Breakfast, the most important meal of the day

‘Eat breakfast like a King, lunch like a Prince and dinner like a Pauper’ is an excellent phrase to remember how we need to eat throughout the day. 

It also emphasizes just how important it is to eat breakfast.

Breakfast is without a doubt, the most important meal of the day. Despite this, it never surprises me when clients regularly tell me that they have skipped breakfast! 

In fact, a large proportion of the population regularly misses this all important meal.

‘Breakfast’ literally means breaking the fasting period of the night before. Say, we eat our evening meal around 8pm and wake up around 7am this means 11 hours of fasting. That is, if we eat breakfast when we wake up.

The brain has to function 24/7 and consumes huge amounts of blood sugar. The body also repairs and regenerates while we are asleep which also requires lots of blood sugar. Therefore, when we wake up, our energy stores are crying out to be replenished.

Cranky

If you skip breakfast, as most of us do, then blood sugar levels will stay low and you’ll start the day feeling angry and cranky. This is a primitive reaction as it puts you in the mood to go hunting. Yet, we go straight into the office. Skipping breakfast also affects our concentration, focus and memory as the brain needs blood sugar to optimally function, which is not great preparation for an important early meeting at work.

It is even more essential to eat breakfast if you have a busy day ahead as missing out will leave you weak and you’ll be feeling tired all day. When you do decide to eat it will probably be a trip to the vending machine and some coffee to wake up. This will cause blood sugar levels to spike and then crash a few hours later leading to another coffee and eating more junk.

Those of us, who do eat breakfast, tend to opt for the quickest and most convenient choice which is cereal. The problem with cereal is that it more resembles cardboard than anything else. It is ‘fortified with vitamins and nutrients’ so it can be classified as a food. Cereal is also full of sugar, salt and colourings which make it so tasty we end up eating two to three times the recommended serving portions.

Other refined carbohydrate like pastries, bagels and white bread are just as bad. These foods cause blood sugar levels to spiral and create a mid morning crash leaving us making poor decisions when it comes to snacks and lunch. Eating this type of breakfast will make it the worst meal of the day.

Breakfast is also important if you want to lose weight. In the morning, our metabolism is at an all-time low. Think of your metabolism like a furnace. When we wake up, the furnace is just embers and needs fuel to be thrown in to lighten up the flames. Eating breakfast will ignite the fire and kick start the metabolism and get the body burning calories.

Studies have shown that those who eat a nutritious breakfast every morning eat significantly less throughout the rest of the day than those who skip breakfast. 

So what constitutes a nutritious breakfast? For those who love carbs in the morning then a complex carbohydrate is a better choice than refined. Old fashioned oats and other whole grain products will help stabilize blood sugar, slowly releasing energy and leave you feeling fuller for longer. These types of carbs will also control appetite.

Remember, you should always eat protein and healthy fats with every meal too. This is where you need to be creative. The easiest thing to do is eat left over dinner. Just like our Paleolithic ancestors ate whatever they had left over from the night before. We normally consume protein and fats at dinner time so this is always a good option. All the preparation has been done too.

This doesn’t work for everyone though, so here are a few more suggestions:

Breakfast options

• Bermudian breakfast: This has it all. codfish, potatoes, eggs, bananas, avocados, tomatoes, onions and more. Ticks all the boxes.
• Scrambled eggs with smoked salmon on whole grain toast: Eggs are a great source of protein and the fish is rich in healthy Omega-3 fats.
• Oats porridge with nuts, seeds and berries: Whole grain oats are full of fibre and the nuts and seeds are high in protein and fats. Berries are full of antioxidants and flavour.
• Bacon, sausages and poached eggs: Bacon and sausages get a bad rap but as long as they are from a good animal source and free of nitrates they’re a healthy breakfast choice. Poached eggs contain a wide range of vitamins and minerals.
• Cheese, olives, yogurt, lean meats or fish: The Mediterranean and Middle Eastern breakfasts are full of delicious variety and always include protein and healthy fats.

Having breakfast in your daily routine is an absolute must. If you currently don’t eat breakfast then start by eating anything. After this becomes a routine, then you can concentrate on having a quality breakfast by following the suggestions outlined. To eat like a King is to choose variety, slow-releasing carbs, a protein source that had eyeballs and drink plenty of water.

Don’t be that pauper.