You’ve probably heard the phrase “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day” – but do you know why? There are two main components to this philosophy; one is “when we eat breakfast,” and the second is “what we eat for breakfast.”
The Timing of Breakfast
Breakfast is the meal which breaks our fast. Because of this definition, breakfast can be eaten at different hours in the day depending on your eating habits or rituals. For example, if you are committed to a 16-hour fasting period, you may not be eating breakfast before noon. For others, eating shortly after waking is part of their normal routine. Regardless of the time of day that your first meal is consumed, it is considered breakfast. To determine the best time to consume that first meal, it is important that you understand how your body utilizes the energy from breakfast; then you can make the decision to eat your first meal of the day, early or later, consistent with your goals. For optimal body or brain function, (especially if rigorous exercise is part of the daily plan) it is necessary to have a healthy breakfast to ensure your tank is full.
Scientific studies have shown that eating breakfast sends a message to your body that there will be plenty of fuel to burn for the day. This is important because the alternative is that your body will go into a “starvation state” and slow down certain functions in order to preserve energy for necessary executive functions.
What you eat for Breakfast
Perhaps, more important than when we eat breakfast, is what we eat for that first meal of the day. There are several reasons it is particularly important to eat a healthy breakfast.
First, if you eat a breakfast full of sugar (and other additives) your insulin spikes with a very short term burst of energy. You are familiar with that child that runs around while hopped up on sugar, to be shortly followed by a meltdown – or –as adults, having energy one minute, then bonking the next. You will “crash” quickly and not have the energy you need to sustain you for any length of time. Likewise, when you crash, you will also not have the clarity and focus that is important for you to perform mentally and physically for the rest of the day.
Second, for those of us that are concerned about how much we eat, in the absence of a nutritionally rounded and nutrient-dense, low sugar breakfast, we will feel hungry shortly after we eat that first meal of the day. Our bodies do not treat all calories equally!
Basically, what we eat for breakfast regardless of the time will dictate how we feel for the rest of the day.
This is why, at READ THE INGREDIENTS, it is our commitment to offer one of the best tasting, nutritionally complete, low sugar, and most convenient options for breakfast no matter what time you start your day!