Should You Skip Breakfast?

In the world of health and fitness, one of the most controversial issues is whether people who wish to shed excess weight should skip or intentionally eat breakfast. Of course, the health and fitness world is split down the middle when it comes to this issue. Personally, I am of the opinion that there is no strong evidence either way. However, today’s blog post gives you a few reasons why you should consider having breakfast.

As the first meal of the day, a nutritious breakfast can really set the tone of how the rest of the day pans out. The reason for this is because eating breakfast would provide the first injection of ‘fuel’, which revs up your metabolism and gets your blood sugar level up. Your brain, in particular, would certainly benefit from having fuel in the morning.

Don’t underestimate the importance of stimulating your metabolism and getting your blood sugar level up. If you fail to do so, you might have a compromised level of concentration and are more likely to experience mood swings. Someone once said that a hungry man is an angry man; perhaps now you understand that saying a little bit more.

Some proponents of the pro-breakfast movement claim that skipping breakfast tends to be associated with increased diabetes or cardiovascular disease. Personally I think that’s a little farfetched, even though an article has been published. There isn’t even a significant difference between weight loss of breakfast eaters and breakfast skippers.

There are, however, some statistics that are interesting. It was found that 80% of people who were successful at keeping weight off ate breakfast. Also, breakfast eaters tend to consume 7% less calories throughout the day compared to breakfast skippers. This might be because those who skip breakfast might overcompensate their calorie intake later in the day.

So what do you do if you don’t have the habit of eating breakfast, or simply do not feel hungry in the morning? The first thing to do is be honest with yourself. If you don’t want to force yourself to eat anything, then don’t! But if you are open to the idea, start off with something small. Breakfast doesn’t have to be a grand affair, so even a bit of yoghurt would be nice.

If you think that you simply do not have time for breakfast, consider a simple but nutritious one. For example, mixing up some yoghurt with cereal, nuts and fruits do not require a lot of time. Just get the appropriate amounts of each and stir it up. That’s even simpler than boiling an egg or cooking some instant noodles.

Another thing you can do is to take your leftovers and have them for breakfast. Otherwise, you may also elect to do a huge breakfast cook-up over the weekend, compartmentalise and freeze them.  It isn’t that hard if you really want to integrate it into your life. There are so many options available these days – it’s just that sometimes we do not think about them.

But at the end of the day, as I mentioned before, I stand on the middle of the road when it comes to this particular issue. Personally I will have breakfast on most days, and it will be earlier on some days compared to others. Hey, I just love food, and that’s not a sin.

Mark

Check out these breakfast recipes: