If you think you are doing yourself a favor by skipping breakfast, then think again. Eating a healthy breakfast is a key component to any weight loss program. Breakfast is important because you are “breaking the fast” from the past 12 hours or so since you ate dinner and while you were sleeping.
If you regularly skip breakfast and don’t consume enough calories, your energy levels will soon drop off and your metabolism will slow down. The body can easily slip into starvation mode which means it becomes efficient at hoarding fat in order to conserve energy.
When your metabolism slows, your body will want to rest and store energy in the form of fat thinking it’s in a state of hibernation. The body also won’t produce enough hormones required for fat metabolism. This can sabotage your weight loss efforts.
Individuals who skip breakfast actually increase their risk of weight gain. Research shows that those who miss breakfast were four times more likely to be overweight.
Another important reason to eat breakfast is because studies show that those who skip breakfast tend to make up for it later in the day by consuming extra calories on not-so-healthy snacks to fill the hunger void.
Eating a healthy breakfast is essential to losing weight. It’s a great way to boost your metabolism. To help make breakfast your most important meal of the day, try these sensible tips:
1. Consume protein at breakfast.
Begin your day with a high protein breakfast. Protein at breakfast is a very important strategy for weight loss. In 2008, a research study at Virginia Commonwealth University found that dieters who ate a protein rich breakfast of about 600 calories lost significantly more weight in 8 months than those who consumed a quarter of the protein and only 300 calories.
Another study in the British Journal of Nutrition showed that eating extra protein at breakfast helps you feel fuller, longer. This helps prevent mindless snacking before lunch. High protein foods take longer to digest. This means the stomach empties more slowly and you will feel fuller longer and get hungrier later. Eating protein at breakfast will also reduce food cravings.
2. Breakfast ideas for the busy person.
If you don’t have time to cook eggs for breakfast, consider these quick protein-rich breakfast alternatives:
– Peanut butter and a banana.
– Almond butter and an apple.
– Low sugar protein bar.
– Protein smoothie.
– Hard boiled egg and an orange.
– Greek yogurt, no sugar added.
– Turkey bacon and a pear.
Protein is an important nutrient for weight loss and can help slim your waistline and build lean muscle tissue. The importance of eating high protein foods at breakfast is because it take more time to metabolize or turn into energy which means the body uses more calories during the digestive process. Protein at breakfast can also help stabilize your appetite throughout the day. Bon appetite
