‘THE PITFALLS OF NOT EATING BREAKFAST’
In this modern day the concept of a ‘perfect home-life’ with Mum cooking breakfast has long gone, instead being a meal that is commonly skipped altogether, due to a learned behavior forced upon most by the stress and pressures of everyday life in 2012! The practice of skipping breakfast is made even more widespread as most members of households work, leaving no set person to assure that family members eat breakfast before going about their day.
This has become a way of life for many people, as they put it down to ‘i don’t have time’ mentality which as we know is an excuse for a lazy, unhealthful habit.
IMPORTANCE OF BREAKFAST.
The name ‘breakfast’ literally means break the fast, being coined as such by the gap between your last meal of the
previous day and the first of the following morning, ‘breaking the fast’. These meals have the largest gap between consumption than any other, so creating the ideal circumstances for the metabolism to slow down dramatically. As the food we eat sparks the metabolism, not eating breakfast further slows it down, and also impairs your alertness and the ability of the mind to focus.
Research has substantiated that breakfast is the most crucial meal of the day. It has shown that those of us that habitually skip breakfast are more likely to have an unhealthy lifestyle. The idea that a lot of people have is that if they skip breakfast they will lose weight, when in actual fact it leads to weight gain, not weight lose, and in many obesity!
Studies have also shown that those who habitually skip breakfast are most likely to snack on high carbohydrate, and high sugar snacks, using the fact that they skip breakfast as a way of justifying being able to power down the treats later in the day. It has also been proved that those who skip breakfast burn around 200kcal less per day.
Let’s look at the facts,
Our bodies are most active in the mornings, and as such are programmed to burn the most calories at that time. If you do not put fuel in your body within the first hour of arising, your body goes into starvation mode, and causes you to crave more and more calories at your meals later in the day.
This is because when you don’t eat breakfast your insulin level(blood sugar) crashes, causing an insulin shock when you eventually eat, leading to a hormonal chaos, with a large spike in Cortisol (fat hormone) and a subsequent drop in Seratonin (feel good hormone). In order for your body to balance (regulate) this hormonal imbalance that has been created, you crave more food, usually making matters worse as you crave high glycemic carbohydrates that set off a vicious cycle of binge eating.
Anytime your Cortisol level rises sharply when you eat, as a result of not eating for a period of (3) hours or more , it dramatically increases your insulin level (blood sugar) which then causes it to drop sharply. What then happens your body turns to muscle protein in desperation to restore blood sugar levels (insulin), with the result that it puts your body in a catabolic state (burning muscle).
This is how people become ‘skinny-fat’.
THINGS TO HELP YOU GET IN THE HABIT OF HAVING BREAKFAST.
As with all things we do you have to start doing it before you continue- SO START. Have breakfast one day and go from there.
Points to stay on track.
. Do it for (30) days. Do not take a day off, not even on the weekends.
It takes (30) days for something to become a habit, Think of how not having breakfast became a habit?
. Get up a little earlier.
Many people skip breakfast because they feel that they have no time, so get up earlier to avoid the stress of rushing to get ready in the mornings.
. Keep it simple.
Make choices that are nutritious, and at the same time quick and simple to prepare, as if they are laborious and time consuming you will soon be tempted to give up and return to the old habit of not having it altogether.
. Make a protein shake as it only takes the time that it takes to add the water, shake or blend, that simple!
. Prepare breakfast the night before.
Oatmeal is low sugar, very nutritious, and gives great long lasting energy. You can make it the previous evening, put it in a container then just heat it up the following morning, adding a scoop of protein powder for the finishing touch- 2 minutes and presto you have a complete meal that will enhance your metabolism and help you burn fat the rest of the day.
. Work through the inconvenience.
The first week or two will be the hardest and you will need to call upon your willpower and determination to stay on track.Don’t be discouraged as this is normal when starting something new, and once you work through the resistance and challenges, seeing and feeling the great benefits you will want to continue with your new found habit of having breakfast.
. Focus on how good you feel.
Take note in the higher energy and sense of well being that you have attained since having breakfast, as this will keep you on track to want to keep going forward with the healthful new habit that you have developed. As with all news things if when we get discouraged and start to fall back into tardy habits, by refocusing on all the positive benefits we have gained, we will want to continue reenforcing the changes that we have made that got us to feel better.
Congratulations you now have a great new habit!
-NicholasIf you are in the Los Angeles area and you would like a complimentary one-on-one assessment with Personal Trainer in L.A. Nicholas Barrett, please don't hesitate to get in touch! Personal trainer Los Angeles. Los Angeles personal trainer. Personal trainer marina del rey.
