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A very good morning to our beloved headmaster, _______, respectable

teachers and pupils of ________. First of all, I would like to express my gratitude for inviting
me to give a talk in conjunction with the school Entrepreneurship Day. Before I proceed,
allow me to introduce myself. My name is ___________ and as you know, I was a pupil here
33 years ago and today I am very happy to be able to stand here and give a talk about
something that is often neglected by everyone around me.
“One in four Malaysian children skip the most important meal of the day breakfast at
least three times a week”, this is a statistic study supported by Nestle. Now, I would like to
ask all of you to be honest with me and raise your hand if you did not have breakfast before
going to school this morning? Seems like most of you falls in the not having breakfast
category. When I was at your age, I would get scolded by my mother everytime I missed
breakfast and now I never miss my breakfast anymore because I realise what will happen to
my body if I don’t take breakfast.

Dear beloved pupils,

Do you realise that your body is working and using energy while you are sleeping?
Let’s imagine you are a car. After a long journey at night, your fuel tank is empty. Can you
start the car if the fuel is empty? The answer is “NO’. In this situation, breakfast is the fuel
that gets you going so you can hit the road. You need to provide enough energy for your body
to get started and to keep your body functioning until recess time. So, what does breakfast
means? Breakfast literally means, “Breaking the fast”. At night while you sleep, your body is
fasting. The body using stored energy to maintain your breathing, heart rate and circulation.
Consequently, when you wake up in the morning, your body needs to be refuel, and taking
breakfast in the morning is the way to refuel your energy. Today, I would like to talk about
“Why breakfast is the most important meal of the day?” If you've ever heard anyone say
"breakfast is the most important meal of the day," - they were right!

Reason 1: Increase alertness and concentration

Nowadays, most people skip their breakfast. Do you know the important of eating
breakfast? How many of you are hungry right now? How many of you that are hungry
because you did not have breakfast this morning? Do you have trouble concentrating, feel
irritable, or have no energy in the morning? For students, skipping a proper breakfast may
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cause them to be not at their best condition for learning, and their concentration levels will
also suffer. Since focus and attention are important, ensuring that you get a proper breakfast
means have better alertness levels. Thus, the first reason for eating breakfast is you need food
for to do well in your class. Getting out from the door every day with a full belly is important
for all members of the family, but the most important is to ensure all of you are fuelled for
school. In the morning, a long hours without food, it is important to eat some food in order to
get energy throughout the day especially for students that are growing up. When your bellies
are rumbling, you are more likely to be distracted by your hunger as you will keep on
thinking about foods that you will buy at the school canteen. So this means having breakfast
in the morning will help you to become more alert or concentrate better in school. Thus, it
will be easier to pay attention and understand what you will learn in the class but if you skip
your breakfast, you will become tired and have shorter attention in class, especially around 11
o`clock and above in the morning.

Reason 2: Give energy to kick-start your day in school

Other than that, breakfast gives energy to you to kick start your day. Studies show that
breakfast eaters perform much better in their school work and show extra energy during class
or sports activities. For example, you have physical education classes as your first period, if
that you did not have breakfast you wouldn’t have the energy to participate much in the given
event. The breakfast eaten in the morning would provide energy to be used for the student to
be active not only mentally but physically too. They cannot perform their fullest if their
lacking in energy. I still remember when I was young, I will eat two half boiled eggs during
Sport Day because it gives me the energy I need without making me having stomache when I
run. I was a sprinter and I need all the energy to run extremely fast and that was my secret to
won the best athlete award every year. Those trainings that I had undergo will not mean
anything if I do not have the energy to run.

Reason 3: Prevent overweight and obesity

Besides, eating breakfast will help to prevent overweight and obesity among the
chlidren. According to the evidence-based review by the 2010 Dietary Guidelines Advisory
Committee’s (DGAC) as quoted by Feeney, M.J(2013), “enough evidence suggests that
children and adolescents who do not eat breakfast are at increased risk of overweight and
obesity”. Many people skip breakfast to lose weight but skipping breakfast actually increases
the risk of obesity. Dear pupils and teachers, do you know what is obesity? How many of you
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are aware of your body weight? Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has
been collected to the extent that it may have a negative effect on health, leading to reduced
life expectancy or increased health problems. In short, obesity means overweight. Up to one
out of every five children is overweight nowadays, and this number is continuing to rise
every year. For your information, children have fewer weight related health and medical
problems than adults. However, overweight children are at high risk compared to adults. So,
in order to avoid obesity, it is better to take breakfast in the morning because when you don’t
eat breakfast, you will eat what you want in a large quantity during lunch. Additionally,
having a healthy breakfast also helps you to reduce snacking and overeating later in the day.
This will help you reduce excessive calorie intake as usually when we are hungry we tend to
eat snacks which have little nutrient that is needed for a growing child. Can you imagine,
children at the age of 10 years old weighs around 90 kilogram. Chubby might be cute but do
you think it is cute when u see layers of fat underneath the skin? So, another reason for eating
breakfast is it can control your body weight. When you skip breakfast, you may feel hungrier
in the afternoon and eat more than enough. If you think skipping breakfast will help to lose
weight, you are totally wrong. Moreover, when you skip breakfast, your body and brain will
slow down. Why do you want to have slow body and brain when at this age all of you are
supposed live an active life?

Reason 4: Fight diseases

Breakfast can also help to fight diseases such as gastric or stomached. When you skip
your breakfast before going to school, it is very easy for all of you to get gastric. The famous
gastric ulcer disease is a high rise in our country. Ages from 8-80 have this disease occurs due
to the lack of sufficient food in the morning, which leads to erosion of muscles and tissues in
the lining of the stomach. When there is an infection in the lining of the stomach, the acid
will decreases your appetite to eat and increases the pain in it and I must remind all of you
that this disease is deadly and I have some friends that died due to gastric. This disease is not
a joke and should be taken seriously by all of you. Pupils and teachers, there are many
frequent excuses to skipping breakfast. However, a healthy breakfast will help your body
fight against diseases that are harmful to you. Skipped breakfast is also a recipe for heart
disease. The effects of missing a meal in the morning may cause adverse metabolic effects
that lead to heart disease. So, another reason that you must eat breakfast is you can get lower
rate of heart disease. Study shows that, skipping breakfast will increase your chances of get a
heart attack. Yes students, heart attack. “Skipping breakfast may lead to one or more risk
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factors, including obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes, which may in
turn lead to a heart attack over time,” according to Cahill, L.E. This means if you skipped
breakfast you may face some diseases that will become deadly to your body. You must know
that heart disease may attack anyone regardless of their age.

Tips for having breakfast

The common excuse is lack of time to have breakfast. Maybe they are running late for
their class or work thus they did not have much time to prepare delicious breakfast. Another
reason is they need more time to sleep, and skipping breakfast means they can increase their
sleeping time by twenty minutes or more. When you wake up late in the morning, you will
not only skip your breakfast but going late to school or work too. So, pupils please wake up
early in the morning and get some breakfast before going to school. Breakfast did not have to
be boring because you can have variety of food to be eaten for breakfast. Such as quick,
nutritious and tasty cereals with a glass of milk. Growing up children like all of you needs
enough milk for the growth of your bones. Milk is important for your bones and your teeth.
You also can have tasty and untraditional ideas such as overnight oats that not only gives you
the energy but other vitamins from the fruits added in the oats which can be on the go options
that you can eat while on the way going to school. Sometimes a 5-minutes meal can keep you
energise for hours.

Dear beloved pupils,

We come to the end of the speech today. You have to realize that breakfast is the most
important meal of the day. Remember our bodies lose about 80% of energy reserves after
long hours of sleep. Hence, a good breakfast is very important so we can maximise
performance, be it mental or physical. If you skip that, you will get many consequences such
as have low concentration in school, lack of energy, obesity, and for your health such heart
attack or gastric might attack you at a very young age. Eating something for breakfast is
better than eating nothing at all. The more balance your meal is, the better you will perform in
school. Breakfast is very important for you! Breakfast does not have to take a long time. It is
better to wake up earlier and have a good breakfast than run to school without eating
anything. It is the time for you to do something for your health, and eating breakfast every
morning is the better way to start your day. Nowadays, many people underestimate the value
of breakfast. So how about you students? Please eat your breakfast starting tomorrow. Have
you ever heard about "prevention is better than cure”? Now you have a lot of chances to
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prevent from any health disease because you are still young. Remember, if you don`t change
your routine, no one will change for you. Once again, thank you for inviting me to stand here
and spare some knowledge to all of you. That’s all from me.
Thank You.
(1988 words)

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References:
Caahill, L.E (n.d). Skipping Breakfast Increases Heart Risk. Retrieved from:
https://www.goredforwomen.org/about-heart-disease/heart_disease_research-
subcategory/skipping-breakfast-increases-heart-risk/

Fenney , M.J (2014). Health Connections. Breakfast—Good Nutrition Throughout Life

Retrieved from:
.https://www.healthyeating.org/Portals/0/Documents/Health%20Wellness/Health
%20Connections%20Newsletters/health%20connections%20Winter%202014.pdf?ver=2014-
01-30-081736-000

N.A. (2016). Nutritionist: Breakfast trends of Malaysian children 'not looking optimistic. The
Star Online. Retrieved from:
https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2016/05/22/one-in-four-malaysian-children-skip-
breakfast-survey-finds/

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