Many dieters think skipping breakfast is a good way to lose weight. The thinking behind this is you’re “saving” calories to eat later in the day. This may work for some. But generally most nutritionists and dieticians think breakfast is the most important meal of the day and should never be skipped.
Of course you can have a late breakfast. Sunday brunch, say, or just delay your first meal of the day. But skipping it altogether is not a short cut to weight loss for most people. Breakfast gets its name from breaking fast. The fast being while we’re asleep. Hunger is often the trigger that wakes us up. Our bodies are ready for food.
I tried having smaller breakfasts recently to allow me to eat more later in the day. I often get hunger pangs mid afternoon or after my evening meal so I thought saving 100-200 calories for such attacks of the munchies would be a good idea. It wasn’t. A breakfast of just 200 calories simply isn’t enough for me. It leaves me feeling hungry and irritable for the rest of the day. Breakfast is the building block of a healthy diet; for everyone not just people trying to lose weight. If you’re on the move and unsure when you’ll get lunch it’s a very good idea to ensure you have a proper breakfast. That way hunger won’t gnaw at you.
Some people save time by not eating breakfast. But how much time does it really save? Ten maybe 15 minutes at most? Okay so maybe you’d prefer to lie in bed for a bit longer and only get up at the last possible minute. When we’re young and bed is bliss breakfast can seem like an unnecessary luxury easily dispensed with for more zeds. But if you’re going to work or college on an empty stomach you won’t be able to concentrate as well as if you’d eaten something satisfying and filling.
The beauty of breakfast is you can fill up knowing you’ve got all day to burn it off. So it’s worth having a breakfast of at least 300 calories, maybe more. Many people find a breakfast that works for them then stick to it. Perhaps because it saves thinking about it when you’ve just got up and are still a bit groggy. So whereas we’ll vary what we have for lunch and our evening meal we tend to eat the same thing every morning.
For me that’s a generous portion of richly-roasted crunchy peanut butter (without palm oil) on a thick piece of seeded wholemeal toast. Depending on how generous the serving it can be as much as 350 calories or even 400. Sounds like a lot. That’s because it is. But it means I can keep going often till early or even mid afternoon without eating again. Longish periods between meals is supposed to help boost weight loss in a way that skipping breakfast doesn’t.
If you’re up for it, going for a short brisk walk before breakfast makes that first meal of the day even more blissful. What can be better than returning from a bout of endorphin-boosting exercise, hot shower, hotter coffee and whatever your favourite breakfast is. Start the day feeling good. Feeling full so you don’t think about food all morning.
Happy eating. More next week.