Yes, what our elders told was right all along- breakfast actually is the most essential and important meal of the day.
In fact, it’s right there in the name- breakfast is the first meal of the day and it breaks the fast we’ve undergone through the long hours of the night. Many people skip breakfast and ignore negative health consequences. Although in recent years food programs have focused on this first meal of the day, some still underestimate its role. Some even think that skipping breakfast is a way to avoid calories and thus lose weight more easily. But it’s exactly the opposite: skipping breakfast promotes weight gain and other issues that affect the quality of life.
It is therefore essential to have a full and balanced breakfast. Eating in the morning helps to restore glycogen and stabilize the levels of insulin. By ignoring and not replenishing your glucose levels in the morning you will end up feeling overly hungry, irritable and fatigued. These symptoms are the first thing you’ll experience in the morning especially if you skip your morning meal.
Do you know what happens when you skip this meal? Discover it here!
1. Lack of Energy
Breakfast allows you to fill up with energy. For optimal physical and mental performance during the day, it is essential to recharge
the body with a full breakfast. The first negative consequence is, therefore, the feeling of fatigue that can last all day.
Beware! A coffee and some cookies do not make up a full breakfast. You must opt for foods rich in essential nutrients.
2. Increase in sugar level
The nutrients you bring to the body at breakfast greatly affect the sugar level. If you skip this meal or opt for unhealthy alternatives, the insulin concentration decreases and the body accumulates more sugar.
This problem is rather alarming, especially for people who may be suffering from diabetes. If you do not fix this problem, increasing glucose levels can lead to different symptoms and illnesses.
3. Food cravings
Jumping a meal promotes cravings, and cravings promote weight gain. You may have the impression, at the beginning, of saving calories, you will quickly realize that you will have more desire to eat you.
4. Emotional disturbances
Lack of essential nutrients can cause emotional disturbances. Healthy foods contain substances that improve well-being. Thus, a nutrient-poor breakfast promotes stress and irritability. If in recent times, you have noticed that your emotions are affecting your professional and family life, it may be time to see your breakfast again. It is advised to include foods that stimulate serotonin: dark chocolate, banana, avocado, among others.
5. Impaired immune system
Breakfast strengthens the immune system. The nutritional intake of breakfast has a positive effect on strengthening the immune system. Thus, skipping breakfast is one of the factors responsible for the weakening of the immune system. When the immune system fails to perform its functions properly, the body is less resistant to infections.
6. Digestive problems
Slow digestion and constipation are other negative consequences. Although many factors influence the development of digestive problems, skipping breakfast can be the trigger. It is therefore essential to include in your breakfast foods rich in fiber, fatty acids, and water. This combination helps to regulate intestinal functions and promotes the expulsion of waste. In addition, it regulates the pH of the bacterial flora and reduces the risk of gastritis and indigestion.
7. Risk of developing heart disease
According to a study by the Harvard School of Public Health, men who do not eat breakfast have a 27% higher risk of having a heart attack or severe coronary heart disease.
Research Says
German scientists wanted to verify how breakfast is said to be an important meal by evaluating the effects of this meal on our body. Published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the study included 17 healthy adults for three days. The volunteers were entitled to the same number of calories distributed in different ways during the day: the first day they were deprived of breakfast, the second they had three meals and the third day they had no dinner.
The researchers performed several blood tests to analyze levels of hormones, glucose, insulin and measure the activity of immune cells. The study found that participants burned more calories when they consumed one less meal (breakfast or dinner) but that the insulin and inflammation marker was higher when they skipped breakfast. These factors are implicated in the risk of obesity and in the development of type 2 diabetes, which tends to confirm the importance of breakfast!
Conclusion
In short, skipping breakfast promotes diabetes, overweight, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. Therefore, all of these factors directly affect the risks to the heart and brain health.
According to experts, eating a healthy breakfast is a good preventive habit. Do you have breakfast every day? Is it complete and balanced? Now that you know what are the negative consequences of a lack of nutrients in the morning when you wake up, do not skip this meal!
Remember: breakfast should be 25% of the daily needs of the body.