When my alarm rings in the morning my immediate reaction is to hit snooze. I tend to hit snooze a few too many times which leads to the eventual oh [expletive] moment when I realize that I have 15 minutes to shower, brush my teeth, floss, get dressed, do my makeup, make breakfast, eat breakfast, pack lunch, pack anything else I need for the day and get out of the house. Obviously all of this can’t get done in 15 minutes so something is getting cut from the morning routine. And, like most of us, I choose to sacrifice breakfast first.
Many of you know know the drill all too well. “All I need is a cup of coffee to get me going…I’m not even hungry…I can eat breakfast later…I need to lose weight anyway…” Then hours go by and it’s 3pm and you realized you haven’t even eaten breakfast let alone lunch. Then you have a crazy lunch of a burger and fries with eggs exclaiming that you’re making up for breakfast and lunch.
Remember in grammar school when your teachers would tell you that breakfast is the most important meal of the day? Well they weren’t pulling your leg. Most people don’t realize the detrimental effects of skipping breakfast, especially since it’s such a common occurrence. But anything you may be gaining by skipping breakfast is not worth what you lose
If you’re skipping breakfast to lose weight, then you’re probably training your body to do the opposite. You don’t eat while you sleep…well I hope you don’t. Most people don’t eat right before bed so if you add the hours from dinner to next day’s lunch, that could be anywhere from 15 to 20 hours. When your body doesn’t get any food for an extended period of time it goes into starvation mode, hoarding all the fat it can get its hands on until the famine comes. But most likely that famine will never come.
When you eat breakfast within 90 minutes of waking up your body produces enzymes that kick start your metabolism so that it burns fat rather than store fat. So if you’re trying to lose weight, eat breakfast.
Skipping breakfast also leads to other terrible eating habits, such as eating bad foods and binge eating. First when you skip breakfast, your appetite increases as the day goes on. You’ll begin to snack mindlessly on anything that you can get your hands on. Usually this will be foods like cookies, chips and candy. And when you finally sit down to eat a meal you’re more likely to overeat to compensate for the meals you’ve skipped.
When you eat breakfast, you’re less hungry throughout the day. Your appetite will be more in control. You’ll be able to focus more on other things. Studies show that when you eat breakfast you’re more likely to lose weight and stick to a more healthy diet.
I know that getting breakfast together can be a chore, but it’s a worthwhile chore. And hopefully it’ll become as second nature as brushing your teeth in the morning.
Until next time, cheers to a better you!