The importance of breakfast

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We are always told that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  Yet many of us still skip it.

But what actually happens if you don’t eat breakfast?  And what is the best food to eat?

Skipping breakfast affects how well your brain works and increases your body’s stress hormones.  It makes you hungry for sugary snack foods later in the day and increases your chances of being overweight and having high blood pressure, particularly in women.

But, have you noticed that when you eat breakfast, you’re starving by 10 o’clock?

That’s because the food we commonly eat at breakfast increases our hunger hormones.

Breakfast cereal is carbohydrate and is absorbed very quickly into your body.  This increases your blood sugar levels, even if you’re not diabetic.  This makes you feel tired and slows your thinking.  To control sugar levels, your body makes insulin, a hormone that makes you gain weight.  Carbohydrate foods also turn up your hunger hormones, so that’s why you crave cakes and biscuits all day.

The ideal breakfast would satisfy your appetite, improve your brain function, and burn energy rather than putting it on as fat.

What’s that food? It’s protein foods and healthy fats. You got it.  Eggs and bacon!  Greek yoghurt.  Avocado and cheese on toast.

Eating these foods for breakfast will settle your hunger hormones all day and has been shown to improve brain performance.   These foods improve your glucose levels and blood pressure throughout the day. Without the afternoon snacks, you are also more likely to lose weight. So, eat breakfast but go for the protein foods and health fats instead of the orange juice and cereal.