At some point in your life, someone has probably told you to eat a "well-balanced breakfast" How it's the most important meal of the day.
I have to disagree.
Breakfast is all well and good, but I can't bring myself to say that it's the most important meal. Don't get me wrong, I will eat breakfast food any time of day. Eggs and bacon are my kryptonite and anyone who knows me knows my snack of choice is a heaping bowl of cereal. It's not breakfast foods I'm disagreeing with; it's the whole "first meal of the day" thing.
In all fairness, for scientific/medical reasons, yes, having a good meal full of protein and carbohydrates is exceptionally important. It's a great way to start the day, so they say...
But still, I disagree.
"Then which is the most important?!" You ask?
"Is it dinner? Lunch? Brunch? Lupper? WHAT ABOUT SECOND BREAKFAST?"
Okay, first of all, calm down.
We always seem to neglect the most delicious, the most rewarding, the most under appreciated meal: dessert.
That's right. I said it. I personally think of DESSERT as the most important meal of the day.
We live in a world where so many of us are focused on a goal. A goal for our life, the coming year, the semester, the week, the day, etc. We are very goal oriented people from birth. We have to pass all the big mile stones. And when we do, we get rewarded! When we learn to walk, our parents praise us and when they show us off to everyone else, we get all the attention in the world. When we get good grades in elementary school, we get stickers. When we do our chores and our parents give us pocket money.
As we grow older, the tasks get harder. The goals get harder to achieve.
We learned to walk, now we have to run. We got stickers, now we have to struggle for scribbled out letters in red ink. We worked for our pocket money, now we work ourselves into a weary heap for money that leaves our hands sooner than we can count it.
Every single day is a struggle for some reason or another.
Every. Single. Day.
So where's our reward? We used to get one. Even for simple tasks, we got something for putting forth genuine effort.
Well, my friends, that's what DESSERT is for!
Life is far too short, too difficult, too taxing, too overwhelming...to skip desert. If you brought home a great report card with all smiley faces and check marks and you were offered a sticker, would you turn it down? Would you EVER turn down a sticker?!
Would you do all the dishes and take out the trash and then turn away when your parents offer you $10?
Of course not, you giddy goat!
Then why on earth would you deny yourself such a simple, yet crucial reward after another long, hard day? Don't give me that nonsense about a diet! Don't tell me you're full, you liar.
I've always had a theory that humans have two stomachs. One for regular food, and one for desert. I can be about ready to pop from thanksgiving dinner, but as soon as the word "pie" is spoken, I'm suddenly positively starving. Starving because my desert stomach is craving the sweetest of rewards.
Don't believe me? Try going through a terrible, awful day...and all you want is some ice cream, or cookies, or a bowl of cereal.... But you can't have any. That's INSANE. Why would you do that to yourself? That's so mean.
Just the idea of it is stressing me out.
Stop denying yourself your daily reward. Be sure to indulge at the end of the day. You deserve it. Don't argue. You do deserve it. There is such a thing as healthy desert (if you like that sort of thing). And there's such a thing as portion control. You don't have to be a glutton to have your cake and eat it too...literally.
Enjoy some sweet sugary goodness. It's the most important meal of your day. It's your "just desserts".
