This Common Morning Routine can Crush Your Energy Levels
Breakfast, we eat it almost every day without a second thought. It has become a kin to brushing our teeth, combing our hair, or commuting to work. It's just a part of our schedule. Almost all of us are told that we have to eat breakfast every day in order to feel our best and be on top of our game. Afterall, it’s the healthy thing to do! Our mothers and fathers told us it’s the “most important meal of the day!” We are often told that it boosts our metabolism, helps us lose weight, and can help lower our cholesterol. But where do all these myths come from?
A lot of the studies that show these benefits are often loaded with conflicts of interest and misleading data.
To begin, a lot of studies done in the 1990’s and early 2000’s were funded and conducted by companies with a vested interest in selling your breakfast products whether that be cereal, granola bars, oatmeal, or other things. Most of these studies completely ignored the fact that correlation does not always equal causation. They mentioned nothing about how those who eat breakfast are more likely to have a more organized day in other aspects of health such as sleep and exercise schedule. Also many who do skip breakfast are doing so out of guilt of binge eating unhealthy foods. In other words many of those who skipped breakfast and other meals did so out of guilt about a previous meal more so than skipping it as an organized meal plan. Those who skipped breakfast were also more likely to engage in smoking and excessive drinking. These are just some of the noted examples, but in research you can hardly ever account for every single factor.
As a justification for needing to eat breakfast, we are told it boosts our metabolism and prevents us from overeating later. However, your metabolism does not change based on when you eat. Our muscle mass, your daily activity level are what affects our metabolism most of all.
Weight loss can be summed up as calories in, calories out. Want to lose weight, consume less than you burn. If you specifically want to lose more fat while maintaining your muscles mass, that is where a strength training routine, and getting enough protein and healthy fat plays a crucial role. Want to lower your cholesterol, blood pressure, or improve your health in general, be sure to do all the things above and eat nutrient dense foods. Whatever time of day it may be, if you want to live healthier getting your nutrients and exercise in is what matters most. A bowl of cornflakes or a granola bar in the morning won’t help you with any of that.
Skipping breakfast or other meals throughout the day can actually have substantial health benefits. Intermittent Fasting is one of the most effective ways to up our energy levels, lower our body fat percentage, and provide a slew of other overall health benefits. How does it burn fat and make our energy levels rise you may wonder? It does so by teaching our body to burn ketones (fat energy) as a fuel source rather than need to constantly rely on sugar and starch. It is for that reason that eating food containing a lot of processed carbs and sugar gives as that pre lunch and 2:30 crash we so often feel. The quick energy from our lousy breakfasts and lunches is used up and our body reacts by craving more sugar for more quick energy. As a result we have little control over our appetite. This hurts us not just physically buy psychologically as well.
This is why another benefit to intermittent fasting is the time that we save. When you fast you have more time on your hands, and you also have fewer meals that you need to plan out. It is far easier to plan and keep track of 1 or 2 balanced meals a day than 6. By forcing ourselves to always eat breakfast no matter how unhealthy the food may be, we are denying ourselves many of these great benefits.
But these breakfast myths go above and beyond just a little bit of biased research. What really made breakfast “The Most Important Meal of the Day!” was really good marketing. You still see it today! A marketing message to the tone of “be sure to eat breakfast before your big day” is probably a message you have seen and heard all too often, repeated in different tones.
Everything from shaming parents who let their kids skip breakfast, to using skipping breakfast as a scapegoat for why you are having problems in life is on the table. We get it engrained into our head that having our kids skip a meal once in a while is child abuse and something they will never recover from. And we are often told that the one thing holding you back from getting that promotion or making it to that dream school is a good healthy breakfast, specifically the sugar loaded high glycemic breakfast we are pitched in the commercials. Seeing the current obesity epidemic among both adults and children shows that if anything we need to be teaching ourselves and our kids control over portions and meal timing. Calories in, calories out are what makes us gain weight. Having enough nutrition in our diet is what helps us grow and develop.
This isn’t to say that eating any breakfast is a bad thing. Eating a quick unhealthy meal at any time of day is not going to be good for your energy levels and quality of life. If you do eat breakfast, do so because you are hungry and like with any meal satiate your hunger with healthy food not a quick snack. Look for healthy fats and proteins like eggs, avocadoes, unsweetened yogurt, and nuts. Fruits, oats, and anything with sugar especially can be undercover energy crash foods. Their glycemic index is high meaning that they are more likely to give you a quick rush of energy, which is something you would need for a workout more than a steady release of energy to keep you satiated for your other day to day tasks.
If you still are craving something sweet try something with more nutrition and antioxidants in the morning like dark chocolate. While chocolates with 40% or even less cocoa solids are still often marketed as dark chocolate, ideally aim for something that is at least 70% cocoa to get the most benefits. However, the darker the better. A 90% cocoa Dark Chocolate Bar for example will have 3 times less sugar than one that is 70% cacao!
So if eating breakfast works for you, enjoy a wholesome nutritious breakfast, and include it in your daily meal planning. If it helps you with your fitness and life goals, don’t stop! For your own peace of mind though don’t eat something for the sake of eating something, because eating a nutritionless breakfast will always do you more harm than good especially long term. When it comes to the emphasis of how important breakfast is, guilt tripping, misleading statistics, and a successful marketing campaign are all that is behind it. A balanced breakfast is not a bad thing, but don’t force yourself to do it for health reasons, it has nothing to do with it.
Leo Gabriel, Revivalize Inc.
Sources:
[1] https://www.bmj.com/content/364/bmj.l42
[2] https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.113.001474
[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7809455/
Go Back A lot of the studies that show these benefits are often loaded with conflicts of interest and misleading data.
To begin, a lot of studies done in the 1990’s and early 2000’s were funded and conducted by companies with a vested interest in selling your breakfast products whether that be cereal, granola bars, oatmeal, or other things. Most of these studies completely ignored the fact that correlation does not always equal causation. They mentioned nothing about how those who eat breakfast are more likely to have a more organized day in other aspects of health such as sleep and exercise schedule. Also many who do skip breakfast are doing so out of guilt of binge eating unhealthy foods. In other words many of those who skipped breakfast and other meals did so out of guilt about a previous meal more so than skipping it as an organized meal plan. Those who skipped breakfast were also more likely to engage in smoking and excessive drinking. These are just some of the noted examples, but in research you can hardly ever account for every single factor.
As a justification for needing to eat breakfast, we are told it boosts our metabolism and prevents us from overeating later. However, your metabolism does not change based on when you eat. Our muscle mass, your daily activity level are what affects our metabolism most of all.
Weight loss can be summed up as calories in, calories out. Want to lose weight, consume less than you burn. If you specifically want to lose more fat while maintaining your muscles mass, that is where a strength training routine, and getting enough protein and healthy fat plays a crucial role. Want to lower your cholesterol, blood pressure, or improve your health in general, be sure to do all the things above and eat nutrient dense foods. Whatever time of day it may be, if you want to live healthier getting your nutrients and exercise in is what matters most. A bowl of cornflakes or a granola bar in the morning won’t help you with any of that.
Skipping breakfast or other meals throughout the day can actually have substantial health benefits. Intermittent Fasting is one of the most effective ways to up our energy levels, lower our body fat percentage, and provide a slew of other overall health benefits. How does it burn fat and make our energy levels rise you may wonder? It does so by teaching our body to burn ketones (fat energy) as a fuel source rather than need to constantly rely on sugar and starch. It is for that reason that eating food containing a lot of processed carbs and sugar gives as that pre lunch and 2:30 crash we so often feel. The quick energy from our lousy breakfasts and lunches is used up and our body reacts by craving more sugar for more quick energy. As a result we have little control over our appetite. This hurts us not just physically buy psychologically as well.
This is why another benefit to intermittent fasting is the time that we save. When you fast you have more time on your hands, and you also have fewer meals that you need to plan out. It is far easier to plan and keep track of 1 or 2 balanced meals a day than 6. By forcing ourselves to always eat breakfast no matter how unhealthy the food may be, we are denying ourselves many of these great benefits.
But these breakfast myths go above and beyond just a little bit of biased research. What really made breakfast “The Most Important Meal of the Day!” was really good marketing. You still see it today! A marketing message to the tone of “be sure to eat breakfast before your big day” is probably a message you have seen and heard all too often, repeated in different tones.
Everything from shaming parents who let their kids skip breakfast, to using skipping breakfast as a scapegoat for why you are having problems in life is on the table. We get it engrained into our head that having our kids skip a meal once in a while is child abuse and something they will never recover from. And we are often told that the one thing holding you back from getting that promotion or making it to that dream school is a good healthy breakfast, specifically the sugar loaded high glycemic breakfast we are pitched in the commercials. Seeing the current obesity epidemic among both adults and children shows that if anything we need to be teaching ourselves and our kids control over portions and meal timing. Calories in, calories out are what makes us gain weight. Having enough nutrition in our diet is what helps us grow and develop.
This isn’t to say that eating any breakfast is a bad thing. Eating a quick unhealthy meal at any time of day is not going to be good for your energy levels and quality of life. If you do eat breakfast, do so because you are hungry and like with any meal satiate your hunger with healthy food not a quick snack. Look for healthy fats and proteins like eggs, avocadoes, unsweetened yogurt, and nuts. Fruits, oats, and anything with sugar especially can be undercover energy crash foods. Their glycemic index is high meaning that they are more likely to give you a quick rush of energy, which is something you would need for a workout more than a steady release of energy to keep you satiated for your other day to day tasks.
If you still are craving something sweet try something with more nutrition and antioxidants in the morning like dark chocolate. While chocolates with 40% or even less cocoa solids are still often marketed as dark chocolate, ideally aim for something that is at least 70% cocoa to get the most benefits. However, the darker the better. A 90% cocoa Dark Chocolate Bar for example will have 3 times less sugar than one that is 70% cacao!
So if eating breakfast works for you, enjoy a wholesome nutritious breakfast, and include it in your daily meal planning. If it helps you with your fitness and life goals, don’t stop! For your own peace of mind though don’t eat something for the sake of eating something, because eating a nutritionless breakfast will always do you more harm than good especially long term. When it comes to the emphasis of how important breakfast is, guilt tripping, misleading statistics, and a successful marketing campaign are all that is behind it. A balanced breakfast is not a bad thing, but don’t force yourself to do it for health reasons, it has nothing to do with it.
Leo Gabriel, Revivalize Inc.
Sources:
[1] https://www.bmj.com/content/364/bmj.l42
[2] https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.113.001474
[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7809455/