From June 15^th to the 21^st we celebrate Men’s Health Week !  It is a week in June that always includes Father’s Day and is intended to really encourage the men in our lives to … well … be healthy!!

Part of being healthy is maintaining or regaining a fit body weight.  In the dating world that is called HWP (for height-weight proportional).  In the health world, we use BMI  ( for body mass index).  BMI is not terribly specific for how much extra fat a person might be carrying but it gives a good, general idea.  A great BMI will be between 18.5 and 25, overweight is a BMI of 25 to 30.  Obese is a BMI over 30.  Our BMI is easy to calculate using just our height and weight.

An interesting study out of Australia looked at breakfast size specifically in relationship to BMI.  It included both men and women who were asked to keep food diaries.  With the information provided, the study subjects were placed into different groups, from breakfast skippers to small breakfast eaters to big breakfast eaters.  They found …. IN MEN ONLY …  that as their breakfast size increased, their BMI decreased!  Even differences in physical activity or being a vegetarian did not make a difference!  It was all about getting a good portion of the day’s calories with the first meal of the day!

In a previous blog post  I talked about the importance of not skipping breakfast especially for preventing overweight or obesity issues and also for Type 2 Diabetes … and this was true for both women and men.  In another post we talked about the very negative effect breakfast skipping had on stress hormone levels in women.  We have also looked at the importance of protein being included at breakfast (the “protein” blog ).  Then, add to all of this, the importance of eating organic whenever possible (yes, we should say “no” to those pesky pesticides).

OK, back to the men!  You should definitely be eating breakfast .. and not just a bite!  Take a look at some of the great Wild Oats products … you’ll find a lot of good breakfast time choices to add to your big, healthy breakfasts.   Since Father’s Day is here, you might just be getting Breakfast-in-Bed courtesy of the kids (with mom’s help) … and I sure hope she got Breakfast-in-Bed for Mother’s Day!  Just sayin ….

Additional Resources:

U.S. Dept of Health & Human Services quick, online “Healthy Men” Quiz

Great short video on the “pesticide” problem