Breakfast is often referred to as the most important meal of the day. However, just like most things in nutrition the answer to the question ‘Is breakfast the most important meal of the day?’ is complex. Even researchers have conflicting opinions with some saying that skipping breakfast is harmful and others suggesting otherwise.
Breakfast literally means “to break the fast.” It is usually the first meal of the day after a stretch of not eating overnight. It earned its tittle as the most important meal of the day in the 1960s after American nutritionist Adelle Davis suggested that one should “eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper,” to keep fit and avoid obesity.
Moreover, breakfast replenishes the supply of glucose in the body to boost energy levels, alertness, and at the same time providing other essential nutrients required for good health.
Many studies link eating breakfast to some health benefits, including, better memory and concentration, reduced risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease in the long term. For instance, Cahill et al. (2013) documented a 27% increase in coronary heart disease amongst those North American men who regularly failed to eat a meal at the start of the day. Likewise, some researchers even argue that the morning meal helps in weight management.
Nonetheless, it is not yet clear if breakfast causes these healthy habits or if people who eat it have healthier lifestyles. However, it is true that skipping the morning meal can throw off your body’s rhythm of fasting and eating. This is because when you wake up, the blood sugar your body requires to make your muscles and brain work their best is usually low. Thence, breakfast helps to replenish it.
Studies reveal that one should consume about 15 to 25% of their daily energy intake at breakfast.
Cultural Variations on Breakfast
People from different walks of life tend to eat various kinds and types of food at various times of the day. Despite these cultural variations, there exists a good deal of consistency within diverse cultures in terms of the kinds of food items they choose to consume at the start of the day.
As much as having breakfast is expected to improve mental alertness and energy, you should always eat healthy. For instance, most people drink coffee because they believe, erroneously as it turns out, that it improves their alertness.
Health experts recommend eating a substantial well-balanced breakfast that delivers its energy slowly over the course of the morning. Failure to eat a healthy and well-balanced breakfast may have a negative effect on your cognitive performance.
Despite breakfast being important for healthy living some people still choose to skip it. However, this is a mistake as you need food in your system long before lunch hour. Skipping the morning meal may have you getting so hungry later that you snack on high-fat, high-sugar foods which are not healthy.
Ideas for Healthy Breakfast Foods
Studies show that most people are more likely to eat breakfast if easy-to-prepare breakfast foods are readily available at home. If you enjoy breakfast, begin your day with nutritious foods that are a bit easy to prepare to also motivate you to eat the morning meal.
Some of these easy to prepare meals include eggs, oatmeal, whole-grain toast, chia seeds, cottage cheese, avocado and nuts.
Nonetheless, a healthy breakfast should consist of a variety of foods. To make a healthy breakfast every day choose one item from at least three of the following four food groups:
- Fruits and vegetables – try and eat fresh whole fruits and vegetables, or 100 percent fruit juice without added sugar.
- Grains – You may consider eating whole-grain cereals, and not refined flour.
- Dairy – You may consider taking skim milk, low-fat yogurt, or low-fat cheeses, such as cottage and natural cheeses.
- Protein – You may consider eating lentils and dals, hard-boiled eggs, lean slices of meat and poultry, or fish.
Furthermore, avoid breakfast loaded with simple sugars as they get digested fast thus leaving you feeling hungry soon. Also avoid breakfast with so much oil as it may cause drowsiness throughout the day.
Also Read: Why You Need to Reduce Your Consumption of Wheat
Why Breakfast is Important
It is important to replenish your energy in the morning to avoid having a slow day. Therefore, never take lightly the advice to always have your morning meal. You may ignore the advice, but researchers have given us more reasons to avoid skipping the most important meal of the day. Here are a few reasons why breakfast is important.
Breakfast Replenishes Your Energy
The body gets its energy from glucose. The glucose is broken down and absorbed from the carbohydrates we consume. Most of this energy is stored as fat while some is stored as glycogen in the liver and muscles.
When you are not eating like over the night, the liver breaks down glycogen and releases it into your bloodstream as glucose to keep your blood sugar levels stable. Hence, when you wake up in the morning, the glycogen levels are low or used up in which case the body starts to break down fatty acids to produce the energy it requires. However, the fatty acids are only moderately oxidized, which can reduce your energy levels.
Therefore, eating breakfast will restore your glycogen levels which in turn keeps your metabolism up, hence boosting your energy. Research also shows that even with a higher intake of energy, people who eat breakfast tend to be more physically active in the morning than those who don’t eat until later in the day.
Breakfast Boosts Brainpower
Since the brain relies almost entirely on glucose for energy, failure to eat breakfast to feed your brain with the energy it requires may get you feeling sluggish and unfocussed in the morning. Moreover, studies suggest that not skipping breakfast may affect your mental performance. For instance, your attention, ability to concentrate and memory.
When you are sluggish and lack focus, tasks that would normally be easy to perform may seem harder than usual. Likewise, children and adolescents who regularly eat breakfast tend to perform better academically compared with those who skip breakfast.
Breakfast May Help Control Body Weight
Researchers argue that people who eat breakfast are less likely to be overweight or obese. However, there is no definite conclusion as studies are still underway.
Nonetheless, it is argued that breakfast may help in controlling weight issues because it prevents large variations in your blood glucose levels, hence helping to control your appetite. In addition, breakfast gets you full before you are too hungry, hence one is less likely to just take any food they come across when hunger strikes (for example high energy, high fat foods with added sugars or salt).
Breakfast Contains Essential Vitamins, Minerals and Nutrients
Most foods eaten during breakfast are rich in key nutrients such as folate, calcium, iron, vitamin B and fibre. As a result, this morning meal provides a lot of your day’s total nutrient intake. Furthermore, people who eat breakfast are more likely to meet their recommended daily intake of vitamins and minerals than people who skip the first meal of the day.
Consumption of essential vitamins, minerals and other nutrients is important for maintaining a healthy body and lifestyle.
Breakfast Helps One Make Better Food Choices
People who eat breakfast most of the of the time have healthy diets, better eating habits and are less likely to look for snacks during the day than people who skip breakfast. This is because those who skip breakfast tend to nibble on snacks during the mid-morning or afternoon.
Nibbling on snacks that are low on fibre, vitamins, and minerals but high in fat and salt may bring potential health problems to the body. Without the extra energy that breakfast offers, some people feel lethargic and turn to high-energy food and drinks to get them through the day. It is advisable to try a nutritious snack such as fresh fruit, yoghurt, veggie sticks or a whole meal sandwich to help you through that mid-morning hunger.
Also Read: “Good Nutrition Key in Child Development,” Demographic Health Survey
The breakfast issue is a personal choice. There are both positive and negative thoughts associated with eating or skipping the morning meal. Researchers have made several recommendations but there is no conclusive evidence suggesting whether breakfast is the most important meal of the day or not. However, it is always best to eat healthy foods.