The most important meal of the day. The food choice that sets the vibe for the next 12 hours of your life. The best reason to wake up in the morning. Breakfast: the thing I have not been able to get right for the last 10 years.

There must have been a time where I ate breakfast. I'm sure of it. Back during the years when my mom ran my life and I could eat Toaster Strudel with very little consequence. Those days ended around sophomore year of high school. I'm not totally sure where the bottom fell out, but now it's 2018 and I can't remember a time where I consumed anything besides coffee and a splash of milk before noontime.

This does not bother me! I feel just fine. But apparently I'm not fine; apparently this is a terrible habit to have established over the years. Or at least so says Kristina Holey, holistic facialist and skin/gut health genius. When I saw her about a year ago, she assessed me, mind, body, and spirit, and declared that the root of my problem was digestion, and the root of my digestion problem was the fact that I refuse to eat breakfast. I'm inclined to believe her.

In the almost 365 days since Kristina suggested this to me, I really meant to try. Swear on my life. But I just can't find something that suits me in the morning. Energy bars are uninspiring; eggs require too much early morning work; smoothies make my dish-doing anxieties rise. So what else is there? What would you recommend? Lay it on me—Kristina's faith in my conviction is riding on it.

—Emily Ferber