How many times have you skipped the most important meal of the day since you started working? Perhaps you started skipping even when you were in college. You may have wanted to when you were in high school but mom probably did not let you. It is only breakfast, after all. You can just eat more during lunch. Wrong. Studies have shown that skipping breakfast has health risks. Experts say that people who take this meal for granted are more at risk of having heart disease. The good news is that there are quite a few breakfast places in Dubai that are really good and they also serve healthy choices.

Why are you susceptible to heart disease if you skip breakfast? Well, for starters, prolonged fasting is never good for the body. If you think about it, not eating for 6 hours makes you really hungry and prevents you from being fully functional. How much more if you have not eaten for more than ten hours? Leah Cahill, a study author said that  “prolonged fasting leads to increases in diastolic and systolic blood pressure, blood concentrations of insulin, triglycerides, free fatty acids and LDL-cholesterol, and to decreases in blood concentrations of HDL-cholesterol”. If you do a bit of research, you will find out that the increase in blood pressure, blood concentration of insulin and fats are all perfect ingredients for cardiac arrest.

But let us not dwell on the dark side. Now that you know the potential health risk you are putting yourself (and probably your partner) into, what are you going to do about it? The most logical one is to sleep a bit earlier than you are used to, wake up earlier than your normal time, and prepare breakfast. Sounds too hard? Well, here’s another idea. When you dash out that door in the morning, make sure you know where the best breakfast places in Dubai are located so you could head there with your partner and start the day right.

How do you choose a café for breakfast?

• Do some research over the weekend and start planning for the week ahead. Call your friends in Dubai and ask for recommendations or suggestions. You can also make use of Google and you will certainly find suggestions and reviews by other people. Note where you want to eat on certain days.

• Choose a café in Dubai that has healthy choices. Even if you just want to grab a sandwich, choose healthy ones. Perhaps you can indulge in other not so healthy foods but make sure that you do not do this often.

• Go to a café that has freshly cooked food. You will know if the food served is from a day or two ago. It won’t look and smell fresh.

• If you want to have a take away so you can eat in your office, find out if you can pre-order your breakfast and pick it up on your way to work.

Need a suggestion? Pop by a 1762 Deli in DIFC, JAFZA or Media City for a real treat!