WORKERS across North Yorkshire are being urged to stop snacking and make time for a proper breakfast.

Cereal skippers generally feel more stressed, less energetic and tend to be fatter than people who start the day with a wholesome tuck in, experts warn.

The Home Grown Cereals Authority (HGCA), which has launched Farmhouse Breakfast Week, says more people are abandoning the breakfast table in favour of grabbing chocolate or crisps from a shop as they dash to work.

More than 14 million people regularly skip breakfast at home and more than half of all workers never eat it at all, the HGCA claims.

Professor Cary Cooper, president of International Stress Management Association, said: "If you start the day on the run you are adding to the stress load and failing to give your body the fuel it needs to cope.

"Spending a few minutes having a breakfast gives you space to plan and reflect about the day ahead, as well as spending quality time with your family."

Food From Britain spokeswoman Charlotte Lawson said: "A traditional British breakfast of sausages, bacon, egg, and toast is a real treat at the weekend and helps you escape the Monday to Friday routine."

Richard Jackson, owner of Holgate Caf, in Holgate Road, York, feeds scores of hungry workers with a traditional breakfast six-days-a-week.

He said: "A cooked breakfast gives you a good start to the day.

"If you are working it off then I don't see the problem with a big fry-up.

"Many workers I serve skip lunch in favour of a cooked breakfast."

HGCA spokeswoman Rebecca Geraghty said: "Today's pace of life means it is more important than ever to make time to eat and enjoy a good breakfast."

* Pupils from Hookstone Community Primary School took part in the breakfast week by watching sausages being made by national champion, David Lishman, at the Great Yorkshire Showground, Harrogate.

Updated: 11:02 Wednesday, January 23, 2002