"Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dine like a pauper." This ancient proverb has more than a grain of truth in it, but sadly, most people leading today's busy lives skip breakfast altogether. Eating a healthy breakfast can set the stage for healthier eating all day long. The right foods in the morning can provide you with the energy you need to power through until lunch. And think about this - If you were flying from New York to Los Angeles, would you want your pilot to fuel up at the beginning of the journey or wait until you reached your destination? Wouldn't you worry about running out of fuel, if the pilot waited until the end of the journey to fuel up? Hmmnmm.
Break the Fast
Breakfast is the first meal taken after arising from a night's sleep; most often eaten in the early morning before undertaking the day's work. The Old English word for dinner, disner, means to break a fast and was the first meal eaten in the day until the meaning shifted in the mid-13th century. It wasn't until the 15th century that breakfast came into use in written English to describe a morning meal; which literally means to break the fasting period of the prior night. In Old English the term was morgenmete, meaning morning meal. (from Wikipedia).
Staying Power
A healthy breakfast should provide you with staying power! It should keep you 'fueled up' until your next
meal or snack. Food groups to choose from should have protein to help satisfy hunger and fiber to fill you.
The healthy breakfast should also give you energy. Remember, your body has gone 8 - 10 hours or more without any fuel while you were sleeping. Eating the right breakfast provides your muscles and brain with the fuel needed for optimal performance.
A breakfast that has both protein and healthy carbohydrates can provide a sustained release of energy into your body and help prevent swings in blood sugar levels which can trigger cravings for sweets or other unhealthy foods.
Benefits
Breakfast skippers often experience food cravings for sweets and fats that last throughout the day. A study posted in the Journal of Nutrition, found that when breakfast is eaten, the cravings for sweets drops dramatically. Research shows those who eat breakfast are less likely to be overweight and more likely to be within their ideal weight range compared with breakfast skippers.
Protein is necessary to help support muscle health. The protein one eats in the morning not only helps satisfy hunger, but it can also help maintain muscle health. Another study in the Journal of Nutrition showed that muscle protein synthesis was shown to be 25% greater in subjects whose protein intake was more evenly distributed throughout the day, compared to those who ate most of their protein at the evening meal.
A study by the NDP Group found that approximately 31 million Americans currently skip breakfast - about 10% of the population. Research shows that skipping breakfast means you eat more later. When someone is deprived of food for an extended period of time, they tend to overeat when they finally get food. Skipping breakfast also correlates to a higher daily caloric intake, but while calories do not necessarily mean obesity, researchers found skipping breakfast did, in fact, correlate to a higher risk of obesity.
Fun Facts
The average person sits down to breakfast at 7:31 am weekdays and 8:28 am weekends.
The world's 1st breakfast cereal was created in 1863 and needed soaking overnight to be chewable.
In the US, breakfast is the most frequently skipped meal.
About 58% of Americans do not eat breakfast every day.
Breakfast literally means "to break fast".
The breakfast food we are most likely to eat weekdays is wholegrain cereal at 37%.
There is a growing trend for eating breakfast out of the home.
14% of female breakfast skippers say they don't eat breakfast because they are trying to lose or watch their weight.
Women are more likely to prioritize their hair and clothes choice over eating breakfast.
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