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The first meal of the day, breakfast is essential after a long night of fasting. However, according to the results of an Ipsos study for the Lactel Foundation on the behavior of adolescent girls at breakfast time, two out of three admit to not having one daily.
This is not a new observation: adolescent girls are gradually losing the habit of having breakfast in the morning. To understand why this phenomenon is so common among young girls, the Lactel Foundation carried out, in collaboration with Ipsos, a study among 451 schoolgirls who do not eat breakfast every day of the week.
The rules of a balanced breakfast known, but not always applied
The first paradox that emerges from this survey is the fact that three quarters of the teenage girls surveyed know what a balanced breakfast is. 17% of the young girls surveyed even keep themselves informed, via social networks, about trends regarding this meal. However, in practice, only 40% of them think that it is the most important meal of the day and less than one in two say they have a “healthy” diet.
Breakfast, a meal that comes last
Why is breakfast not taken daily? The college girls put forward several reasons. Sleep is an argument often reported by adolescent girls, who prefer to spend a few more minutes sleeping, rather than eating breakfast.
The implementation of a restrictive diet, linked to the perception of their body, is also one of the reasons given. They are also, for example, 82% taking time to get dressed, 73% to comb their hair and 64% to wash their face.
On the other hand, only 54% eat breakfast routinely. Among them, 80% complete this moment in just ten minutes.
Lack of time in the morning is also a reason given by adolescent girls, as they do not “feel like eating”. Indeed, the young girls describe “a feeling of nausea upon waking up but especially in the hour following waking up”even when faced with “pleasure” foods such as croissants and cereals… Finally, the menstrual cycle of these adolescents contributes to this feeling, once a month.
NO to diets, YES to WW!
Finally, teenage girls are a bit fatalistic, not particularly trying to make time for breakfast in the morning. Those who do eat foods that are easy to eat, such as a bowl of cereal or pastries. “Placing breakfast at the end of the routine would undoubtedly allow teenage girls to be more “appetitive” when it’s time to sit down to eat.” recommends the Lactel Foundation.
Finally, the information around this meal and the role of parents also remain essential: the study shows that young girls who are well informed about the importance of this meal eat it more, just like those whose parents also eat one.