Eating Breakfast Helps You Lose Weight

It is suggested that your breakfast, followed by lunch, should be the meal of the day with the highest number of calories and and the greatest nutritional value. Your dinner should be small. This formula helps us to stay healthy.

Obesity is one of the major problems in the developing as well as the developed world. Research shows that those who eat breakfast are less likely to be overweight and more likely to be within their ideal weight range compared with breakfast skippers. If we skip breakfast, we are more likely to reach for snacks with a high sugar and fat content during the day and in the evening, which thus leads to an increased risk of obesity.

In the morning, we are stuck in our beds like a magnet and it is easy to put having breakfast low on our list of priorities, but taking just a few minutes to have something to eat can really make a difference to our day. The occurrence of obesity has been shown to be significantly higher in those who skip breakfast in comparison to those who eat breakfast (43.9% vs. 25.1%: in reference to the Relationship between Breakfast Skipping and Obesity among the Elderly: Cross-sectional Analysis of the HEIJO-KYO study.

Breakfast provides both the body and the brain with fuel after an overnight fast – and this is where the name originates, breaking the fast. It kick-starts our metabolism, helping us burn calories throughout the day.

However, in developing countries such as Nepal, people go directly to the field or work without having breakfast and they have to wait longer for lunch. Most people in developing countries skip breakfast.

There are various benefits to having breakfast. Everyone knows that food provides us with energy – but, apart from that, breakfast is a good source of important nutrients such as calcium, iron, and Vitamin B as well as protein and fiber.

Especially in the developing world, where undernourishment is a problem, making people in rural communities aware of the benefits of nutrition has to be prioritized.

Nutritionists advise us to eat breakfast within two hours of waking and a healthy breakfast should provide calories in the range of 20-35% of our guideline daily allowance (GDA). Many people skip breakfast because they are rushing to get out the door. That’s a mistake. We need food in our system long before lunchtime. If you don’t eat first thing, you may get so hungry later on that you snack on high fat, high sugar foods.

Our best bet is a mix of foods that have carbohydrates, protein, healthy fats, and fiber. Carbohydrates will give you energy immediately and protein will give it to you later on. Fiber ensures that you feel full. Try a whole-grain cereal, low-fat milk, and fruit, or a breakfast smoothie made with low-fat yogurt and fruit. Nuts or whole-grain granola bars are also easy options.

Various benefits of breakfast

Breakfast helps us to keep focused for the coming day, whether we are at work or simply getting on with our daily routines. There’s nothing worse than being constantly aware that we are hungry and counting the minutes until lunchtime. Eating food in the morning not only fuels us until lunchtime but actually gives our brains the essential energy to function and concentrate better on tasks.

Breakfast is of utmost importance for controlling our appetite. Those that are calorie-conscious could be forgiven for thinking that missing a meal will help them lose weight, but in fact, the opposite may happen instead. If we don’t eat breakfast, we’re much more likely to end up snacking throughout the morning, which could lead to an intake of “unhealthy” calories. We should stay away from overly-refined snacks with added sugar, and, if we feel like snacking, fresh fruit and vegetables are what we need.

Breakfast also gives us energy. This may not come as a surprise, but if we don’t eat, we simply won’t feel so great. This particulary applies to our first meal of the day. Our bodies need the energy to function, and that energy comes from food. As soon as we start eating in the morning, we start a chemical process in our bodies that gives us energy and prepares us for the day ahead.

Studies amongst children have shown that breakfast can improve attainment, behaviour and has been linked to improved grades. Just like any other organ in the body, the brain needs energy to work at its best.

Breakfast helps to keep us healthy in the long term. Eating breakfast has long-term health benefits, by reducing obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, fatigue while at the same time improving productivity, giving us the essential nutrients we need and preventing insulin resistance.

When having breakfast, it is an excellent occasion to eat together as a family when possible. Establishing good breakfast habits in childhood and maintaining them throughout adolescence may be an important factor in reducing the prevalence of breakfast skipping and developing good eating habits that last a lifetime. Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day!

Credits

Image	Title	Author	License
	Muesli with strawberries-	Derrick Brutel	CC BY-SA 2.0