Take the Breakfast Challenge: Eat Breakfast Daily

What your mother and teachers told you all your life, science later confirmed: Breakfast is important. It resets the body’s metabolic motor after the night’s long fast. Skipping breakfast sets you up for physical and mental lows and bad food choices when you pass the pastry counter at the local coffee shop. You can also use a good, satisfying breakfast to affirm your healthy-eating intentions for the day.

The modern time crunch is the worst enemy of breakfast, along with the temptation to save calories for later by skipping or skimping. That’s why this month we offer lots of quick, make-ahead, and pick-up ideas, dispel the whole calorie-savings myth, and include lots of nontraditional choices for the oatmeal-averse.

Here’s what you need to know: Not just any breakfast will do. Ideally, you should include whole grains, fruits and/or vegetables, lean protein, and low-fat dairy. Doing so incorporates two of the 12 Healthy Habits from previous months: whole grains and fruits/veggies. But if you can’t pack all those good things in, that’s OK. The goal is to eat something—it can even be as simple as an apple and piece of cheese.