Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. You may think that this advice is just plain good recommendation, but studies have found even more reasons not to skip it.
After a good night's sleep, your body needs a healthy meal to replenish essential nutrients for good health. Eating breakfast informs your body that there are plenty of calories to be burned for the day. When you skip breakfast, the body gets a message that it needs to conserve instead of burning any incoming calories.
Different studies have proven many benefits of starting your day with breakfast, which includes the following:
Activates Your Metabolism
This is probably the most significant advantage of eating breakfast. Starting your day with a protein-based breakfast like eggs, oats, yogurt, cheese, chia seeds, tofu, nuts, seeds, and whole grains helps rev up the metabolism.
Lowers Your BMI
Researchers have found that when the biggest meal of the day is eaten early, there is a higher chance of having a lower BMI than eating the biggest meal at lunch or dinner. It is because our bodies are better at processing food early in the day. After all, our insulin action is at peak performance, breaking down glucose faster, helping prevent metabolic syndrome disorders like obesity and insulin resistance.
Helps Protect the Heart
Breakfast eaters can regulate their appetite and avoid unhealthy food and lifestyle choices, preventing Type 2 Diabetes - a heart disease risk factor. Eating breakfast can also help lower blood pressure and prevent higher cholesterol levels, which are also significant risk factors for heart disease.
Provides Beneficial Nutrients
Eating breakfast gives you the chance to get vital vitamins, minerals, and fiber from healthy foods like fruits, dairy, and grains, which the body needs to function healthily every day. So, if you skip breakfast, you are not getting all the nutrients your body needs.
Better Cognitive Performance
Eating breakfast positively affects cognitive function primarily in the second half of the morning when there is a usual decline in this area. Keeping blood sugar levels steady by not skipping breakfast helps improve focus, attention span, short-term memory, and creativity.
Boosts Energy Levels
Breakfast provides energy and restores your glycogen levels to keep us going throughout the day. Eating foods with carbohydrates, protein, and fiber, crucial to any healthy breakfast, will increase energy levels. Breakfast also refuels glycogen stores providing muscles with immediate energy.
Breakfast is indeed the most important meal of the day and shouldn’t be skipped by anyone. As shown above, it has well-documented benefits on overall health and wellbeing. Therefore, it should be considered as a must meal to enjoy the benefits it can provide. Always take note, “You are what you eat.”
