One of the most important things that will help you live a healthy life is having a balanced diet. A healthy diet will help the body on the inside and will show on the outside. As children, our eating habits are heavily influenced by our parents who try to find a happy medium between letting us eat all the junk food we want to keep us happy yet still ensuring we get enough fruit, vegetable and a varied healthy diet. As adults we should be responsible enough to maintain our own healthy diet and know instinctively that we can't much our way through a six pack of crisps in one sitting!

Breakfast is one meal you should not skip, it wakes up your metabolism and it can actually help you lose weight. A bowl of cereal in the morning can help you snack less on sweet foods during the day. It will provide you the energy you need, the vitamins and minerals and daily fiber your body uses to function during the day and it should keep you feeling full up until lunch. Cereals, fruit and milk in your breakfast will keep you healthy, and can help reduce the risk of developing diseases such as ulcer, gastritis, diabetes.

There is a strong correlation between intellectual performance and having a healthy breakfast at the start of the day. The morning meal will energize you and create a general feeling of well-being that will put you in a much better position to handle the daily challenges at work and at home.

A glass of fruit juice or a cup of tea with breakfast will rehydrate you and help with the assimilation of vitamins and minerals from food. What you should avoid is coffee, tobacco and alcohol unless you want to feel tired by lunchtime. Fried foods or high-fat foods will slow your digestion and give you a feeling of being bloated. Sweet foods will only give you a temporary sensation of being energetic and they will not appease your hunger. Whole grain rolls, hot or cold whole-grain cereals, combined with low-fat protein coming from hard-boiled eggs, lean slices of meat, poultry or fish, low-fat yoghurt and low-fat cheeses, fresh fruits and vegetables, can offer you a combination of healthy ways to enjoy breakfast.

Doughnuts or croissants will spike your blood sugar, making you feel hungry quickly and craving for carbohydrates. A healthy breakfast will keep the blood sugar level balanced and will sustain you until lunch.

Although incorporating breakfast into a busy day may seem difficult, the multiple benefits a healthy start to the day brings with it should convince you to allow for some extra time to prepare it in the morning. Start gradually to make the transition smoother. Oatmeal can be quick to prepare, toast may be a transition from no breakfast to having it on a regular basis. Your body will get used to being fueled by the food it gets in the morning, and your metabolism will improve. People who regularly skip breakfast tend to have a slower metabolism, which may actually come between their losing weight.