Sure we call it the “Most Important Meal of the Day,” but doesn’t breakfast deserve even more acknowledgment than that? Here are seven ways that breakfast makes our lives better each day we are smart enough to enjoy it.

1. Variety

The options for breakfast are truly boundless when you think of all the different foods, all the different ways to prepare them, all the different garnishes and additions for them, and all the possible pairings. Endless opportunities means that breakfast never has to be boring. You just have to know be creative and work with what you’ve got.

2. Motivation to get out of bed

Even when five separate alarms fail to rouse you from your cozy mess of blankets and pillows, breakfast is well up to the task. There is no better bait to lure you out of bed than the thought or the smell of the edible bliss that is breakfast.

3. Keeps you from eating too much later in the day.

A good breakfast will keep you full throughout the morning so you’re not tempted to snack all the way ‘til lunchtime or over eat when lunch finally rolls around. In the end, eating a good breakfast will likely save you calories (though not all breakfast foods are equally nutrition dense—see #5).

4. A good start to the day

A good breakfast makes you feel good. Getting a bad start to your day sometimes leads to a whole day of frustration and bad luck, but breakfast is a perfect way to start the day off on a good note and possibly avoid the bad mojo. There is something in the nature of breakfast that makes the tough things a bit more bearable and the good things all the greater.

5. It’s acceptable for dessert to constitute the entire meal.

Where most people won’t call ice cream, cake or pie an actual meal, cinnamon rolls, doughnuts or bananas foster French toast can count as breakfast. If eaten any time after noon, these delicious breakfast delicacies would count as dessert, but for some odd and lucky reason, the early hours of the day give you the right to indulge yourself.

6. Helps keep you focused

Breakfast gives you the sustenance to stay focused and energized, at least until lunch time. Skipping the all-important morning meal often leads to the irritability, sleepiness, and susceptibility to distraction that often accompany hunger. Treat yourself to a good breakfast and avoid the “hanger.”

7. Breakfast foods themselves

Waffles, bacon, hash browns, French toast, omelets, pancakes, breakfast burritos—these dishes make up some of the world’s best and most beloved cuisine! No one ever tires of breakfast foods.

Breakfast has earned its “Most Important Meal” title, and quite possibly deserves more. The all-important morning meal does so much for you, so don't forge to make every day “Breakfast Appreciation Day.”