood glucose levels stable. If you don’t refuel properly in the morning, blood glucose levels are more likely to take a nose dive mid-morning which can impair your ability to concentrate and leave you feeling hungry and distracted.

So oatcakes are an excellent choice for breakfast but if you haven’t got a clue what to do with them (except eat them topped with cheese) Nairn’s have come up with a whole host of imaginary ways to include oatcakes in your breakfast:

Oatcakes with peanut butter and topped with slices of apple
Oatcakes spread with lemon curd and topped with slices of kiwi fruit
Oatcakes thinly spread with chocolate and hazelnut spread and topped with mashed banana
Oatcakes spread with low fat soft cheese and slices of smoked salmon

If you like smoked fish or roe, a delicious idea is to serve scrambled eggs over oatcakes, with slices of smoked fish or roe on top - a gorgeous way to start the day!

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