You already know it — breakfast is your most important meal for fueling up each new morning. By the time you wake, you have likely been fasting for about 10 or 12 hours since your last meal. So be good to yourself by breaking in the New Year and your mornings by fueling up smart with these insights. You will rev up your metabolism, boost mental alertness, daily energy, and emotional stability, reduce weight gain, and establish healthy meal patterns. Plan ahead and make it an everyday priority!

1. Eat something within 1 hour of waking — and whatever you do, do not skip it! If you do not have an appetite for traditional “breakfast” foods, break the mold and enjoy eating healthy lunch or dinner foods such as a tuna sandwich instead.

2. Think outside the cereal box — hot cooked cereals are far more budget-friendly and nourishing than even box cereals with the best intentions. Top with fruit, nuts or nut butter, cinnamon, or seeds. Venture out into new grains like teff, quinoa, or even traditional grains like brown rice with veggies.

3. Soak your grains — not only will soaking your hot cereal of choice in water overnight cut your stove cooking time in half, but soaking grains releases enzyme inhibitors (phytic acid), which naturally occur on most all grains, nuts, and seeds. Soaking your hot cereal overnight in the saucepan before cooking in the morning, especially with a teaspoon of raw apple cider vinegar, encourages better digestion and absorption of the nutrients.

4. Low glycemic carbs — avoid refined sugars which only plummet blood sugar levels. Stick with high fiber, slow digesting carbs, which supply your blood-sugar levels with a steady stream of energy. Always think “high fiber!” The higher the fiber, generally the slower and more whole the carbohydrates are as well.

5. Fruit — replace refined / added sugars with fruit. They’re high in fiber, full of nutrients, and the real deal!

6. Yogurt — my motto is, “If it is not alive, it is not yogurt!” Real yogurt has live cultures that boost your immunity with gut nourishing enzymes. Stick with fat-free or low-fat or non-dairy, plain, and organic. Venture out and try organic soy, goat, coconut, almond, or sheep yogurt, which are more digestible, containing little or no lactose compared to cow’s milk. Avoid the sugar trap of “vanilla” or flavored yogurts, as this quickly increases the sugar content of many yogurts to 20 grams of sugar per serving or more. Instead, top with fruits, cinnamon, a dash of maple syrup or raw honey, granola, seeds, or nuts. This healthy habit places you in the driver’s seat of the sugar levels.