You often hear people say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but what are the reasons behind that statement? Many people skip breakfast or substitute coffee simply because they don’t have time to eat properly due to the rush to get to work in the morning. So it’s important to get a real understanding of how skipping breakfast can affect your health but also your weight.
What do you mean? How can skipping breakfast affect my weight? I’m eating less food so I guess it will help me lose weight right? Not quite!
Skipping a major meal like breakfast, let alone any meal, will actually slow down your metabolism. When the body doesn’t get enough food, it goes into starvation mode, which slows metabolism and therefore lowers energy levels. The best way to maintain a healthy weight is to keep your food supply at a steady rate. Don’t eat a massive breakfast, but eat a meal that gives you enough energy to get through much of the morning. You may need to snack a little later in the morning to keep your metabolism running at a steady level until lunchtime. This is the smart way to control food intake.
If you don’t maintain a stable metabolism, by meal time you’ll be hungry and tend to overeat. When you have too much food at one time, your body can’t use it all and will convert the excess food to fat and store it in your hips, stomach, legs, or other area where you may or may not want fat. The key point here is that smaller meals eaten more frequently are a good tactic for weight control. It keeps your hunger in check and keeps your metabolism running at an optimal level.
You may think that sleeping is a lazy activity, but your body is working on repairing muscles and nerves and also working on detoxification and expelling waste from cells. That is why it is necessary to eat to replenish the energy that has been used during the night.
You can also lose a lot of water overnight, so it’s important to replenish those fluids with water (not coffee). Freshly squeezed orange juice is ideal, but drink it quickly to get the most out of the enzymes in that juice. Remember, the body is largely made up of water and needs at least 2 liters a day to function properly.
Breakfast is a start, but what do you have for breakfast? You can forget about 90% of the available breakfast cereals. These are highly processed foods full of sugar and refined carbohydrates that quickly turn into sugar in the bloodstream. These types of foods will gain weight and also give a quick dose of energy and then energy levels will plummet. Breakfast should contain complex carbohydrates, protein, and unsaturated fat. These will maintain a steady release of energy throughout the morning.