There are many reasons people give for not eating breakfast and, among them are not having enough time, not feeling like eating, no readily available breakfast food in the house, or for weight loss. Various research from different countries however, have shown that skipping breakfast make people gain weight instead of the intended weight loss and that skipping breakfast is a contributing factor in obesity.
But why does skipping breakfast causes weight gain? The body responds to not eating food for many hours by “slowing down,” decreasing its metabolic rate and burning fewer calories to conserve energy. Skipping breakfast is bad for health because people who skip it tend to eat unhealthy snacks and/or eat more at lunch or at dinner and graze throughout the day; with slowed metabolism and with more food eaten, more calories is retained by the body resulting in weight increase.
Now, we should be wiser knowing that skipping breakfast is not good for weight loss. But besides the benefit of breakfast for the purpose of losing weight, breakfast has many other benefits.
What then are the benefits of eating breakfast? Why eat a healthy breakfast?
A breakfast high in nutrition is good for our health. A healthy breakfast replenishes our body’s supply of glucose which comes from the breakdown of food in the body. Glucose in the blood is our body’s main source of energy. The brain in particular needs a fresh supply of glucose each day and it is the brain’s main source of energy. Our muscles also rely on a fresh supply of blood glucose throughout the day for physical activity. Eating breakfast improves the total daily nutrient intake and is associated with being more productive and efficient in the morning hours. People who eat breakfast tend to experience better concentration, problem solving ability, strength and endurance. A healthy breakfast that provides good nutrition is not only good for physical fitness but for mental fitness as well.
Those who eat breakfast do better at work and school. People who eat breakfast are more alert and do better on tests than people who skip breakfast. Eating breakfast helps improve memory and aids learning, and makes us better able to concentrate in learning and retain new information. Conversely, a hungry child can be irritable, disinterested, and apathetic when confronted with a difficult task. Undoubtedly, adults need breakfast as much as kids do.
Eating a healthy breakfast in the morning enhances our metabolism and sets the tone for our body for the rest of the day. Eating a healthy breakfast would jump-start your day, give you energy and can help you eat in moderation at lunch and dinner. A breakfast that provide good nutrition, high in fiber and low in fat (e.g., oatmeal with skim milk, low-fat yogurt; if you like add a fruit), may make a major contribution to a total reduced food intake for the day. Breakfast also helps boosts our body’s metabolism so it is able to more quickly break down the foods eaten later in the day, helping us to lose weight.
References:
www.medicalnewstoday.com 26 Jul 2003
http://health.usnews.com Mar 03, 2008
www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au april 12, 2009
http://www.womenfitness.net