Many people skip breakfast mainly because they don’t feel hungry in the morning. This is due to the fact that most people have a larger meal in the evening. I have clients who don’t eat anything, when they get up at 6 am, until noon. I ask them to eat something when they wake up and they say they feel hungry at 9 am. This is because your metabolism has basically kicked in. It’s like putting coal in the furnace of a steam engine, you won’t go anywhere until it’s lit (have breakfast). When you skip breakfast, all you do is store body fat and slow down your metabolism. Do you like to store body fat? If you do, keep missing breakfast, simple as that.
Not only will you jump-start your body’s fat loss capabilities, but you’ll also be much more alert, physically and mentally. People who eat a good breakfast have higher levels of concentration, and one study showed that people who ate breakfast were less likely to be in an accident involving heavy machinery.
If you are an athlete, even if you are not, eating breakfast will improve your performance in training and in competition. Because it gives you more energy, studies suggest you’re more likely to exercise than if you skipped breakfast.
According to the American Dietetic Association, eating breakfast will reduce your chances of developing type 2 diabetes as it helps restore blood sugar levels after a long period without eating, sometimes up to 12 hours without eating.
As a personal trainer, I encourage my clients to eat breakfast. So what do I recommend to my clients? If you find it hard to eat anything or don’t eat anything at all, I suggest starting with some low glycemic fruits like blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, avocado, plums, etc. Then I’ll also look at what they’re eating at night, as they might be eating too large a meal.
Ideally, breakfast should be the largest meal of the day. The foods I suggest eating for breakfast are meat or fish sources, eggs, vegetables, fruit (as noted above), and oatmeal. Eating sugary cereals is a waste of time. These will give you a strong spike in blood sugar and make you feel tired and lethargic about 20-30 minutes later. Eating the foods I suggested above will allow for a steady rise in blood sugar, giving you a more sustained release of energy.
Here is an example of what you would eat for breakfast:
1/2 liter (1 pint) of water upon waking
50 g of blueberries and 50 g of blackberries (I eat them while I cook my eggs)
3 whole eggs scrambled with spinach cooked in almond or avocado oil
100g of oatmeal with 25g of ground flaxseed cooked in water with cinnamon and sweetener.
I try to eat all of this within 40 minutes of waking up. I am a 220 pound athlete and need a larger amount of food, just one example of what I eat. I mix my foods for breakfast, as you can develop a sensitivity to continually eating the same food every day for years. To help mix up what you eat, plan your breakfast ahead of time.
Eating breakfast will benefit you in your quest for fat loss, help with your training and exercise programs, make you more alert, and help you perform better mentally and physically at work. Your choice, I know what I would choose.
