Episode 3 Food: Truth or Scare

Every day, we are bombarded with conflicting information

about our favourite foods.

One minute, we are told something is good for us, the next, it's not

and we are left feeling guilty about what we are eating.

So, we have been wading through the confusion

to separate the scare stories from the truth

so that you can choose your food with confidence.

Hello and thank you so much for joining us on the programme

that unravels the truth behind all those baffling headlines

and theories, telling us all what we should and shouldn't be eating.

There are so many scare stories around,

you can easily forget that food is something to enjoy,

but even if, like me, you are fed up of being warned away

from the stuff you like, you'll still want to know how much

of the advice we are getting really stacks up.

And whilst we all do know that what we eat has a massive impact

on our energy levels and even our moods,

today, we'll be finding out what difference is made by how we cook it

and I find this really interesting,

even what time of the day that we have it.

Coming up -

after new reports claiming you might not need it,

we have a test to see if having breakfast

makes any difference to your day.

The full English - how did that go for you? What was good about that?

I just felt fuller. Like, usually of a morning,

I don't get full until, like, lunchtime.

We have another experiment too - to find out if it is true

that instead of three square meals, you would be better off with six

or even just one.

I thought I'd easily be able to eat it all

but I am starting to struggle now.

And as we discover the truth behind warnings about cooking

with olive oil and even barbecues,

we have surprising advice on the best way to cook your veg.

Almost a third of people say they don't eat breakfast

so it must be music to their ears when they see newspaper reports

suggesting that it might not be the most important meal of the day

after all, as the age-old adage goes.

But to find out once and for all

what difference a good breakfast makes to your day

and what it should be, we drafted in a family of volunteers

to put some of our favourite breakfasts to the test.

We are spoiled for choice on how to start the day.

My typical breakfast is actually fruit.

Fruit or yoghurt, to be honest.

I just love my eggs and I love my Weetabix.

But I do think that it does start you off for the day,

even if it is a very light...

You should have something before you go out.

For breakfast, I choose porridge cos it helps me go to the bathroom.

-Most important meal of the day.

-You don't want to go out of the house

feeling hungry, so you need to eat something.

We only have an egg-and-bacon breakfast

maybe Saturday or a Sunday morning,

so during the week, we are back to porridge, cereals,

boring stuff.

But... And that is it, just to try and keep as healthy as you can.

But whilst that lot and millions more of us

think that we are doing the right thing by having breakfast,

there's a whole host of reports and headlines saying

it might not be that simple.

For me, breakfast is a must and I suppose it goes right back

to my growing up days when my mum, bless her, would never let us

go to school without a cooked breakfast, every single day.

But there are some people who say, do you know what,

I just don't need breakfast, I don't like it, I just don't want it.

So, at the end of it all, is it a question of preference and choice

or does breakfast really do you some good?

Well, to help us test if breakfast really is essential,

and if so, what is the best thing to eat,

we have called in the Meegan family from Liverpool.

Mandy, who is the mum of the family, finds it a constant battle

to get the kids fed and ready for the day ahead.

-Come on, Os.

-Come on, Os.

And it is one that she doesn't always win.

Come on, lads.

On a regular basis, every morning,

I have lots and lots of healthy food in the kitchen

and that can range from cereal, eggs, bacon, bananas.

However, your kids get to a certain age

where they will want to eat what they want to eat.

Ten-year-old Oscar is nuts about cereal,

scoffing nearly a box of his favourite every fortnight.

I like sweet and sugary cereals...

..because they are, like, tasty.

But like almost a third of us,

13-year-old Tilly eats nothing at all in the mornings.

I don't really think much about breakfast,

I don't really have time to cos I've got to get to school.

Meanwhile, Mandy is determined to start her day

with something nutritious.

Of a morning, I do have a green smoothie...

..because I like it and it makes me feel energised

and it fills me up.

Lovely.

-Smells like...

-It smells like...

-..loads of...

-..poo.

For the next few days,

they'll all give up their usual start to the day

and instead, road test a bunch of different breakfasts

that we'll send round each morning.

And then we will see which one

leaves them feeling the most energised.

Running the experiment for us is nutritionist Yvonne Bishop-Weston

who, like me, is a big fan of breakfast.

How important overall do you think it is for people to have breakfast?

I think breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day

and I think that when we have a good breakfast

and we keep our fuel levels more stable throughout the day,

we make better choices throughout the rest of the day.

I find that if I have eggs in the morning, that my energy level

all day is really good, but if I just had a bit of toast,

even if it was wholemeal,

-it wouldn't have the same effect at all.

-No, absolutely, same here.

So I wouldn't be without a good breakfast in the morning

unless I really could not manage

but I would always try to have a good breakfast to start me off.

It has long been argued that a good breakfast sets us up

for the day and can also reduce the amount that we snack,

but the anti-breakfast camp points to research

that found skipping breakfast didn't have a significant effect

on either the body's metabolism or indeed eating patterns.

So which side of the fence will the Meegans come down on

after trying our breakfast selections?

Over four mornings, we will send them

four different starts to the day and they will have no idea

what is destined for their plates until we deliver it.

-ALL:

-Oh.

-MANDY CHUCKLES

-Nice.

Yvonne's kick-starting the experiment with a much-loved brekky

and indeed my own favourite.

Nice eggs, nice bit of bacon. Only eight rashers, that's all right.

Today's box is all the goodies that the Meegans need

to rustle up a hearty full English.

Right, look, I'm going to give the drill, you are on sausages.

Sausages cook first. Get the tinfoil out, Till.

Normally, they'd only have a cooked breakfast as a treat

so they are delighted.

I think this is better cos there is more variety.

Yeah, you've got bigger food but you have got variety.

You've got your meat, all that malarkey.

It might look a lot, but it should keep the Meegans going for longer

and it might even make them eat less throughout the day.

One study suggests that eating up to 700 calories at breakfast,

followed by a small lunch and dinner,

cuts the amount we snack throughout the day.

This is a really big plate of food with lots of protein.

It is going to digest slowly over the morning and I would expect

the family to feel fuller, more satisfied and I would expect them

to have better stamina and energy as they go through their morning.

A cooked breakfast has got a lot less sugar

than Oscar's regular cereal, and for Tilly, who is normally

used to nothing for breakfast, it has immediately given her a boost.

If we didn't have a breakfast this morning,

I'd probably be starving now.

but because I've had a full English, I just feel fine

and I don't feel hungry and I feel I've got energy for the rest of the day.

After 40 minutes, I would say I felt more energised

and ready to go home and wash their school uniforms.

The protein in the meat and eggs is great fuel for the family

but there is more good stuff on the plate as well.

There's wholemeal bread on this breakfast, putting in the vitamins,

minerals and fibre. The tomatoes, obviously great,

full of important antioxidants like lycopene.

Eggs bring us sources of iron and vitamins and minerals.

And presumably scrambled egg better than a fried egg?

Yes, or a poached egg would probably be even better.

Grilling the meat and cutting off any extra fat would also make

this breakfast better, but Yvonne would go one step further

and swap the bacon and sausage for vegetarian alternatives

which would be lower in fat and salt.

She'd also add some more protein-packed extras

like baked beans or mushrooms.

Back in Liverpool, it is day two

and our second box has arrived.

Let's have a little look in here.

-Oh!

-THEY LAUGH

Well, yous are made up.

Today's choice is the nation's preferred start to the day -

cereal - and Yvonne has chosen Oscar's favourite -

honey and nut coated flakes.

-You'd eat that, wouldn't you?

-Yeah.

Almost two-thirds of people who eat breakfast choose cereal,

but mum Mandy is not impressed.

I just think it is non-descript, it is like having sweets.

-What about you, Oscar, do you feel full?

-Yeah.

Neither Mandy nor Tilly are won over,

even though Tilly wouldn't normally have any breakfast at all.

After my brekky this morning, I feel just the same really,

I don't really feel much different.

It's not my chosen breakfast because it's too sugary

and I am not used eating cereal at all.

The reason Mandy hates the cereal is probably why Oscar loves it.

It is sweet. So sweet in fact that his favourite brand

contains more than 11g of sugar in a portion

and that is more than a third of a standard 30g serving.

Trouble is, one study found that most of us

put far more than 30g of cereal into the bowl

and that means we are probably eating more sugar than we realise.

A lot of the cereals that we get in, they are really refined,

they are really processed and they have been loaded with sugar.

There is not a lot of inherent flavour left in them

so they have to add a lot of sugar in to make them taste nice

and sometimes quite a lot of salt as well, actually.

This kind of breakfast might impact our mood, our energy levels

and affect the types of food we eat later on in the day.

It is not a breakfast that Yvonne would recommend.

If we fill up on sugary cereal first thing,

our blood sugar is going to go high,

we are going to release the sugar storage hormone insulin,

it's going to drop our blood sugar down, we are going to be irritable,

we might be feeling more emotional, we might be feeling that we are

craving more sugar and more things to pick that blood sugar back up

again and that, over time, can lead to us producing too much body fat

and it can lead to obesity and diabetes.

So, what is your advice generally in doing the best for yourself

and your children in terms of cereal?

Get used to how to read a label because on the back of that label,

it will tell you how much sugar there is in there

and that is the part that says carbohydrates, of which sugars.

So when we had a look, we found that the cereals ranged between

about 6% sugar and about 37% sugar.

-And what should it be?

-If we can get a cereal that is about 10% sugar

and even more, ideally, choose a wholegrain cereal,

one where you haven't had the natural nutrients processed out.

Look for a cereal that has some nuts, that has some seeds

and has some things in there that are going to add some protein

and add some good fats and help us to digest that more slowly.

They help to keep our blood sugar levels more balanced throughout

the day, so our blood sugar isn't fluctuating up and down, making us

hungry and irritable and wanting more sugar to keep us going.

It's halfway through the Meegans' breakfast experiment.

They have two mornings to go, but on one of them,

they can expect a big surprise.

We'll find out exactly what that is later on in the programme.

How many times a day do you have a meal?

Well, for generations,

we've been told to eat three square meals every day.

Two relatively small ones and a big main meal

and it is something the overwhelming majority of us still stick to today.

I mean, I know I do.

We have our main meal in the evening but I know that we eat too late.

All that traffic, getting home, it is eight, half past eight

-and that's not good.

-But it seems a case of old habits may not always be

the best ones, so we are going to put that to the test.

Most of the time, I still stick to the three meals a day

I was brought up on, but that is not how everyone does it.

Could I ask you, how many meals do you eat a day?

-Meals a day? Oh, five.

-Five meals a day?

-Yes.

-Three.

-Three?

-And that's your traditional breakfast, lunch and dinner?

-Yup.

-And is that...?

-I'm the same. I cook them for him...

-You cook them, so...

THEY LAUGH

-One.

-One?

-One main meal, yeah.

-OK. Which meal's that?

-Evening.

-So, you have lots of smaller meals throughout the day?

-Yes.

-So, you get most of your calories from one main meal?

-Yep.

-OK, that's very good, and why is that?

-Cos I'll get fat.

If the headlines are to be believed,

any number other than three seems to be the way forward.

From one or two big meals a day to six or even nine small ones,

each has been claimed to be better for us

than we've traditionally been told.

So what is the truth about how often we should eat?

Well, with the help of nutritionist, Ian Marber,

we have set up an experiment to see what effect

three very different eating patterns will have on our volunteers.

Mitch, Chloe and Matt all work together

at this call centre in Leeds.

Matt is going to eat just one large meal in the middle of the day,

Chloe will spread her normal daily calories over six meals

and Mitch will stick to the traditional three meals a day.

-I'm quite happy with three square meals.

-I know, it's your normal day.

-Yeah.

-I'll just watch you, enviously.

CHLOE LAUGHS

Ian and I will be keeping a careful watch on all three

to see how their mealtimes impact on them,

not just physically, but mentally, too.

There are two issues here. First, there is the emotional response

and there's the physiological response and the emotional response

-of watching other people eat is that you want something to eat.

-Yeah.

It may be that Matt doesn't normally eat something till lunchtime

anyway, but of course, human nature is, the moment you're told

you can't have something, you want it, that is the way we're built.

8am and it is time for breakfast.

Mitch is about to tuck in to his first of three meals -

a bacon butty.

Chloe is kicking off her six-meal plan with a plate of scrambled eggs

and an apple.

But the only thing on Matt's menu is a rather uninspiring glass of water.

Right, let's tuck in, Mitch. Sorry, Matt!

CHLOE LAUGHS

So, Mitch and Chloe have got a fairly hearty breakfast,

-haven't they?

-Yes. Scrambled eggs...

So, of course, she's got protein

and protein breaks down quite slowly into glucose

-so I would expect that to give her energy for two or three hours.

-OK.

So, in fact, she would probably be feeling quite normal

and quite sort of powered up.

But Matt hasn't eaten yet today and by mid-morning, he's feeling tired.

His glucose levels will be fairly low.

Physiologically, he'll be feeling one thing,

psychologically, he'll probably be feeling quite deprived.

Chloe however is on six meals a day.

That is very different from her regular eating pattern

and her body is not yet telling her it is ready for the next meal.

She's just about to eat again, she's not actually hungry,

nor really looking forward or wanting to eat again.

If that sort of normal?

From a physiological perspective, entirely normal,

to be expected, but had she had a huge bowl of processed cereal

and a cup of caffeinated coffee with sugar in it, for instance,

the energy may have had similar calories,

the energy it created would have run out very quickly,

simply because they are simple carbohydrates.

It's 11 o'clock in the call centre

and time for Chloe's second meal.

Meanwhile, Mitch is a little peckish but his energy levels are OK.

Poor Matt, though, he has only had that glass of water

and he's feeling really hungry and rather sluggish.

It's not long.

-Not long to lunch.

-It is quite long.

It's not long. I need to tell myself it's not long.

Mind over matter.

Matt's one-meal diet may sound extreme

but in fact in Roman times, it was pretty much the norm.

And in many European countries today,

it's still the case that the largest meal of the day

is at lunchtime with a lighter one in the evening.

Research has shown that this approach can help lower

your blood sugar and cholesterol and help you lose weight.

But for Matt, who is running on empty, waiting for his one and only

lunchtime meal is really taking its toll.

I'm really hungry now and I'm now really tired

and a bit foggy headed.

It's finally lunchtime and Matt's only meal of the day is a whopper.

It's roughly the same amount he'd normally get through in a day

and is made up of the kind of foods he likes to eat.

The big difference of course is that today, they are all in one sitting.

Oh, wow, Matt.

Oh, yes.

THEY LAUGH

I went into this quite arrogantly

but this is going to be a bit of a challenge.

You reckon you can eat everything, don't you? I don't think you can.

-I can definitely...

-What are you going to start with, Matt?

THEY LAUGH

-Enjoy.

-Yeah, let's go.

Chloe is struggling to face eating again

just two hours after her last small meal.

I'm not overly hungry, so even this is over-facing me a little bit,

so that would... I just don't think I could do it.

Matt has a huge pile of food to get through.

In fact, an hour later,

while the others are back at their desks, he is still eating.

I am slowing down much more than I thought I would.

When I first saw it, cos I hadn't eaten the whole day,

I thought I'd easily be able to eat it all,

but I'm starting to struggle now.

We have all skipped breakfast at one stage or another

but certainly wouldn't necessarily sit down

to that enormous amount of food in one go.

And of course, he will have had quite a lot of carbohydrates,

quite a lot of everything, actually, and I suspect afterwards,

he will feel unusually tired, for two reasons.

First of all, the digestive system is working hard,

using up a lot of energy,

and also, he has been running on adrenaline, so effectively,

those adrenal glands will switch off

and so he doesn't have that extra kick, as it were,

and he will begin to relax

and probably find it quite difficult to concentrate.

While Matt struggles to cope

after his one and only massive meal of the day,

Chloe, on her six small meals, is doing rather well.

Chloe's body, by the way,

is actually going to be nicely regulated throughout the day.

That's what I expect, because eating little and often means

you've got glucose being created, which makes energy,

then as soon as the glucose starts to run out

and your blood glucose levels come down, she is going to be

eating again so she will probably make a better food decision.

So, as Chloe gets ready to eat her fourth meal,

Matt has hit a wall and has gone for a lie down.

And that's as you'd expect, isn't it? He's overloaded his body.

He's overloaded, yes, and simply, his lack of energy is simply

because his digestive system is taking up a lot of energy

and leaving less for him.

It's six o'clock and as the workday draws to an end,

Matt is still recovering from his feast.

Chloe is getting ready for meal number five

and Mitch is preparing for his main meal of the day.

He has got soup and chicken with vegetables and dressing.

So I guess this one's mine then.

Yeah, and no guessing which one's Matt's.

Another exciting meal.

This is Mitch's last meal of the day, so hopefully,

it will be enough to see him through.

With the working day over, our volunteers go home

and eight hours after his only meal,

Matt is having a surprising reaction to his lunchtime feast.

I felt fine all evening, I've had no cravings, and surprisingly,

I think I like this diet more as the day has gone on.

So, it was a big effort at lunch,

it was a big effort in the morning to not eat anything

but now I feel normal, I think it's worked out OK over the whole day.

I could get used to it.

Mitch is feeling good, too,

although he has had less of a change from his normal routine.

I'm still feeling quite energetic, not feeling tired,

usually feel a bit more tired at this point in the day.

Erm, I'm definitely not hungry

and have not been tempted to eat anything.

There are lots of conflicting claims about when is best to eat

but it is generally believed that eating a big meal

just before bed means the body is more likely to store

calories as fat rather than burn it off as energy.

Having your biggest meal at lunchtime

and something lighter in the evening has the opposite effect

and like Chloe's six-meal plan,

has been shown to help weight loss, too,

probably because, as Chloe is discovering, it keeps you full.

It's time for her sixth and final meal of the day.

I'm not really hungry, I was sort of relaxed on the sofa,

I don't usually eat at this time so I am not used to it.

Erm, but I'm going to eat it anyway.

While eating so often was a struggle for Chloe, she was never hungry,

so you could say she fared the best in today's experiment.

Maybe that is because her mini mealtimes perhaps came closest

to what many experts do recommend.

Breakfast within an hour of getting up,

lunch three to four hours later,

then a mid-afternoon snack,

dinner around six to avoid overloading your body before bed

and finally, a late snack to keep you full.

But while three meals and two healthy snacks

might generally be considered the best approach,

Ian says there is no need to get too hung up on exactly

how many meals you split your daily calories into.

What has happened is that the human body is very adaptable

and so if they were to continue this experiment for weeks and weeks

and weeks, so eat once a day, three times a day,

five or six times a day,

the metabolism adapts and what will happen over a period of time

is that you begin to become very used to what you are doing.

They all took positives and negatives from it, really.

-Mitch being probably the least affected, but...

-Yes.

-..there were

certainly very interesting parts of all three of them.

I wouldn't want to be Matt, though. Couldn't do one a day.

Do you know at what time of day your metabolism is most efficient?

If you are an early riser, you might need a big breakfast

or if you are a night owl,

studies show it may be better for you to have a large lunch.

Go to bbc.co.uk/food

to take our test to find out what is right for you.

Still to come...

we find out if the Meegans are any closer to proving

whether breakfast really is the most important meal of the day.

Oh, God.

That looks disgusting.

That is ridiculous.

And we get to the bottom of warnings about the safety

of some of the cooking oils we use every day.

But first...

The best way to cook your food has been debated for centuries

and I can't see that changing any time soon.

-How are you?

-Very well, Joe, how are you?

But even as a fruit and veg trader, I hadn't fully appreciated

what an amazing difference the cooking method you choose

can make to the amount of goodness you get when you eat it.

Take for instance, one of my bestsellers - the simple carrot.

Could I ask you, how would you cook this?

Oh...

-generally, boil it.

-Steam it.

I might peel it, chop it into small bits

and braise it in the oven with a lot of butter.

-I have got a carrot here...

-Mm-hmm.

-How would you cook that?

-Erm, I'd boil it or roast it.

-You'd give it to her!

I would cook that whole,

I would boil it for about ten minutes then roast it whole.

-Oh, would you?

-Yeah.

-Very good.

Olive oil, maybe rapeseed oil.

-A bit of thyme and garlic. Delicious.

-Very nice.

Sounds delicious. Do you think that is the healthiest way to cook it?

No, it's not, but it's delicious.

Do you think that is the healthiest way to cook it?

-Erm, probably steaming it would be the healthiest.

-Yeah.

-Steam it.

-Steam it?

-If you were cooking, yeah.

-OK.

-Microwave? In the microwave?

-Microwave. Yeah, maybe.

-Posh, she is. Steam.

-Steam? Steam?

I'd probably go for the steaming option, too.

But as always, there is no shortage of conflicting headlines

telling us which way is apparently the best to cook our veg.

Some claiming a particular method would kill all the nutrients.

Others insisting it would give you more.

So to try and settle this properly, we are going to put it to the test.

We have called in the help of Professor Graham Bonwick

and his team at the University of Chester's Food Centre.

They are going to steam, stir-fry, boil and microwave

a bunch of carrots,

testing the level of vitamin C inside before and after cooking

to see which method keeps those vitamins most intact.

Of course, carrots contain a lot more goodness than just vitamin C,

but because heat kills vitamin C very quickly, its levels will drop

more than anything else during cooking, which makes this

an ideal test to measure the impact different cooking methods can have.

Because of the heating involved,

they'll all have some sort of effect on the nutrients within the carrots.

Typically, I think we would expect to see losses in the levels

of nutrients within something like carrots and those losses would

probably range between about 25% and 40% of what was there originally.

To lock in more of those vitamins,

here is a tip you probably never knew.

Before you even start cooking your carrots,

keep an eye on how thin you slice them.

Although you will cook faster with smaller pieces, potentially,

because they have a bigger surface area

and a greater likelihood of contact with air, that will actually

speed up and breakdown of some of the nutrients,

particularly vitamin C, so it is usually recommended

that if you want to preserve nutrients,

you don't chop up your veg into very small pieces.

So, cooking carrots whole and then slicing them

will preserve more vitamin C than slicing before you cook.

I'll bet that's not the way most of us usually do it.

And the same applies for other veg, too.

You can steam cauliflower florets and broccoli florets,

that sort of thing, fairly whole, so again,

that reduces the impact on them.

While it is inevitable that our carrots will lose some of

their vitamin content, whichever way they are cooked, an obvious way to

guarantee you will get 100% of that vitamin C is to eat them raw.

But that way, you will miss out on some other goodies,

because it is only during cooking that carrots release

an important antioxidant called lycopene,

which has been associated with reduced risk of some cancers,

so cooked carrots have a real extra benefit.

And in fact, quite a few veg, including peppers,

cabbage and asparagus, turn out to be better cooked because again,

that is when some of the antioxidants and nutrients are unlocked.

The same is true for spinach.

Eat it raw and you will get more B vitamins, vitamin C and potassium

but the leaves contain an acid that actively stops some other nutrients

being absorbed by the body.

The cooking process kills that acid,

letting you get more of the goodness.

Back at the lab,

Graham and his team have finished their carrot cooking test.

There was a clear winner

when it came to which one of the four methods kept in

the most vitamin C, and it wasn't the one I was expecting.

The winner is stir-frying.

That has preserved most of the vitamins and minerals

within the carrots, because you tend to cook it very quickly

and the overall effect on the food is reduced.

Stir-frying preserved a whopping 89.8% of the carrots' vitamin C.

Steaming was the next most effective

but it was way behind with just 42.9%.

Next came boiling,

after which 41.2% of the vitamin C was left.

Then finally, the microwave,

which on this occasion, kept only 25.3% of the vitamin C in place.

That was a real surprise to me,

as there is plenty of other research suggesting

microwaves are better for preserving nutrients than methods like boiling,

as you will typically have a shorter cooking time and use less water.

Not only that,

but microwaves are very efficient in breaking down the cell walls

of the veg, meaning some of those other vital nutrients

are more easily released.

But as for that great result for the stir-fried veg, well, it seems

that is no fluke as earlier this year, a new study led to headlines

declaring that frying is a better way to lock in nutrients

than boiling.

Although, of course, then comes the question of which oil to use.

And as we will see later in the programme,

that opens up a whole new can of worms.

Earlier in the programme, we left the Meegan family

from Liverpool halfway through their experiment to find out

whether breakfast really is the most important meal of the day,

and if so, which is the best breakfast?

Well, I was delighted to see confirmation that a cooked breakfast

can be really healthy.

My old mum would be saying, "See? Told you so."

But let's find out if the same can be said

for some other popular choices.

With some studies suggesting that breakfast

isn't all it's cracked up to be,

we've asked the Meegan family to help us find out once and for all

if breakfast truly does give you the best start to the day.

We have eaten everything here except that one piece of toast.

They are road testing a bunch of breakfasts

to see how each makes them feel.

They all loved the full English

but the sugary cereal did not go down too well with mum Mandy

and 11-year-old Tilly,

even though it was Oscar's favourite.

It just is non-descript, it's like having sweets.

Now, it's day three.

-THEY ALL GROAN

-Oh, God.

-What is it, porridge?

-No, it's...

-That looks disgusting.

-This...

It's ridiculous.

It's actually granola.

And it's definitely not a hit with the Meegans.

This takes me ages to chew.

But it's too sweet for me. It's too sugary.

It is quite healthy. You know, it's healthy.

It's easy to see why Tilly might think that the granola is healthy.

The oats in it are full of fibre, vitamins and minerals

and the nuts and seeds are packed with protein and good fats.

But is it any better than Oscar's favourite cereal,

or, indeed, the full English breakfast?

We asked customers in this cafe to tell us

which of our three breakfasts so far is the healthiest.

So here we have the granola, with a little bit of yoghurt.

We have the full English here.

And then this is just sugary cereal.

Which do you think is the most healthy here?

Well, my preference would be the granola

and that is what I would have.

-You would have that every day?

-Yes.

I think the fried, because that's what we're hearing now.

You know, that eggs are good for you, that bacon...

..is good and you have the tomato.

Which one do you think is the most healthy?

Er, well, obviously...

-I would go with the granola, but I think it's a trick.

-Right.

-I don't trick anybody.

-No! I'm not saying you do trick.

LAUGHTER

Overall, most believe that the granola has the fewest calories.

But is that really the case?

-Looking at the calorie intake...

-OK.

-Yeah.

..this one had...

402 calories in that portion.

-OK?

-OK.

The fried has got...

416.

-But the granola is the worst, in terms of calories.

-Oh, my goodness.

It's got 463.

Wow!

The granola, which you think is the most healthy,

is 463 calories.

-Really?

-So the highest calories of all three. Cor!

That looks so much better, doesn't it?

LAUGHTER

In terms of calories,

the cooked breakfast is the best of these three by far.

And while you might assume that granola is a healthy choice,

that's not always the case.

I don't think we can go to a shop

and pick up a packet of granola off the shelf

and make the assumption that that's going to be healthy.

And that's down to one crucial ingredient.

One of the things about a granola is that it's crunchy

and, to make it crunchy, they are putting sugar in that

that they are going to then bake and give it that lovely texture.

So we should look at the carbohydrates of which sugars

on the back of the packet and choose one which is lower sugar.

But take the sugar away

and Yvonne says you would be left with a healthy breakfast.

The oats are going to be good for us,

because oats are going to help us to have a good store of vitamins

and minerals and fibre that reduces cholesterol as well.

So the oats are a great start

and then there are the nuts and the seeds.

The nuts and the seeds, of course, are going to bring us protein

and they are fatty, so they are going to be calorific,

but they're bringing us good fats.

If you love the crunch of granola, but not the sugar,

Yvonne suggests adding some rolled oats to the bag

to make the sweetness go further.

Meanwhile, back in Liverpool,

the granola hasn't left Mandy feeling ready for a busy day.

I don't feel particularly energised.

I feel a bit sluggish, if I'm honest.

But at school, Tilly who normally doesn't eat at all in the morning

has found that the breakfast so far is starting to change her mind.

When I have breakfast, I do feel more like I have energy,

because I'm more full up as well.

So I'm not thinking about food as much

and I can go on the day without eating any snacks at all, really.

It's the final day of our breakfast experiment.

And there's an unexpected twist for the family.

You open.

-ALL:

-Oh!

Nothing.

What's going on?

I actually want some breakfast now. I'm starving now.

-Now there's nothing there.

-LAUGHTER

Uh-oh, Yvonne has sent the box empty, to compare how different

the family would feel about eating nothing at all.

And, although that used to be the norm for Tilly,

after just three days, she's been won over.

I feel a bit disappointed, cos I was expecting something to eat.

So I think I am going to be a bit hungry throughout the day

and I'm going to have less energy as well.

And, to Yvonne, that's no surprise.

While there are studies suggesting that skipping breakfast may not

significantly impact the body's metabolism,

or even help weight loss, Yvonne firmly believes that feeling hungry

all morning will have a negative impact on your general well-being.

We know how it feels if we don't have breakfast,

that it doesn't feel so good.

It does seem some people can get away with it more than others.

We are all different in our genetic make-up.

But science is telling us that, no, it's not a good thing.

There was an interesting study in America and it didn't prove

that breakfast was the most important meal of the day,

but I think what it did show, in terms of our whole health,

is that people who eat breakfast were the healthier people.

And it's not just our bodies that benefit.

Our brains do as well.

Our energy supply

and whether our energy is fluctuating up and down

really affects our mental performance.

So when our blood sugar is low, we get more forgetful,

we can't concentrate as well, we get more irritable.

So our mind is very closely...

Cos it needs fuelling, just like the rest of the body.

Our mind is very closely linked to our blood sugar levels

and what we're really looking for is stability throughout the day.

And after having no breakfast,

that's something Tilly certainly didn't feel.

After having no breakfast this morning,

I felt more hungry in school and in lesson time, I was just hungry.

So I was thinking more about food than I was with lessons.

With the experiment over, Yvonne has come to see

which was the family's favourite breakfast overall.

For me, the breakfast, the cereals have not gone well for me

cos I'm not a cereal person.

And what about for you, Tilly? How did that go?

I've enjoyed having breakfast, but because I'm going to school,

I don't really have time for breakfast.

So I've enjoyed having breakfast of a morning.

And what about the full English? How did that go for you?

What was good about that?

I just felt fuller. Like usually, of a morning,

I don't get full until, like, lunchtime.

So that's really quick!

-That you have seen the benefits of having breakfast.

-Yeah.

-And how about you, Oscar?

-Um...

My favourite breakfast was the full English breakfast.

The Meegans loved it.

And whilst a full-on meaty fry-up should not be a daily choice,

a grilled breakfast with some healthy substitutes

doesn't have to be just an occasional treat.

But if a cooked breakfast is just too much faff for you,

the morning meal most experts swear by is porridge.

It's super-nutritious and studies have even shown that whole grains

like oats can reduce your risk of fatal heart conditions.

Adding fruits, nuts and seeds can bring extra vitamins and fibre

but be very careful with sweet toppings like honey,

which can trigger blood sugar ups and downs.

Another healthy choice is a simple boiled egg,

which is packed with protein, fats and essential amino acids.

Add in some wholemeal soldiers as well to dip

and the fibre makes it more filling.

But what's the healthiest breakfast of all?

Well, of course, it's the one nutritionists eat.

What do you have for breakfast?

I might have a boiled egg, mashed up onto some rye toast

with some sun-dried tomato paste and a handful of spinach.

If I've got time, then I probably have a cooked breakfast

but probably with asparagus - I love asparagus at breakfast.

Three months on and a full English

is firmly on the Meegans' weekend breakfast menu.

And in the week, while Tilly still finds it hard

to find the time for breakfast before she leaves the house,

Mandy is at least able to encourage her to take a banana

to eat on the way to school,

while she tucks in to her much-loved smoothies.

If you firmly believe breakfast is the most important meal of the day,

and you're looking for new ideas for a healthy breakfast, go to...

..for fresh and easy recipes to start your day.

From bacon and eggs to crumpets and pancakes,

you'll find delicious and healthy alternatives to get you going.

Now, long championed by celebrity chefs,

olive oil was supposed to be our healthy friend in the kitchen.

And, finally, some more olive oil...

Can't have enough olive oil in this dish.

As a dressing on salads or to cook with,

we were told that if we used olive oil,

then at least we were doing something right.

But, in recent years, some reports have questioned

whether cooking with olive oil is such a good idea.

And, indeed, made us wonder

whether we should be using any sort of oil to cook with at all.

What oil do you cook with?

Um...probably olive oil most of the time.

Olive oil? OK.

And do you think that's the best oil to cook with?

It's better than vegetable oil.

It's always one of the ones that's in my recipe books,

-so that is probably why I pick it!

-It's better than lard.

I think butter's probably the healthiest, actually.

-Rapeseed oil.

-OK, and why is that?

Because it has been advertised as being good

and it's supposed to be good for heating.

Better than olive oil, if you use a little bit to cook with.

Olive oil most commonly

or sometimes sunflower oil if you don't want the flavour

or groundnut oil if we are doing stir-fries or something.

And butter!

So who's right?

We asked nutritionist Linia Patel

to help clarify which oils to put in your pan.

There's lots of confusion around what types of oils

you should use for cooking.

Very commonly, people think that olive oil is really good for them,

so they tend to use olive oil in all their cooking.

Now, when cooking oils get hot, they start to smoke,

although at what temperature that happens

depends on which type of oil you're using.

Heat continuously beyond that smoke point,

and the chemical make-up of some oils can change.

In a way that, again, depending on the oil,

can create fats that aren't good for us.

Some fats are bad fats that we don't want to be having in our bodies

because we can't get rid of those fats.

Lurid headlines may suggest olive oil is among the oils

producing those fats but that has been furiously dismissed by many,

including the industry itself.

The consensus seems to be that what is most likely to be affected

if you cook it too high is the nutrients and taste.

And it certainly shouldn't be singled out as being dangerous.

As for other oils,

the general advice is not to heat any beyond its smoking point.

So which oils should we be using?

There so many things out there,

so it's not surprising at all that people are getting confused.

Now, what we've got to remember is that there's not one product

that's going to be your miracle cure.

While there isn't a single one that does the job for everything,

if you're frying at a high temperature,

choose an oil with a high smoke point.

Linia recommends rapeseed oil and peanut oil.

For stir-fries, again try rapeseed oil or canola oil.

Both of which get very hot before they start smoking.

Sunflower oil isn't so good because of its low smoke point.

Or you could occasionally forget oil entirely

and go for two old favourites.

You have things like butter and you have things like lard,

which people think is forbidden to cook with

but, actually, we now know that it's not as bad

to make our roast potatoes in some butter or lard at the weekends.

But while we're debunking scare stories to do with cooking,

there's one more very alarming myth we should bust.

The headlines will tell you

it's the most dangerous way of cooking imaginable,

and it happens not in the kitchen, but in the garden.

Yes, every year, we're told that barbecues are apparently bad for us.

VERY bad for us.

And however often that story's knocked down,

it resurfaces every single summer.

We found it going back decades, but before you bin your barbie,

we asked Linia to put this one into perspective.

So we occasionally get headlines that tell us

we shouldn't be having barbecues because they also cause cancer,

but what we have got to remember is it's not quite that simple.

There are two apparent risks with barbecues.

Firstly, if animal fat falls onto the extremely hot coals,

the smoke it may turn into can contain harmful chemicals,

some of which have been linked to cancer.

If that smoke then touches the meat, it can contaminate it.

To avoid this, marinating the meat first can help protect it.

The second risk is when you burn your food,

which can also produce chemicals that have been linked to cancer.

But the great British weather simply doesn't allow for us

to barbecue and burn meat often enough

for the risk to be anything to worry about.

So there's no need to cancel the Bavin summer barbecue just yet.

There's always time to have a barbecue

and you should not be avoiding having a barbecue.

And, in any case, Linia says any story focusing on just one aspect

of our diet needs to be put very firmly into perspective.

It's not about that one food increases your risk of cancer,

it's about the bigger picture.

It's about the fact that you are eating processed food overall,

you are overweight, you are not exercising.

That in itself is a much higher risk of cancer

than just simply, you know, having a barbecue

where you eat some blackened meat once in a while.

Whether it's in the newspapers or online,

it really is the case that every day brings new advice

on what we should eat and what we should avoid.

And, you know, while a lot of that stuff

really is valuable information that can keep us healthy,

there are times when you can't help wondering

if some of those reports have been deliberately written

just to scare us off.

I know. Just like that story about barbecued meat giving you cancer -

completely blown out of proportion,

yet the papers roll it out every summer.

Well, I'd like to think that most of us

do see through the more scaremongering headlines,

but the trouble is that - and this really is a problem -

when we see stories like that particular one,

it can make you more sceptical

about reports that could have a genuine health message as well.

That is the problem. We are bombarded with so much information,

we don't know what's right and what's wrong.

Well, hopefully today, we have been able to clarify

at least some of the confusion around the things we are eating

and given you a few useful tips for when you're cooking it as well.

There's more on some of the topics

we're talking about throughout the series at...

But I'm afraid that all from us now.

Thank you very much for watching. Goodbye.

Good to have you with us, Bye-bye.