Your mother was right (again): It is important to start your day with a good breakfast. But the hearty feast of bacon and eggs that you may remember from your youth is hardly a good start by today's standards, and the doughnut and coffee that have replaced it in today's fast-paced world is no better.
Cereal: The Heart of the Matter
Few men will choose to start their day with vegetables, beans or fish, even though they are excellent foods. But breakfast is the best time to get complex carbohydrates and fiber. In fact, if you don’t start out right at breakfast, you’ll find it hard, even impossible, to get the fiber you need. Cereal is the key to a healthful breakfast, but only if you choose the right one. Unfortunately, most cereals are made from refined grains and many are laced with extra sugar. Despite this, many cereals tout their health benefits. Don't be misled by bold print that boasts about vitamins, minerals or even whole grains. You should focus on two criteria: fiber content and personal preference. Look for a cereal that provides at least 6 grams of fiber per portion; 10–12 grams would be even better, but you'll still need lots of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds later in the day to meet your target of 25–30 grams.
Dietary fiber comes in two varieties, soluble and insoluble. Both are good for you. Most high-fiber cereals are made with wheat bran, which is rich in insoluble fiber. Oats are an excellent source of soluble fiber, but many popular dry oat cereals contain only a trace of the oat bran fiber that really counts.
Insoluble fiber draws water into the intestines, making stools bulkier, softer and easier to pass. That's why people who consume lots of fiber enjoy a reduced risk of constipation, hemorrhoids and hernias. And two important 2003 studies link dietary fiber to protection against intestinal polyps and colon cancers.
Soluble fiber delays the stomach's emptying and keeps your blood sugar from rising too fast after a meal, so it lowers insulin levels. It also helps reduce blood levels of LDL ("bad") cholesterol. A study of 11,864 American adults found that blood cholesterol levels are lowest in adults who eat cereal and highest in breakfast skippers.
It's easy to understand how dietary fiber protects your intestinal tract, but can it actually help other parts of the body? Two Harvard studies say it really does protect the heart. The Health Professionals' Follow-up Study reported that a high-fiber diet reduced the risk of heart attack by 41 percent over a six-year observation period. For each 10-gram increase in a man's daily fiber intake, his risk of heart disease dropped by 19 percent -- and just one bowl of high-fiber cereal can provide those 10 grams of protection. Similarly, the Nurses' Health Study of more than 68,000 women linked a high intake of fiber to a 47 percent reduction in heart disease over a 10-year period. And when researchers compared various sources of fiber, they found that cereal was even more protective than fruits and vegetables.
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