“All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast .” – John Gunther
They say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and they’re completely right! Did you know that breakfast can actually help with weight loss and living a healthy lifestyle? Breakfast is one of the most commonly skipped meals for all individuals. Whether it’s due to being in a rush to get to work/school, wanting to get a few extra minutes of sleep, or feeling nauseous from waking up, breakfast is typically overlooked. Here are a few reasons why you should be consuming breakfast:
Here are 4 reasons why you need breakfast in order to reach your goals!
1. Gives You Fuel for the Day
No matter what your daily activities and responsibilities look like, you need something to fuel yourself in order to give you energy throughout the day. When you consume that healthy fuel in the morning, you are more likely to be productive and have more energy throughout the day than an individual who did not consume breakfast. Not only does breakfast giver you fuel, but it also boosts your metabolism. When you consume nutrients soon after waking up, it gets your metabolism moving quickly as well as turning over those nutrients into energy.
2. Keeps You Full for Longer
Although snacking is not a bad thing, as long as you are mindful and choosing healthy options, having a large nutrient dense breakfast will keep you full for longer. In the long run, this can save you time throughout your day in not having to set aside extra time to pack a snack or having to get up and grab one in the middle of something as often. It will also lead to having less food cravings and aid in avoiding overeating. If you are consuming all of the macronutrients (carbohydrates, fats, and protein) in your breakfast, you will fully satisfy that feeling of hunger first thing in the morning.
3. Encourages Healthy Eating Throughout the Day
When individuals don’t set aside the time to make something to eat, or have a meal prepped for them in advance, they are more likely to grab a not so healthy option. Most grab-and-go items typically contain more trans and saturated fats in order to keep their shelf life longer and make them portable. When you set aside the time to make or prepare breakfast, you can thoroughly think about what type of nutrient dense meal you will consume. Studies have shown that when individuals start their morning off right with a healthy meal, it can set them up for consuming more healthy/nutrient dense foods throughout the day. Having these healthier meals aid in weight loss and positive effects for the body overall.
4. Helps You Meet the Suggested Amount of Necessary Daily Nutrients
RDAs, also known as Recommended Dietary Allowances, are the recommended value of certain nutrients that our bodies should consume every day. Breakfast is a great meal to include the variety and nutrient dense foods that meet a sufficient amount of our RDAs. This is because there is a wide variety of items that could be added to breakfast dishes. It can be a fun meal to get creative and add foods containing specific vitamins and minerals that you could be missing your RDAs for. Consuming breakfast has been seen to decrease risk for chronic diseases due to this increase of meeting RDAs.
Some Breakfast Recommendations:
- Whole Grain Oats
- Great source of fiber and protein
- Can add fruits, nut butter for healthy fats, chia seeds, and many more
- Complex carbohydrate that keeps you full for a long period of time
- Easy to meal prep as overnight oats, baked oats, or make quick in the microwave
- Eggs
- Protein, calcium, vitamin d sources
- Quick and easy cooking
- Can be paired with many foods to get more nutrients such as avocados, cottage cheese, whole grain toast, tortillas for breakfast burritos, etc…
- Can also be meal prepped as egg bites or egg bakes and set aside in the fridge
- Quinoa Breakfast Bowls
- Packed with all three macronutrients (healthy carbs and fats as well as protein)
- Can make it your own by adding your favorite ingredients (ex: eggs, arugula, spinach, feta, meat, etc)
Takeaway:
Next time you are about to walk out the door without being fully nourished on a good breakfast, don’t rush out empty handed. Remember these main points: breakfast fuels your day, keeps you full for longer, helps you make future healthy choices, and fulfills essential nutrients your body needs to stay healthy. Don’t underestimate the power of a nourishing breakfast!
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