Breakfast and health
A healthy breakfast gives us energy for the whole day. Eating breakfast on the go, or no breakfast at all, is a bad decision, even if your day is scheduled to the minute.
The importance of breakfast for the body
Many people do without breakfast. Women try to devote more time to their appearance and at the same time sacrifice their morning breakfast for the sake of makeup. For many, a cup of coffee with a cigarette replaces the first one. Unfortunately, such people do not know that breakfast consisting of coffee and a cigarette is a very dangerous misconception.
Coffee stimulates the secretion of gastric juice, the physiological qualities of which are dangerous for an empty stomach, and a cigarette, in addition to harming the lungs, releases such an amount of nicotine into the blood that it leads to increased production of adrenaline and norepinephrine, which, in turn, increases heart rate, nervousness and increased gastric secretion. Excessive gastric secretion fills the stomach and, in the absence of food in it, corrodes the mucous membrane, which leads to gastritis and ulcers.
Studies have proven that neglecting breakfast leads to multiple negative effects on both the health of children and adults.
These are the consequences: weakening of memory, decreased creative thinking ability, frequent irritability and anxiety, stress caused by hunger, difficulties in logical thinking. In this situation, the body lacks the required amount of “fuel”, so it is difficult for a person to concentrate, he may experience dizziness, imbalance, blurred vision, muscle spasms, and even fainting.
During eight hours of sleep, the body remains without food and water. During the night, we manage to get really hungry, so our energy reserves need to be replenished with healthy food in the morning. Abstaining from food leads to a sharp drop in blood sugar levels. On the other hand, after eating, the blood sugar level rises and the metabolism disturbed after the night is restored. This contributes to the efficient functioning of the entire body. However, women should plan their breakfast menu with extreme caution to avoid sudden changes in blood glucose levels.
10 reasons why you shouldn't skip breakfast
Here are 10 more arguments to support the importance of a morning meal:
1. Nutrition for the brain
If you are a knowledge worker, then you need to have breakfast - your brain needs to be nourished in the morning for better concentration and memorization of information. One cup of coffee or tea won't provide all the nutrients your brain needs to start the day.
2. Strengthening the immune system
People who regularly eat breakfast have stronger immunity than those who neglect their morning meal.
3. Security deposit
Statistically, far fewer car accidents happen to people who have had breakfast. Of course, this fact may be a consequence of point 1.
4. For performance
Having breakfast increases an employee's productivity by 30%.
5. Anything is possible in the morning
Due to the fact that there is still a whole day ahead, which will require energy expenditure, morning calories never turn into fat.
6. Energy source
By limiting yourself to lunch, you deprive yourself of energy replenishment for the whole half of the day.
7. Controlling hunger
The foods you eat for breakfast affect your hunger throughout the day. For example, having breakfast with eggs will make you less hungry. Because of this, portions for lunch and dinner will be smaller. And if you have breakfast with cereals - rice, buckwheat or oatmeal - your consumption of fatty foods will decrease.
8. The key to slimness
Breakfast wakes up your body and speeds up your metabolism. It is also better to drink a glass of water at room temperature before eating.
9. For a healthy lifestyle
If you really can’t force your body to have breakfast, then don’t despair. There is a little trick - start doing exercises or jogging in the morning. After exercise, you can easily eat food to replenish the calories burned.
10. Good mood
Nothing lifts your spirits like something delicious in the morning. In addition, having breakfast in a calm environment can help you gather your thoughts and prepare yourself for the day ahead.
What should you do before breakfast?
In the morning, immediately after sleep, it is useful to drink a glass of warm water. Water starts all internal processes and helps remove toxins. You can add a drop of lemon juice or a teaspoon of honey to the water.
It is also important to do exercises or light exercises. You can do it without even getting out of bed. And after all these procedures, the body will really want to eat, and you are guaranteed a good appetite.
Why is it necessary to have breakfast and what products should you give preference to? Endocrinologist answers
Proper nutrition - what is it? Are there any foods that can help you lose weight quickly? How to create a daily diet? We will look for answers to these and many other questions in our new project for those who monitor their health and figure. And Vladislav Morozik, an endocrinologist at the City Endocrinology Dispensary, will help us with this. As the expert jokes, every endocrinologist is also a little bit of a nutritionist.
The first topic is proper breakfast. What foods should you start the day with? Is it true that cookies and chocolates eaten in the morning do not turn into extra pounds? Let's find out from a specialist.
— Vladislav Mikhailovich, is it necessary to have breakfast at all?
- Yes, you need to have breakfast. The morning meal is probably the most important from a physiological point of view. There have been many serious studies that show that if people skip breakfast, they overeat in the evening. And often the one who says: “After sleep I don’t feel like eating at all” had a late and heavy meal. Extra calories from a heavy dinner go into fat. And the lack of appetite in the morning is a consequence of the calories remaining from the evening.
- But still, if, upon waking up, a person doesn’t want to eat at all, should he stuff himself with porridge or sandwiches?
— If a person gets up with an alarm clock at 6 in the morning and is not able to really wake up, he can have breakfast at work. It’s better to have tea and a sandwich when you arrive at the office than to be left without breakfast at all.
— Some, on the contrary, have a very hearty breakfast: soup, cutlets with side dishes... Is this correct?
— Breakfast should account for 20–25% of your daily calories. Therefore, you should not overeat in the morning. However, as at any other time. Excessive eating causes drowsiness. When you feel sleepy after eating, this is not the best consequence of a meal. The purpose of breakfast is to give us enough energy to last 3-4 hours until lunch time.
- Five-minute porridge, muesli, cereal - how do you feel about them?
- This is not the best breakfast. All the benefits of such products are just a marketing ploy. For example, five-minute porridges contain only simple carbohydrates. They will quickly fill you up, but after 1.5–2 hours the feeling of hunger will arise again.
If we talk about muesli or cereal, then it all depends on the manufacturer. When a quick breakfast box contains unprocessed whole grains, no added snacks or large amounts of sugar, fiber, vitamins and microelements are preserved, they can be consumed. However, they should not be considered very useful. This is more of an emergency exit: we overslept, there is no time to prepare a full breakfast, you can take muesli or cereal.
— Should breakfast be hot?
— There is no convincing research proving that food must be hot or cold. It is clear that you should not eat very hot food - it can damage the mucous membrane, which means there is a risk of diseases of the oral cavity, esophagus and even the stomach. When a dish is very cold, it takes longer to digest: the body first heats it and then processes it. If the food is cold and also fatty, then the quality of digestion will be much worse. But we absolutely need fats in the right quantities. Therefore, we must use them in the correct form. Conclusion: food should be warm, at least room temperature.
- If we need fats, then sausage or ham for breakfast is good?
- Sausage - no. There are a lot of hidden and “bad” fats. If you want, sometimes you can have smoked meat. However, it is worth paying attention to the smoking method - it should not be chemical. It’s better to eat chicken or turkey in the morning. Breakfast, like any meal, should contain proteins, fats and carbohydrates.
— Should breakfast depend on the type of work?
- All nutrition should be subject to our lifestyle. For example, the average daily diet of an office worker, if he is a man, should contain 2,000-2,200 kilocalories, if a woman - 1,800-2,000 kilocalories. And for a miner these figures are equal to 5,000–7,000 kilocalories. Therefore, both the volume of food and its calorie content will be completely different for such people. But if our office worker starts eating like a miner, I’m afraid that soon he won’t even be able to come to work.
— Does the duration of breakfast matter or is eating on the run also allowed?
— Like any meal, breakfast needs time. You shouldn't eat while running. Food should be chewed thoroughly and not swallowed. But we constantly steal time from breakfast. In the morning, you want to lie in bed for an extra five minutes. If once or twice a week we eat in a hurry, it’s okay. The main thing is that it does not become a system.
— Cookies, croissants, buns in the morning... Is it possible?
— When a croissant comes after a sandwich with meat or cheese, or porridge with an egg, that is, a full breakfast, then sometimes you can treat yourself... when you know that today you will walk 15–20 minutes to work. In other words, if you are able to use up the extra carbohydrates. There is no serious research on this topic, but nutritionists recommend consuming high-calorie treats in the first half of the day. This is justified: the extra calories will be spent by the body on everyday activities. But excess energy from dishes eaten late in the evening may remain unclaimed and go into your waistline.
— So, morning buns and chocolates don’t turn into extra pounds?
- More likely no than yes. But if you eat a bun in the morning, and then watch TV all day, then that same bun, and everything you eat besides it, will lose unwanted pounds. However, you are unlikely to gain weight from a single chocolate bar.
— What do you think breakfast should be like?
— It’s difficult to single out one most useful product. When thinking about breakfast, we must not forget that the dish must contain proteins, fats and carbohydrates. For example, you can eat porridge, a piece of cheese with tea or coffee. Or rye toast with a leaf of lettuce and a piece of meat, and if you really want to, add a bun or candy with tea/coffee.
— Do the details matter: the color of the dishes, the walls in the kitchen?
— Psychologists say yes. The colors orange and yellow are believed to stimulate appetite. Red is also an exciting color. But if you use red plates for serving, then after some time this color will only irritate. Blue and cyan, like any cold shades, reduce appetite.
You may not agree with psychologists, but I know for sure: if you put impressively sized toast on a large plate, even it will look forlorn. And you will feel like you have deprived yourself. So the size of the dish definitely matters. To avoid overeating, it is better to use small plates, especially if we are talking about a feast.
— Is there any magic product for improving your figure? Like that joke: what would you eat to lose weight...
- Unfortunately, there are no such people. You can eat the healthiest foods, but too much of them will lead to weight gain. And vice versa, if you eat high-calorie foods, but use energy from them, you will not gain weight. When we select nutrition for weight loss, we simply need to limit the daily amount of calories. Even sweets are not forbidden foods if you are ready to eat a piece of cake and work out in the gym for 50 minutes.
Why is it necessary to skip breakfast?
All of the above properties of the morning meal show the positive properties of breakfast. Is there really a negative side to eating early? According to some scientists, harm from breakfast can lead to disability and reduce quality of life. Let us take as an example the theory of the American naturopathic doctor Paul Bragg.
During night sleep, the body works in an economical mode and practically does not waste the energy received from food during the day. In the morning there is no need to replenish energy reserves, since the body has reserves to start the work. To start metabolic processes, Paul Bragg recommends drinking 1-2 glasses of warm water, possibly acidified with lemon juice. Eating early wastes calories digesting nutrients, which is essentially a wasteful biological process.
After waking up, the body is not able to digest food and the intake of food initiates as stress. The meal causes emotional lethargy and decreased physical activity, increases drowsiness and apathy. All this interferes with the ability to work in the first half of the day. This is why eating breakfast is so bad.
People who lead a healthy lifestyle often exercise in the morning or go for a morning jog. According to sports doctors, meals make physical activity more difficult and reduce emotional readiness for sports achievements. Should you eat breakfast before your morning runs? The answer is clear - no.
Some people cannot eat breakfast after waking up. This is especially true for night owls, whose biological clocks are classified as night owls. Morning meals in night owls can cause nausea, flatulence, headache, memory loss and delayed reactions to external stimuli. In this case, you should avoid early meals. When asked whether you should have breakfast if you don’t feel like it at all, the answer is no. You shouldn’t “break” your body and initiate stressful situations for the nervous system. In this case, it is better to start eating with lunch (second breakfast), which will be much healthier.
