Why College Students Shouldn’t Skip Breakfast

I was just reading an article over at Honest College about how a healthy breakfast is a luxury that college students don’t have time for. While it’s difficult to manage your time during college, breakfast is still the most important meal of the day — especially if you want to avoid or shed that Freshman 15. Here are several legitimate reasons why you shouldn’t skip breakfast as a college student.

Better test scores. Researchers conducted a study at a community college in Texas where they examined the link between eating breakfast and how it affected test scores for a biology exam. As we can see from the figure below, the students who ate breakfast scored better on the biology exam than those who did not. While eating breakfast doesn’t guarantee you’ll ace the test (obviously studying has to factor in there somewhere), it will improve your chances. Bottom line, if you want to do better on your college exams, eat breakfast.

You’ll eat less throughout the day. Studies show that people who eat breakfast will eat less calories throughout the rest of the day. In one study at the University of Connecticut, people who had an egg for breakfast ate between 100-400 less calories less for lunch than if they ate a bagel and cream cheese for breakfast.

Energy. You wouldn’t drive your car when there’s no gas in the tank, right? As any nutritionist will tell you, if you’re going to make it through an epic day of back-to-back classes, homework, and cramming for tomorrow’s exam, you’re going to need energy. Breakfast gives your body the fuel it needs to function and helps your brain to concentrate during the day.

Prevents weight gain. Did you know one of the ways guys bulk up to become sumo wrestlers is by skipping breakfast? By the time they reach their next meal, they are starving and naturally overeat. Skipping breakfast makes your body goes into starvation mode, leading you to compensate and overeat later in the day, just like the sumo wrestlers.

Breakfast on the go. If you’re like me and never have the time to eat breakfast before you run out the door, here’s an idea for breakfast on the go. Have a slice of wheat toast and hard-boiled egg which you can take to go and will still give you good protein and carbs to charge you up for the day ahead. A banana or granola bar are other quick things you can eat on your way to class.

If you want more breakfast suggestions, check out our Quick and Easy Breakfast Ideas for College Students blog.

What is your best breakfast on the go?