Breakfast Is More Than a Meal!
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Yes, Yes, Yes to breakfast! I know you have heard it before but I do 100% believe breakfast is the most important meal of the day. And for all of you “intermittent fasters” guess what…the period you finish your last meal at night until your first meal in the morning is fasting. And in my opinion that is the only fast your body needs. It’s why breakfast is called breakfast; it means BREAK the FAST.
Now, why is breakfast so important? First of all, as I just said, you have not eaten for hours and hours and your body needs fuel when it wakes up. You need to start viewing healthy food as fuel for your body. And that fuel is what fires up your metabolism. A faster metabolism makes maintaining or losing weight much easier.
How can eating breakfast benefit your body and your life?
- Better Workouts: Eating before the workout will give you more energy so you can perform at your highest level. Not eating breakfast does not mean you are burning fat instead of calories. Don’t believe everything you hear. Jillian Michael’s says, “a big fitness myth that has been floating around forever is that working out on an empty stomach will help you burn more fat. But this has been proven totally untrue!” (CLICK HERE for her article). You are going to burn more calories if you have the energy to give 100% effort in the workout. If you feel sluggish (from not eating), you are less likely to be able to work out hard which leads to burning LESS calories and often you will even cut a workout short.
- Mental Clarity is Increased for Work or School: Do you enjoy feeling foggy in the head when you are at work? Do you want your kiddo or teen to go to school feeling fatigued and not mentally clear? Then, definitely eat breakfast before you start your day. The calories will help you get out of the morning fatigue and help with mental clarity.
- Helps Weight Loss or Maintenance: I honestly believe one of the biggest problems people create who are trying to lose weight is letting themselves get to a state of feeling starving. Once the blood sugar drops too low and you are starting to get ravenous, all bets are off for that diet. Your body is smarter than you and it will crave carbohydrates (and not the healthy kind) to get that blood sugar back up. Trust me, I happen to get low blood sugar quite easily, and when I don’t have a healthy snack packed in my purse or easy to grab at home, I will also reach for a candy bar, loaded calorie protein bar (which is just a glorified candy bar let’s face it) or even sugar rich juice! I get so mad at myself when I let myself get to that point (so, I really don’t let it happen very often).
When you skip breakfast, you will hit that hungry level pretty quickly later that morning or in the afternoon. And by lunch time you will be so hungry that you are more likely to make bad nutritional choices. Skipping this meal can lead to binging later in the day.
- Increased Metabolism: I want you to think of your digestion/metabolism like a raging fire. And if you don’t fuel that fire consistently through the day, it will burn out. And your body only has one goal…to keep you alive. So, if it sees you are not going to feed it enough (and on a consistent basis), then, it will slow all processes in the body down so it can survive on this low burning fire. Over time you will be less and less hungry from doing this. And you might be thinking “great! If I’m not hungry, I won’t eat and that will lead to weight loss”. Sorry, it does not work that way. Again, because the body wants to survive, the body just slows down metabolism and therefore your weight will plateau and you will struggle to lose any weight at all. So, start the day with breakfast to get the fire fueled early! It will make a difference in your metabolism and your calorie burning throughout the day.
The Two Greatest Challenges I Hear:
So, now you are going to tell me that you:
- Are not hungry in the morning and
- Don’t have time for breakfast because your life is so busy.
Hmmm…
Let’s address #1: I’m Not Hungry in The Morning!
If you are someone who has not been eating breakfast for a long time, then YES you won’t be hungry for breakfast each morning. You taught your body and your metabolism that pattern. But that does not mean you can’t change a bad habit. You might just have to ease into it. Perhaps you start by just eating a banana each morning. Then, how about building up to some small breakfast options like:
Small Breakfast Options:
- Whole grain toast with some peanut butter
- Hard-boiled egg with whole grain toast
- Greek yogurt with blueberries
Over time, you will see your appetite start to pick up. And that is a good thing! It shows the metabolism is fired up again! WOO HOO! Then, you might even bump up the size of your breakfast again.
Larger Breakfast Options:
- 1 Serving of oatmeal + 2 eggs with spinach
- 2 Whole grain waffles + 1-2 eggs with bell peppers
- 1 Whole grain bagel with 1-2 eggs (sandwich)
And don’t worry, you are not going to gain weight because you are now eating breakfast. Your body will be happier with the needed fuel, metabolism will pick up, energy will be great through the day and you won’t be so hungry in the afternoon/evening when you were likely were over eating. And it’s always better to get your biggest meal in earlier in the day vs. later!
#2: I Don’t Have Time for Breakfast
Nonsense! We are all busy each morning. I know what it’s like to get a kiddo off to school, work from the moment I get up, feed the dogs, walk the dogs, get in my workout…I can go on and on. But breakfast needs to be part of your day. So, if you are super busy, you need to prep it the day before. You can make hard boiled eggs that are ready to grab each morning (once/week I make hard boiled eggs). How about some overnight oats? Again, you prep it and keep it in the refrigerator so you can grab and go! (Feel free to get a copy of my Overnight Oats Recipe from the Earn That Body RecipE-BOOK at earnthatbody.com/oats. There are ways to eat breakfast without it being a long production, but you have to be willing to put in a small amount of effort. Also, if you are making breakfast for your kids (and I hope it’s healthy)…you can eat the same thing. No need to make different meals for different people in the house. And I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how important breakfast is for kids going to school ;)
Trust me when I say that I have helped thousands of people with weight loss and getting in their best shape/health. I got them all eating breakfast and it changed everything. Many clients even realized they were not eating enough calories before and that was causing a weight loss plateau. Once they started eating a real breakfast, those last stubborn pounds finally came off.
So, let’s get that breakfast going starting tomorrow! Make it healthy! Make it delicious and make it the best way to start your day.
If you have no idea what to make for a healthy breakfast, you might like the ETB RecipE-BOOK with overnight oats recipes, egg muffins (easy to prep) and my Eat By Example Meal Plan also has breakfast recipes for each day.These can be found at:
EatByexampel.com or etbrecipebook.com
Hope you enjoyed this blog! Don’t forget to download one of the Overnight Oats recipe from my recipe book at www.earnthatbody.com/oats and to give this blog a share on social media!
