If you’re like most Canadians chances are mornings are filled with fast paced menial, however necessary tasks. Wake up, hit the snooze button, wake up, hit snooze again, wake up, fly into the shower, get dressed, get the kids ready for school or finish that last bit of homework or put the finishing touches on that presentation for work. What about breakfast? Where and how does the first meal of the day fit into this schedule? Is it even scheduled at all? After reading this article I sincerely hope it has an impact on how you view your mornings and how different daily life can be by simply including a well balanced breakfast each and every morning.
What Is Breakfast Anyhow?
To be clear let’s go over the simple definition of “breakfast” to see why it’s so important. By definition, breakfast is the breaking of a fast from eating. The fast we do every night during sleep. What happens during this time is the body is conducting a bunch of unconscious and automatic processes to restore our bodies to their natural energy states. After 8 plus hours without food our brain and muscles lack the energy to function efficiently and this is mainly because our blood sugar levels are so low. So in order to restore our blood sugar levels to their normal states one must eat a healthy balanced meal within 1 hour of waking up. This is perhaps the most important part, eating breakfast as soon as we wake up or at least within the hour. This is when our bodies are the most receptive to nutrients and therefore will put them to their best use.
What Counts As Breakfast?
When I say breakfast I most certainly am not speaking of any of the quick fix breakfast options you can get at a local coffee shop, fast food chain, or even cereal. I am talking about the kind of breakfast that can set your whole day up on the right foot not the wrong foot. Breakfast should include a serving of all of the following: whole grains (steel cut oatmeal, granola), protein/healthy fats (eggs, greek yogurt, cottage cheese), vegetables (think colourful, throw them in an omelette), fruit (berries are best, apple, oranges, banana), and water for hydration.
5 Reasons Breakfast Is Very Important
If you make the conscious effort to eat a well-balanced breakfast and commit to it for the next month I can guarantee you the following will most certainly occur:
1 Eat Breakfast to Lose Weight
One of the greatest benefits of eating breakfast every morning is you can lose weight by doing so. Numerous studies have also shown that an increase in weight is commonly associated with skipping breakfast. The best part is, even if you eat too much or have something a little unhealthy, you still have the entire day to make up for it. Eating breakfast every morning is one of the easiest ways to lose weight and eat healthier.
2) Decrease in Cravings For Junk Food
According to research, skipping meals, especially breakfast, can actually make weight control more difficult. Breakfast skippers tend to eat more food than usual at the next meal or eat high-calorie snacks to stave off hunger. Several studies suggest that people tend to accumulate more body fat when they eat fewer, larger meals than when they eat the same number of calories in smaller, more frequent meals.
3) Better Mood
A healthy meal in the morning can help to regulate your blood sugar levels through lunch time, which plays a vital role in your mood. This is also why I recommend eating on a fixed schedule about every 2-3 hours in order to maintain blood sugar levels. This will greatly improve your mood as well as decrease your cravings.
4) It Revs up Your Metabolism
Eating breakfast is a great way to get your metabolism working well for the day. When you don’t eat breakfast in the morning, your body thinks that it needs to conserve the energy it has because it isn’t getting any more through nutrition. This actually slows your metabolism down, which results in a decrease in the amount of calories you burn all day long.
5) Better Focus and Concentration
When we eat, the nutrients and glucose travels to our brains allowing us to concentrate, focus, and be more productive. This is accomplished because our blood sugar levels have just been restored and we are able to focus on what needs to get done rather than where the next meal is going to come from.
This article was written in order to shed light how a simple 30 minute investment every morning can have a huge impact on your daily life. Nothing stated here was new, but rather the point was to make a statement that each one of our lives is greatly impacted by the choices we make every single morning. The question shouldn’t be “is breakfast important?”- you should be asking yourself “how can I make a commitment to improving my daily life?” The answer…breakfast.
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Adam
Adam