Breakfast: Worth Caring About?
Breakfast: Worth Caring About?
The truth is that most people don't care about breakfast. Why should they? First of all, generally you aren't hungry in the morning, so go with it and save a few calories, right? Plus when you finally get into bed after a long day and you're reaching over to set the alarm for bright and early tomorrow, the last thing you want to do is set the time 15 minutes earlier just to eat a bowl of cereal, when you could get in a few extra z's! But did you know that just by getting up a few minutes earlier you could be actually helping yourself to lose weight, lower cholesterol and your chances of heart disease? Read on and you might think twice about the difference between getting-up at 6:15am vs. 6:00am.
To Eat or Not to Eat
When you wake-up in the morning, whether or not you are hungry, your body needs food. Breakfast is preemptive eating. It is important to view food as fueling your body, not your body fueling you. You wouldn't get in the car and expect to take a road trip on an empty tank, right? The same goes for you. Your body is your Ferrari and food your high-octane gas. If you don't eat, you are beginning the day in a deficit that your body naturally wants to make up. This leads to greater caloric consumption throughout the day. When you get to the office hungry, it can make that donut too tempting to refuse... Plus without breakfast by the time you get to lunch, you are starving and your stomach growls are not going to go away until you fill it to the brim! Also, when hunger strikes, your defenses fall making it difficult to choose a healthy salad over a hamburger and fries.
The Higher the Octane the Better!
In staying with our car/gas analogy, it is important to fill your tank with high-octane gas (like whole grains) and not cheap gas (like Trix). This can make the difference between feeling satiated for four hours vs. one hour. The reason why grains keep you fuller for longer is Fiber.
-Fiber ads bulk to your food so you eat more slowly (it takes 20 minutes for your brain to realize your stomach is full!).
-Fiber is not digested, thus it is not pushed through until all the rest of your food has been digested, and so you feel full while the fiber sits like a lump stomach.
-As fiber passes through the colon, it actually extracts cholesterol (and some fats), helping to eliminate them from your body (plus it cleanses the colon on its way out)! Fiber also regulates blood sugar levels so you don't have sudden drops in energy (very important for weight management).
The Eating Free Plan boasts eating high fiber cereals for breakfast with ground flaxseed (which is high in fiber), low fat/fat free milk or low fat/fat free soy milk and blueberries (also fiber packed). 1 bowl of the Eating Free Breakfast boasts 24g of fiber (people should eat around 25g-35g per day, see below for more Eating Free Plan breakfasts). A good source of fiber will provide at 2g of fiber per serving, and an excellent source will provide at least 5g per serving. If you are new to eating fiber, remember to introduce it slowly into your diet. It takes your stomach a little getting used to and drink plenty of water to help the fiber flow through. And remember; always choose "whole grain" breakfast cereals.
In reference to eggs... According to data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination people who ate eggs/meat regularly for breakfast were significantly more overweight than those who ate high fiber cereals/breads.
Spreading out the Calories
Then National Health and Nutrition Examination also studied the weight of people who ate 70% of their daily calories at breakfast and lunch, versus those who ate 70% of their daily calories between dinner and night snacking. They found that the people who eat at least two thirds of their calories before dinner had a much higher success rate of losing weight and keeping it off. Most Americans make dinner the biggest meal of the day. This unfortunately, can have very negative affects on weight-control. When you eat a large quantity of calories before bed, your body (knowing that its about to rest for 7 hours) stores the excess energy in your fat reserves for later use. Plus when you are sleeping your digestive system slows down and the food left in your stomach can cause heartburn or indigestion. This in turn can lead to lost sleep, making you groggy and low-energy the next day. The study concluded that it is best to eat breakfast like a king, eat lunch like a knight and eat dinner like a popper. This way you are giving your body the proper energy to function at its best throughout the day.
If You Still Aren't Convinced
Maybe you need a scientific reason. Let's get technical for a second. Ghrelin is a hormone that your stomach produces to stimulate hunger. As soon as you eat, the Ghrelin is absorbed, however, as soon as the last bit of food leaves your stomach the Ghrelin starts again. This is why it's important to snack throughout the day. If you don't eat, the Ghrelin accumulates in such large quantities that you feel "starved." But if you eat little bits of food throughout the day (as the Eating Free plan states: 3 meals and about 2 snacks), then you satisfy the Ghrelin and when it's time for a meal; you aren't inundated with this hunger hormone. As for breakfast... when you sleep, Ghrelin accumulates all night long. So, if you don't put something in your stomach within one hour of waking, the Ghrelin will continue to accumulate (since now you haven't satiated this little gremlin since dinner the night before...) making you much more likely to eat that mid-morning break room treat or an extra large lunch. Plus, if you don't give your body food at the proper intervals, your body begins to slow down (since it's running out of gas!) by decreasing your metabolism and without breakfast, you could have a sluggish, low-energy morning.
So, the moral of the story is to fuel your body with good food at the start of the day and you will be in for a great high-octane ride!
Created by: Kate Haisch, BA
References
1. Salomon, Sharon B. "Reverse Nutrition: Saving the Best (and Biggest) for First." Today's Dietician, July 2007: 49-51.
2. A Dictionary of Food and Nutrition. Copyright © 1995, 2003, 2005 by A. E. Bender and D. A. Bender. All rights reserved.
3. http://www.nih.gov/ (National Institutes of Health)
4. www.eatright.org (American Dietetic Association