Why you should not forget your breakfast
It’s no secret that skipping breakfast is bad for our health. In fact, according to the American Heart Association, skipping breakfast has been linked to higher levels of cholesterol, increased risk of heart disease, and even type 2 diabetes.
But why does skipping breakfast negatively affect our bodies? The answer lies within metabolism. When we eat breakfast, our body gets the energy it needs to start working properly. Skipping this meal forces your body to break down stored fat instead of burning calories from food or exercise.
10 Reasons why you should not forget your breakfast
1. Your body craves glucose, and breakfast provides that fuel. If you skip morning meals, your blood sugar gets low, and your brain doesn't get enough fuel to think clearly. You're at risk of feeling sluggish throughout the day.
2. Eating breakfast helps keep you regular. When you eat a big meal early in the day, your stomach remains full longer, causing you to feel less hungry later on. As a result, you eat fewer calories at lunchtime — making it easier to stay on track with your diet plan.
3. Breakfast makes you happier. A study from the University of Illinois published in Health Psychology in 2014 looked at how different eating times affected participants' moods.
Participants who ate before noon were significantly happier than those who ate their first meal after 5 p.m. Afternoon snackers felt no difference in happiness between eating three hours apart and eating right away. Morning eaters experienced significant drops in happiness if they skipped breakfast.
4. Skipping breakfast increases the risk of weight gain. Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas followed more than 2,800 people over a six-year period. Those who ate breakfast tended to weigh less than those who didn't, even though both groups consumed about the same number of daily calories.
The researchers concluded that skipping breakfast may increase hunger levels and lead to overeating at lunchtime.
5. A calorie isn't just a calorie. One of the most basic tenets of nutrition is that each calorie counts. But not necessarily, according to a 2010 review from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
People tend to consume more calories earlier in the day than at night, according to the study, so eating small amounts often throughout the day could help you lose weight without counting calories.
6. Breakfast boosts academic performance. In a study conducted at the University of California Berkeley, elementary school students who ate breakfast improved their cognitive skills.
Not only did they perform better on math and reading tests, but they also scored higher on standardized tests given after the summer break (a traditional time for kids to begin sleeping in again).
7. Breakfast boosts athletic performance. A 2011 study in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism suggests that athletes who ate breakfast had better muscle recovery than those who skipped the meal.
8. Breakfast keeps diabetes under control. A 2013 study in Diabetes Care showed that diabetics who ate breakfast lost nearly twice as much weight as those who skipped the meal, as well as reduced their HbA1c levels by 1 percent.
9. Breakfast boosts memory. A 2012 Finnish study in the journal Obesity showed that older adults who ate breakfast performed better on word recall tests than those who skipped the morning meal.
10. Breakfast is good for your heart. A British study in Circulation found that men who ate breakfast had lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels than non-breakfast eaters.
Women weren't shown to have the same results; however, the researchers suggest that women should still eat breakfast.
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