November 4, 2022
Breakfast is much more than simply delicious pancakes and creamy chocolaty oats or Instagrammable avo toasts. Breakfast matters more than you may think.
Breakfast is much more than simply delicious pancakes and creamy chocolaty oats or Instagrammable avo toasts. Breakfast matters more than you may think.
As the word itself describes it, it breaks a fast.
Meaning, you have been fasting throughout the whole night while you were asleep. Thus, making it extremely important to kick start your day on a healthy note.
Breakfast regulates our level of energy, hunger, anxiety, and mental alertness throughout the day.
So, today we are going to be looking into why breakfast is so important for your fitness journey and for a healthy and balanced diet.
And besides being basically my favourite meal of the day, it has so much to offer, so let’s look into this in today’s article.
Here are some of the main benefits of having breakfast:
You probably heard this a lot of times, and for a good reason: “eat breakfast like a king”, “champions’ breakfast”, “breakfast is the most important meal of the day”, and so much more...
No wonder why breakfast is so important - it even has its own sayings... The thing with breakfast is that since it is the first meal of the day and it breaks your fast, your body is more receptive to the nutrients that you’re going to feed it with. So, if you provide your body with a healthy and nutritious first meal of the day, then it will more likely absorb all the nutrient-dense foods you will include in your breakfast, such as the vitamins and minerals in your fruits, veggies, and eggs.
So, making a healthy breakfast is the best way to start your day. Besides, from a psychological standpoint, it sets the tone of your day. Therefore, if you have an unhealthy breakfast you’ll be most likely to keep eating unhealthy foods throughout the day. However, if you have a healthy breakfast you will be setting yourself up for success for the rest of the day. In exchange, you’ll be much more likely to keep choosing healthier options later on.
After a good night’s sleep, the body is hungry for nutrients and energy to carry out its daily activities. If you skip breakfast, liver glucose stores deplete and fatigue and energy loss may occur. So, the body starts using other sources of energy, such as muscle mass, to get energy. Besides after your first meal, your body starts activating all its bodily functions again, such as digestion, thus kickstarting your metabolism and your natural ability to burn fat for fuel.
Having said that, a good breakfast should represent at least 25% of your daily caloric intake and it should include nutrient-dense foods, such as veggies, fruits, dairy, whole cereals, and nuts.
A healthy breakfast may look completely different from person to person. That is exactly the magic of this meal! You can make healthy look fun and tasty, and it is so versatile you can have many different types of breakfast ranging from savoury to umami to Sweet!
That is definitely why breakfast is my favourite meal of the day because it is so versatile that you can have any sort of flavour that you want to start your day with. So, my breakfasts never look the same, I enjoy eating a variety of foods.
As a typical Gemini, I tend to get bored very easily, so I need variety in my life, and food is not an exception!
I enjoy having both savoury and sweet breakfast, and the cool thing is that there are so many great recipes in the Tone And Sculpt App that can help you achieve that. Besides, having a variety of foods is a good way to ensure that your body receives all the nutrients and minerals it needs.
A nutritious breakfast (and any other meals too) should have all macronutrients: Protein, carbs, and fats. In addition, it should also contain fibre and micronutrients. But let’s break these down a little, so you can understand how your breakfast should look like:
PROTEINS
Some of the most breakfast-friendly proteins you can find are eggs and egg whites, which have a decent amount of protein amounting to 13 grams per every 100 grams, which is a lot! Whey protein, which contains 20 grams of protein per scoop and can be easily added to smoothies and oats. Greek yoghurt with approximately 17 grams of protein per serving! And if you’re like me and love cooking ALL by yourself, I have a recipe for greek yoghurt over here. Finally, peanut butter is very high in protein, with over 3.5 grams of protein per tablespoon. However, peanut butter is quite high in fats.
HEALTHY FATS
Avocado, nuts and seeds, egg yolks, and milk are great options. Fats are extremely important, especially for hormones. Your body needs good fats to synthesize hormones and balance your hormonal levels, so if you suffer from hypothyroidism or Hashimoto’s like me, then don’t avoid fats at all! You need them!
CARBS, FIBRE, AND MICRONUTRIENTS
I add these all under the same category because they go hand in hand. Fruits and vegetables (bananas, berries, spinach, red bell peppers, etc), as well as whole cereals (oats, quinoa, healthy granola), provide a lot of fibre and water-soluble vitamins and minerals that participate in different functions of the body.
So, eat the rainbow, play around with food and enjoy your breakfast because it will likely set you up for success in the long term. Don’t ever be scared of food, food is fuel and it can transform you from the inside out.
I am Mechi, a 28-year-old fitness enthusiast from Argentina. I fell in love with the healthy lifestyle 4 years ago after going through the worst moment of my life: Losing my father and my best friend.
I was overweight and in terrible shape. I smoked and couldn’t even walk up the stairs without feeling pain and agitated. I suffered from knee problems that would lead to getting a fake knee: But fitness saved my life, my knee, and most importantly, my mental health. After losing 30 kg (66 lbs) through strength training, a healthy diet (I love cooking), and the help of neuroscience & behavioural psychology which helped me build the discipline to stick to my meal and workout plans long enough to see real results.
I not only realised I changed my body completely, but the way I saw the world: My mindset shifted 360º from being a negative person with a victim mentality to becoming a strong, independent woman that sticks to her words and plans and that is completely positive about life.
