What is the point of breakfast? I’m not even hungry when I wake up!! I have been going without breakfast for years. I get sick if I eat breakfast. These are just a few of the excuses I hear for not eating breakfast. But there really is no good reason not to eat breakfast. Perhaps it is our idea of what breakfast is. First let’s talk about what breakfast is not.
Breakfast is not a calorie bomb, biscuits and gravy with a stack of pancakes, home-style potatoes, bagel and cream cheese, smorgasbord. Breakfast is not a sweet-n-low, half and half coffee on the way out the door. Breakfast is not that venti frap with cream on top on the way to work. There is this misconception that breakfast needs to be either a Saturday morning feast or a pick-me-up-because-I’m-drained on the way to work. Breakfast does not have to be long and drawn out and it cannot be something you pick up on the way to work.
Breakfast is a way to break your body out of that 7-8 hour starvation you have been in. Breakfast is when you give your body enough fuel to replenish what it lost over the evening and enough fuel to get you to the next feeding (3-4 hours later) with out feeling incredibly famished. Whether we are hungry or not, we need to eat breakfast within the first 30 minutes of waking up. The reason most people claim they are not hungry in the morning is because their metabolism has slowed so much that they have gotten accustomed to not eating. The metabolism is the engine of the body. If it is slow, than you will feel lethargic, slow, unmotivated and worst of all, your body will actually hold on to body fat because your body will enter “energy saver” mode. Who wants that? When we eat, our metabolism actually speeds up because it has to breakdown the food it just took in. This is known as the thermic effect of food! Eating more will help me lose weight?? Interesting concept.
Most people when they start eating breakfast as a habit will notice that their appetite will increase, and they will be hungry again soon. This is the thermic effect of food and trust that your metabolism will now rise and your body will use more energy because it has more available. The human body is a marvelous thing.
What is a “Good” Breakfast?
A good breakfast will have a little fat, a little protein and a little more carbohydrates. Here are a few examples of quality breakfast first thing in the morning, within 30 minutes of waking up:
• 1 slice of sprouted grain, flourless toast, natural peanut butter and an apple = 345 kcal
• 1 slice of sprouted grain, flourless toast, vegetable oil butter, and a small container of low fat yogurt = 330 kcal
• 1 cup of Trader Joe’s Organic Soy and Granola cereal, 1 cup of 1% organic milk and 1 medium banana = 473 kcal (for women, cutting the cereal and milk in half will give you a total of 284 kcal)
• 1 hard boiled egg, toast and 1 table spoon of butter, a medium apple = 333 kcal
These examples are all a great start to the day. Each example has carbohydrates, protein and a little bit of fat. It is beyond the scope of this article but remember your body needs some fat. To eliminate all fat would actually be a bad thing.
The calorie content of the breakfast was done by www.calorie-count.com. Feel free to register yourself and start logging your food intake. It will truly help you to see how much food you really do take in. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at aaron@pairmarotta.com
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