Rule 4. Breakfast


Rule 4. Breakfast

Breakfast is the most important meal during a day. In the morning, the body starts our internal clock and sets biorhythms. The way we have breakfast will largely determine our well-being and energy during the day, hunger and satiety, as well as our mood and even sleep. For many people, morning is a time without appetite and joy, but this is not good. If you make your morning nice you will wake up with a zest for life and good appetite - and this means that you are on the right way to health! When my patients greet the morning with pleasure and retrieve their appetite, they recover faster.

For many people, morning is a time without appetite and joy, but this is not good. If you make your morning nice you will wake up with a zest for life and good appetite - and this means that you are on the right way to health!

A good breakfast helps to start the day well and keep the energy until the evening! When you go for a trip and have little petrol you immediately fill up a full tank. So you are calm and not afraid that the fuel will run out. Starting the day, it is important to replenish your energy reserves so that your body works properly throughout the day.


How did the problem arise?

The increase in the pace of life and the lack of daily regimen shift our schedule, we have late supper and go to bed late. Late supper and late awakening lead to a lack of time for making breakfast. We also have no appetite in the morning. All this forms a vicious circle that makes us shift the meals to later time. Nowadays, about 30% of people do not have breakfast, many switch to brunch, and the number of calories consumed in the morning is rapidly decreasing.

How does it affect health?

Cardiovascular diseases. Scientific studies have confirmed that regular breakfast has a positive effect on the cardiovascular system health and reduces the risk of many diseases. The absent breakfast leads to the impaired lipid profile of blood and an increase in atherosclerotic vascular lesions. Those who skip breakfasts have one and a half times more of atherosclerosis plaques. In addition, the risk of a heart attack and fatal ischemia increases.
Obesity and diabetes. Breakfast reduces the risk of metabolic syndrome (obesity, diabetes, hypertension, etc.). Most obese people do not have breakfast usually or eat very little at breakfast. Those who have breakfast regularly have a 30% less chance of obesity and a two-fold lower risk of diabetes.
Fertility. Breakfast affects the development of diseases that are difficult to associate with the nutrition. For example, polycystic ovary genesis is associated with insulin resistance. Hearty breakfast and low-calorie supper increase insulin sensitivity and improve your hormonal profile increasing your chances of conception.
The hunger-satiety system. The absent breakfast leads to impaired satiety and reduced hunger control throughout the day. Scientists have found that young people skipping breakfast eat 40% more sweets during the day.

BREAK: Combine breakfast with bright sunlight, physical activity and a pleasant awakening to guarantee a good start to the day.

Productivity, stress. A regular breakfast helps to improve concentration and stabilizes blood sugar level. Children that have regular breakfast have higher IQ. Our stress resistance decreases if we don’t have breakfast, since we have the highest level of cortisol in the morning. This combined with absence of food, increases the risk of muscle destruction and accumulation of fat.

Basic principles

A healthy breakfast is a regular, hearty, high-protein, early breakfast with sufficient lighting. Such breakfast promotes fat burning, while visceral fat, rather than subcutaneous fat, is more depleted (stronger decrease in waist circumference). Breakfast helps control ghrelin, so you are not hungry throughout the day. Breakfast stabilizes blood sugar fluctuations, improves mood and productivity. Combine breakfast with bright sunlight, physical activity and a pleasant awakening to guarantee a good start to the day. In fact, it is morning that is essential for our health, as it allows us to restart, tune and synchronize the work of the circadian rhythm.
High-protein breakfast. High-protein food for breakfast is digested better and saturate more than during any other meal. A breakfast of two eggs is better than the same in calories amount of carbohydrates. Having had a breakfast with a high amount of protein, young people ate 200 kcal less for supper, and during the day did not feel like eating a snack. Breakfast must contain 50-80 grams of high-quality protein and a sufficient amount of fat. Carbohydrates for breakfast must constitute a smaller part of calories. Replace oatmeal with vegetables.
Breakfast diet. Breakfast must make up more than 30% of the daily calorie intake. Eating a snack with a cup of coffee is not considered a real breakfast. Not only the scientific research but also the traditional wisdom mentions the importance of a hearty breakfast: Enjoy breakfast all alone, share lunch with your best friend and give dinner to your enemy; Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dine like a pauper; and many others.
Early breakfast. Have a breakfast during the first hour after waking up. To be in time you have to get prepared from the evening. Once you get up, switch on the cooker and get to your morning routine.
BREAK: Half an hour of morning sunlight is a scientifically proved and effective procedure for the healthy functioning of circadian rhythm. In winter, you can have breakfast with the bright phototherapy lamps on.
Bright breakfast. Switch a bright light on from the very morning. Light will decrease the levels of melatonin and cortisol. The morning light improves insulin sensitivity that contributes to weight loss. Sunlight will improve your mood and increase dopamine production, as the retina has dopamine neurons in the form a special retinal dopaminergic system. Half an hour of morning sunlight is a scientifically proved and effective procedure for the healthy functioning of circadian rhythm. In winter, you can have breakfast with the bright phototherapy lamps on.

How to follow the rule? Ideas and tips.

Quick breakfast. The best breakfast is one that you can cook in 10-15 minutes. The complicated dishes and food products with a long cooking time will not suit you. Use spices and herbs to give more bright taste to usual food.
Wake up easily. An easy and pleasant morning awakening is an important sign of good health. Set a pleasant melody with a gradual volume increase for the alarm. In the evening, visualize the time of awakening; let the numbers stay in your memory. Play the process of waking up several times in your head, imagine how you wake up easily five minutes before the alarm and feel great. Focus on the anticipation of a pleasant awakening.
No appetite. If you have no appetite in the morning, make a light supper or skip it at all. The impaired work of the hunger-satiety system sometimes leaves you without appetite in the morning, but as soon as your condition normalizes, your appetite will come.
Wake up always at the same time. Wake up at the same time no matter what day of week it is. Your body will get used to waking up in the right phase of sleep and you will get up easier. You can experiment by shifting the awakening time by 10-20 minutes earlier of later. But what to do if you need to sleep well? It's simple: go to bed earlier the next day. This is a simple rule: wake up at the same time, go to sleep when you get sleepy.
Use a lighting alarm. The lighting alarm gradually increases the brightness of the light and makes you wake up easily and quickly. This is a good and useful way, not as traumatic as a loud alarm sound.
Go out in the sun. A short walk or a jog outside in sunlight will fine-tune you and restore your appetite. Great if you have a dog! Remember that sunlight is an amazing source of health and longevity; use every opportunity to see it, especially in the morning!
BREAK: The lighting alarm gradually increases the brightness of the light and makes you wake up easily and quickly. This is a good and useful way, not as traumatic as a loud alarm sound.
Use a temperature alarm. Temperature is also a signal for our internal clock. At the end of night, the temperature drops and the blood vessels constrict, more blood enters the brain, and we wake up more easily. Cut the heating at night and you will wake up in a pleasant and cheerful coolness in the morning. The morning exercise and a shower will make you feel warmer, help get rid of sleepiness and boost your energy. Open the windows wide, go to the balcony, and have a shower-bath.
Work up your appetite. Do the intense morning exercise, but no longer than for 20 minutes. Playing sports outside and a cold shower with thorough rubbing of the body increase your appetite well.
A glass of water. Drink a glass of water after waking up. During the night you lose a little fluid, morning is the time to restore the water balance.
Avoid concentrated carbohydrates. You can eat the low-carb vegetables and greens: cabbage, celery, spinach, onions, etc. The medium-starchy vegetables can be considered usually. Don’t make your breakfast consisting just of a cereal, albeit useful, not to mention pasta.
Keep satiety until dinner. Use fats to prolong satiety. Ideally, your breakfast should let you not think about food till your dinner. To prolong satiety, add fats: butter, coconut oil, olive oil, beef tallow.
A dessert for breakfast. For dessert, consider avocados, nuts, coconut, berries, and fruits. Nuts perfectly saturate and are good with tea or coffee.
Your oatmeal, sir. Contrary to myths, an English breakfast is not oatmeal, but eggs, bacon and beans, i.e. high protein foods. Many producers of cereals are actively promoting their products, but cereals for breakfast is not the best solution, as they are not enough to control appetite and energy until a dinner.