Breakfast is the first meal of the day, it replenishes your supply of glucose to boost your energy levels and alertness, while also providing other essential nutrients required for good health. Many studies have shown the health benefits of eating breakfast. It improves your energy levels and ability to concentrate in the short term, and can help with better weight management. But is it the most important meal of the day?
Breakfast is often called ‘the most important meal of the day’, and for a good reason. As the name suggests, breakfast breaks the overnight fasting period and this is because when you wake up from your overnight sleep, you may not have eaten for up to 8 to 10 hours.
The body’s energy source is glucose. Glucose is broken down and absorbed from the carbohydrates you eat. The body stores most of its energy as fat. But your body also stores some glucose as glycogen, most of it in your liver, with smaller amounts in your muscles.
During times of fasting (not eating), such as overnight, the liver breaks down glycogen and releases it into your bloodstream as glucose to keep your blood sugar levels stable. This is especially important for your brain, which relies almost entirely on glucose for energy.
In the morning, after you have gone without food for as long as 12 hours, your glycogen stores are low. Once all of the energy from your glycogen stores is used up, your body starts to break down fatty acids to produce the energy it needs. But without carbohydrate, fatty acids are only partially oxidised, which can reduce your energy levels. Eating breakfast boosts your energy levels and restores your glycogen levels ready to keep your metabolism up for the day so basically breakfast replenishes the stores of energy and nutrients in your body.
Let’s now take a look at some of the advantages of eating breakfast
- Essential vitamins, minerals and nutrients
Breakfast foods which include oats, custard, pap, kunun gyada, whole wheat bread, and so on are rich in key nutrients such as folate, calcium, iron, B vitamins and fibre. Breakfast provides a lot of your day’s total nutrient intake. In fact, people who eat breakfast are more likely to meet their recommended daily intakes of vitamins and minerals than people who don’t.
2. Breakfast may help control weight gain
People who regularly eat breakfast are less likely to be overweight or obese because it prevents large fluctuations in your blood glucose levels, helping you to control your appetite. Breakfast fills you up before you become really hungry, so you’re less likely to just grab whatever foods are nearby when hunger really strikes (for example high energy, high fat foods with added sugars or salt).
3. Breakfast helps you make better food choices
People who eat breakfast generally have more healthy diets overall, have better eating habits and are less likely to be hungry for snacks during the day than people who skip breakfast. Children who eat an inadequate breakfast are more likely to make poor food choices not only for the rest of the day, but also over the longer term.
People who skip breakfast tend to nibble on snacks during the mid-morning or afternoon and this can be a problem if those snacks are low in fibre, vitamins and minerals, but high in fat and salt. Without the extra energy that breakfast can offer, some people feel lethargic and turn to high-energy food and drinks to get them through the day. If you do skip breakfast, try a nutritious snack such as fresh fruit, yoghurt (Greek yoghurt) or a whole meal sandwich (with wheat bread) or even custard, oats to help you through that mid-morning hunger.
4. Breakfast boosts brain power
If you don’t have breakfast, you might find you feel a bit sluggish and struggle to focus on things. This is because your brain hasn’t received the energy (glucose) it needs to get going. Studies suggest that not having breakfast affects your mental performance, including your attention, ability to concentrate and memory. This can make some tasks feel harder than they normally would.
Children and adolescents who regularly eat breakfast also tend to perform better academically compared with those who skip breakfast. They also feel a greater level of connection with teachers and other adults at their school, which leads to further positive health and academic outcomes.
Despite the benefits of breakfast for your health and wellbeing, many people often skip it, for a variety of reasons. Various studies have found a range of disadvantages of skipping breakfast which are;
- You are more likely to be overweight
- You are less likely to meet recommendations for fruit and vegetable consumption
- You are more likely to consume unhealthy snacks
Studies of children and adolescents have shown that those who skip breakfast are more likely to be overweight.
There is a belief that skipping breakfast can promote weight loss. The rationale behind this is that skipping this meal will reduce the overall consumed calories. Reduced calorie intake may promote weight loss since your body burns more calories than when they are being consumed but the fact is skipping breakfast does not promote weight loss in any way. Instead, skipping breakfast is associated with increased risk of being overweight and obesity.
This goes to show that skipping breakfast might do more harm than good to your waistline.
A healthy breakfast should consist of a variety of foods. To make a healthy breakfast each day, choose one item from at least three of the following four food groups:
Fruits and vegetables: Consider fresh, whole fruits and vegetables, or 100 percent fruit juice without added sugar.
Grains: Choose whole-grain cereals, (cereals made from whole wheat, millet, oats, local rice, guinea corn) and not refined flour.
Dairy : Consider skim milk, low-fat yogurt or low-fat cheeses, such as cottage and natural cheeses.
Protein : Choose hard-boiled eggs, lean slices of meat and poultry, or fish.
Avoid breakfast loaded with simple sugars (these gets digested early and you may feel hungry soon) or dripping in oil (may cause drowsiness throughout the day)
So the talk of breakfast being the most important meal of the day is valid because of all the many benefits taking breakfast has on the body. However, breakfast may not be for everyone but this doesn’t mean that the “eat breakfast” advice is bunk, it just means the importance varies from person to person.
While skipping breakfast is not recommended, good nutrition is not just about the number of meals you have each day. If you don’t have breakfast, aim to make up for the nutritional content you missed at breakfast with your lunch and dinner.
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