Just as countless mothers and grandmas have long insisted, breakfast really is the most important meal of the day. Eating a healthy breakfast can set you up for a successful day at work by keeping energy levels steady and helping you resist junk food snacks and high calorie lunches.
Unfortunately, it’s also probably the meal that’s most often skipped. That’s a serious mistake according to nutrition expert Julie Schwartz.
“People need to understand that the word breakfast literally means ‘break fast.’ We've been fasting for many hours as we sleep and breakfast is the fuel to get our body started, energized and nourished to meet the demands of the day,” Schwartz, a registered dietician and certified wellness coach, tells Synergy. “Our blood sugar is often at a low if we don’t eat in the morning and it's hard to focus and concentrate with low blood sugar. It stands to reason that adults – as well as children – perform better during the day when they eat a nourishing breakfast.”
The breakfast and weight control connectionIf you want to lose weight, opting out of breakfast is a great way to cut calories and drop pounds, right? Wrong. In fact, it’s a surefire way to sabotage reaching your dieting goal.
Researchers have found that weight loss can be harder and gaining extra pounds easier if you skip breakfast. According to the Mayo Clinic web site, not eating that first meal of the day raises the odds you’ll eat more food than usual at your next meal. You’re more likely to grab too many snacks during your work day, too.
In fact, the relationship between not eating breakfast and being overweight appears to be significant. A large study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology found that people who skipped breakfast most mornings had a four and a half times higher risk of obesity than those who ate breakfast regularly. Even missing the morning meal just one day or so a week increased the risk of obesity in this study which looked at over 5,000 research subjects.
Going without breakfast can also impact where you store excess fat. The prolonged fasting increases your body’s response to insulin, the hormone secreted by the pancreas that helps maintain optimal blood sugar levels. The result? Skip breakfast regularly and fat can be more easily stored – appearing right around your middle, creating the dreaded “spare tire.”
Another reason avoiding breakfast can lead to weight gain: you may have less energy, leading to decreased physical activity so you’ll burn up fewer calories. If you’ve already shed some pounds, skipping breakfast isn’t a good way to maintain your weight loss, either. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) notes that eating breakfast every day is a common trait among people who have lost weight and kept it off. The American Journal of Epidemiology study found that nearly 80 percent of people who had lost a large amount of weight and kept it off for over five years regularly ate breakfast.
No more “no breakfast” excusesSome people skip breakfast for a simple reason – they don’t have an appetite first thing in the morning. It’s okay to not eat as soon as you get out of bed, as long as you don’t put off your morning meal for too long. “Aiming to eat within one to two hours of waking is a great goal,” says Schwartz, owner of NutriWell Coaching and Yoga in the metro Atlanta area.
Another excuse for rushing out the door in the morning without eating is lack of time. However, with a little planning, you can easily work breakfast into your routine. Cut and prepare fruit the night before and keep easy to prepare breakfast foods on hand, such as high fiber, low sugar whole grain cereals.
More suggestions for quick, healthy breakfasts from nutrition expert Julie Schwartz:
- Oatmeal with dried fruit and nuts (you can make it quickly at home or in the microwave at work).
- A yogurt parfait easily made by spooning layers of Greek yogurt, fruit and low fat granola into a bowl.
- A peanut butter and jelly sandwich on whole grain bread plus a banana.
- An instant low-calorie vitamin- rich meal replacement drink (such as Carnation Instant Breakfast, Slim Fast and Ensure) and a piece of fruit.
- A scrambled egg (which only takes two minutes to cook in the microwave) on whole grain toast or spooned into a whole wheat wrap and eaten with a serving of fruit.
- An omelet with variety of veggies served in a wrap, on toast or an English muffin.
- A turkey sandwich with lettuce and tomato.
If you are running late and must grab a take-out breakfast on the go, what are the best choices? Schwartz notes that most drive-through, fast food restaurants now offer some healthy picks. Order an a la carte egg, an English muffin (ask for it without butter and, if it comes with an egg, hold the cheese), a side bowl of fruit, yogurt or oatmeal with dried fruit and nuts.
However, if you stop and think about it, breakfast in the drive-through lane isn’t necessarily a time saver. “ Interestingly, it probably takes about the same time to get these quick grabs as it is to make them at home, especially the breakfast items you can make ahead of time,” Schwartz points out.
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Sherry Baker is a writer from Atlanta, Georgia. She last wrote the article on 
