You’ve heard it a thousand times: Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper.

Well, bully for the king. It’s not exactly like he’s whipping up his own eggs, making lunches, getting children dressed, feeding the dog and flirting with a nervous breakdown while Barney sings in the background.

Wake up and smell the coffee: Breakfast might be the most important meal of the day, but it can be the hardest to do right. Mornings are hectic, and when we settle for breakfast on the run, nutrition often isn’t the first consideration.

But it should be.

First, the basics.

Throughout the day we typically eat every three hours or so. Breakfast at 7, a snack at 10, lunch at 12:30, a snack at 3 and dinner at 6:30. If you don’t have a nighttime snack, it’ll be 12 hours before you eat again. Come morning, your body craves fuel to “break the fast.”

“It kick-starts your metabolism,” said Ashley Hofeditz, a registered dietitian who is the spokesman for the Memphis District Dietetic Association in Tennessee.

And since a revved-up metabolism is weight-loss gold, you certainly don’t want to skip breakfast if you’re trying to lose weight.

Double trouble

That doesn’t mean you can eat just anything you want. The most important meal of the day can very quickly become the most disastrous meal of the day if you’re not careful.

You can’t, for instance, decide to swing by Burger King and spring for a Double Croissanwich with double sausage, unless you’re willing to consume 63 grams of fat. This sandwich contains 770 calories, 570 of those from fat.

In perspective, you could slather something with 16 pats of butter for the same amount of fat. Or eat five Krispy Kreme doughnuts (12 grams of fat each, 200 calories).

But since you already know better than to eat a double-meat anything, let’s look at something more reasonable.

Take a few extra minutes and run into Perkins for a muffin. Banana nut sounds healthy.

Or maybe not.

It’s going to set you back 586 calories and 29 grams of fat. Better, but still not good. And when you’re there, for the love of Pete don’t change your mind and decide to order Granny’s Country Omelet, which with the accompanying hash browns will set you back 1,245 calories and 89 grams of fat.

Ouch! (And since it comes with a side item, you could even add pancakes!)

These are just examples — similar offerings can be found almost anywhere breakfast is sold. But there are reasonable choices to be made.

Breakfast of champions

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, the folks who gave us the bad news about movie theater popcorn, says cereal is a good way to go. And you can order cereal at a restaurant.

Hofeditz says she’ll go out to breakfast with her family on weekends, but with the caveat that no one can harass her when she orders oatmeal.

“And if it’s a day when I think I’m not going to be able to resist temptation, I don’t go,” she said.

But breakfast at home — or even “deskfast” at work — is the way to go.

Hofeditz suggests cereals with at least 5 grams of fiber per serving and says you need to compare sugar grams among brands you like and go with the one with the fewest.

Look for cereals made with whole grains, and top your bowl with a little fruit or a handful of nuts. You’ll get carbohydrates and a little protein from the cereal (more if you choose protein-fortified varieties), protein and calcium from the milk, and fat, which will keep you feeling full longer, from the nuts.

But you don’t have to eat cereal every day. “You really want to have a mix of choices available,” she said.

Eggs are OK now and then, and Egg Beaters, with no fat or cholesterol, are a good choice.

Hofeditz scrambles them and puts them in low-carb tortillas, chosen because they’re high in fiber, for breakfast tortillas.

On-the-go ideas

But as the mother of two pre-schoolers, she also wants to offer treats, as long as they’re nutritious. Homemade waffles served with sugar-free syrup are an option in her house (but a Belgian waffle at a restaurant can top 900 calories, so watch out there).

On the go, carefully selected cereal bars (you want high fiber, low fat and low sugar) are easy. In a pinch, children can eat cereal stirred in a container of yogurt on the way to school. Whole-grain bagels spread with peanut butter or reduced-fat cream cheese are other on-the-run options.

Just be careful with bagels. Go for whole-grains, and consider the mini bagels made by companies like Sara Lee and Pepperidge Farm. Toasted whole-grain English muffins are a good choice. (Of course, you don’t have to limit yourself to breakfast foods. If your children eat a PB&J, the breakfast police will not take you away.)

And if you really want fast food, know how to choose. The pioneering Egg McMuffin at McDonald’s, with 290 calories and 11 grams of fat, is reasonable. Or choose a small yogurt parfait and an English muffin without butter. And lest Perkins thinks we’re picking on them, note that the low-fat versions of their bakery muffins are OK. The low-fat banana nut muffin has 330 calories and 3 grams of fat — 26 grams fewer than the regular one.

Egg Beaters are sometimes available in restaurants, and you can always have a breakfast sandwich made without the meat or the cheese and cut calories and fat your own way.

“Hey, they’re the ones who tell us we can do it,” Hofeditz said. “So tell them you want them to fix it your way.”

Nutty pumpkin waffles

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

2 teaspooons baking powder

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 large eggs, separated

1 3/4 cups milk

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

3/4 cup chopped nuts

Combine flour, sugar, cornstarch, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, ginger and nutmeg in large bowl. Combine egg yolks, milk and pumpkin in medium bowl; mix well. Add to flour mixture. Stir in butter. Beat egg whites in small mixer bowl until soft peaks form. Gently fold into pumpkin mixture. Preheat waffle iron according to manufacturer’s directions. Depending on size of waffle iron, pour 1/2 cup to 1 1/2 cups batter onto hot iron. Sprinkle with nuts. Bake from 4 to 5 minutes or until steaming stops. Repeat with remaining batter and nuts. Serve with Pumpkin Maple Sauce.

Note: Ashley Hofeditz, who submitted this recipe, mixes 1 cup of sugar-free syrup with 3/4 cup canned pumpkin and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon in a saucepan until warm and serves with the waffles.

Makes eight 7-inch waffles

Source: VeryBestBaking.com; Ashley Hofeditz, a registered dietitian and spokesman for the Memphis District Dietetic Assn.