According to a recent ABC News poll, Americans are showing a strong tendency of ignoring Mom's advice by consistently skipping breakfast. In fact, almost half of the population between the ages of 18 and 54 skip breakfast on a regular basis.

Skipping breakfast has been shown to guarantee lower performance at the workplace and in the classroom, ensuring tired brains, sluggish bodies and cranky moods. There is a center in the brain that registers when the body is missing nutrients. By mid-morning, many breakfast-cutters may indulge in a pick-me-up like coffee or a candy bar, but this is hardly enough to truly sustain the body until lunch time. Besides, we're the most prone to making unhealthy meal choices and eating larger-than-life portions when we're super-hungry. Let's keep it real. What would a growling stomach choose: a Big Mac with fries or a Caesar salad?

Are You a Breakfast Bum?

If breakfast were a class, how often do you cut? Many of us that don't eat breakfast happen to have very valid reasons as to why (or so we think). Here's our response.

"I'm trying to lose weight"

Skipping meals does not help you to lose weight. As a matter of fact, it appears to make weight control more difficult for reasons stated above. Also, research shows people that eat breakfast regularly tend to be leaner than people who skip. Let's put it this way: to help the body to conserve energy as it goes without food, the body's metabolism slows while we sleep. Feeding your body in the morning gives your metabolism the jump start it needs