Katherine Eitel

Certainly there are times, especially in healthcare, when training someone on a procedure there are only two options: This way or ... no way. Exactly this way. No exceptions. Patients' healthcare outcomes depend upon it.

However, much of the time, the things we teach such as verbal skills, organizational systems, software paths, may seem to us like the only way but, in fact, there can be many ways to the same outcome. When we are rigidly attached to that one right way, we create a 'right or wrong' dynamic which we must then defend... or be "wrong", which humans will go to the ends of the earth to avoid.

If we acknowledge to our students (and ourselves) that there could be several, if not many, "right ways," we have essentially removed the fight, effectively eliminating the unnecessary and counter-productive teacher/student tug-of-war I often observe.  

Whenever I can, I try to preface my trainings with a brief statement designed to "remove the fight." I acknowledge there are other ways to answer the phone, negotiate a financial arrangement, present treatment, write a complete chart note, manage a team meeting, etc. and the way I am suggesting today is one way which has a history of working well and accomplishing what they wish to achieve. I tell them that everything "is a test" and their feedback will help determine our permanent decisions about the skills. I request they try the new skill or system for a period of time and report back on results, roadblocks, challenges, and their own comfort level. We agree we will make adjustments if necessary at that time.

By acknowledging there is not just one right way and by considering students opinions and experience in the final decision, I get much better buy-in and overall compliance from participants creating quicker, deeper results.

Dr. Hugh Doherty

Brain-Boosting Powers

As you stare off into space at your work desk, you may wonder why you can't focus on a darn thing. The fact that you started your day off with just two sips of coffee may be the reason. After a night of fasting, your brain needs a fresh supply of glucose (blood sugar) for fuel. Without it, you'll have trouble processing new information, have issues with physical understanding, and won't remember much.

Get Essential Nutrients

Your morning meal is fortified with nutrients that your body needs to function healthily each day. Nutrients like folate, iron, B vitamin, fiber, and other essentials are only gained through food, and while the body can always use its stored recesses to make it to the next meal, that initial burst of essentials is never provided without eating breakfast.

Reduce Metabolic Syndrome

Instead of loading up on a heavy dinner, start your day off with a grand meal at breakfast time. Doing so may help prevent metabolic syndrome disorders like obesity and insulin resistance. A study in the International Journal of Obesity examined the type of foods and specific timing of consumption that resulted in metabolic syndrome characteristics in mice. Mice that were fed a meal higher in fat after waking had normal metabolic profiles, while mice that ate more carbohydrates in the morning and consumed a high-fat meal at the end of the day showed increased weight gain and other markers of metabolic syndromes. Researchers found that the time of fat intake matters; when eating fat early, metabolism worked efficiently and affected the animals' response to different types of food later in the day.

Less Likely to Develop Eating Disorders

Even though skipping breakfast is quite common, it is a form of disordered eating. Breakfast literally means breaking the fast, and is necessary in order to jump-start your body. Since skipping breakfast is often about skipping a meal for weight control purposes, it's is a disorderly way of eating.

Enhance Immune System

To fight the common wintertime colds and flus, you need to sit down and eat your breakfast. A study in the Netherlands showed that eating a substantial breakfast boosts your body's gamma-interferon, a natural antiviral that directly activates immune cells. Skipping breakfast caused a 17 percent drop in gamma-interferon.

Improve Your Skin

Eggs, the incredible and popular breakfast food, do way more than fill you up. No matter how they are prepped, eggs are fantastic for your skin. Lutein, a carotenoid antioxidant found in eggs, helps to preserve the skin's elasticity and protects skin cells from free radical damage. Just one egg a day can boost your lutein levels by 26 percent. There are plenty of other breakfast foods that will do the job as well, like oatmeal, walnut pancakes, and breakfast smoothies.

Keep Yourself Thin

While eating breakfast alone will not help you magically shed the pounds, it may help your emotional relationship with food (and that invariably affects your weight). Prolonged fasting can increase your body's insulin response, which increases fat storage and weight gain. Breakfast also helps to prevent overeating and attempts to sate desperate hunger with quick fixes like doughnuts and vending-machine snacks.

Stabilize Energy Levels

A balance of carbohydrates, protein, and fiber is the key to any healthy breakfast, and eating foods with these components will increase your energy levels. Breakfast replenishes your glycogen stores, which supply muscles with immediate energy. Breakfast was found to supply around 25 percent of people's daily energy expenditure, thus leading to a high-functioning day.

Live Longer

An apple a day may keep the doctor away, but a healthy breakfast may keep the reaper at bay, too. Studies show that people who lived to be 100 years old were consistent breakfast eaters, or consumed breakfast more often than non-breakfast eaters. Also, those who eat breakfast regularly are less likely to develop fatal habits like smoking and excessive drinking. And thanks to all of the benefits of breakfast, the body has an increased chance of warding off disease.