What a Dietitian Can Teach You About a Quick and Healthful Breakfast
School has either started, or is going to start soon, and it is busy, busy, busy! The last thing we want to do is make a laborious breakfast. So, what do you do? Maybe get out the cereal for the kids and send them on their merry way. However, did you know although cereal is a breakfast food, it is one of the least nutrient dense options to consume? This blog post will dive a little into the following:
Benefits of breakfast
What makes a nutrient dense breakfast
Quick breakfast ideas
Breakfast: “The first meal of the day especially when taken in the morning” -Merriam Webster Dictionary.
If you break up the work breakfast, it means “break the fast.” When we sleep, we are fasting. Thus, when we eat, this fast is broken. Essentially, per this definition and Merriam Webster’s definition, breakfast would be whenever you first put food in your body (even if that isn’t until 12 PM). However, after doing some research, it appears as though universally breakfast is considered being something consumed within 2-3 hours of waking.
Why is breakfast so important?
This is such a hot topic. We’ve all heard something along the lines of, “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day,” and on the contrary I’m sure you’ve heard, “Intermittent fasting is the best way to lose weight.”
I’m not going to debate you on either of these now. I’m just going to give you the science and the reasoning behind why many people say breakfast is the most important meal of the day.
Benefits of consuming breakfast:
Improved energy throughout the day
Decreased incidence of obesity
Decreased risk of type 2 diabetes
Decreased risk of cardiovascular disease
Now, if you’re like me you may be wondering WHY consuming breakfast leads to the above claims. One reason is that consuming breakfast has been shown to decrease cravings later in the day, especially if it is high in protein. Per Gwin and Leidy, their observational study found that people who consumed breakfast had decreased:
Morning and daily hunger
Desire to eat
Prospective food consumption
Ghrelin production
Evening intake of high-carbohydrate and high-fat foods
*Ghrelin is commonly referred to as the hunger hormone. When your stomach is empty, it releases ghrelin to tell your brain you need food.
For those that are breakfast skippers, there is an association with:
Unhealthy snacking
Overeating (especially at night)
Weight gain
Obesity
Think about it: Our bodies need a certain number of daily calories to operate just to keep ourselves alive. Hunger is telling us, “I need fuel.” If we don’t distribute these calories evenly throughout the day, no wonder why we overeat and have unhealthy snacking behaviors later! See below to understand why this happens.
If you skip breakfast, by the time lunch and dinner rolls around, you are going to be quite hungry.
—> When we get too hungry, our body wants “quick” energy.
—> What is that? Mostly carbohydrates! The quickest form of energy is carbohydrates.
—> We tend to overeat these to get quick energy in our bodies.
When we’re too hungry it’s common to go from starving, to overly full, because it’s hard to listen to our hunger and fullness cues. Our body is literally telling us we need more food, so we tend to eat quickly to get that energy. It’s hard to eat at a slower pace, and it takes 20 minutes for our brain to realize we’re full. (Remember: hunger is just our bodies request for more fuel.)
When we eat, we want to stop when we feel satisfied. If we become too hungry, it is common to go from starving, to overly full.
If you want our hunger/fullness scale, check it out here.
What makes a nutrient dense breakfast
There are multiple foods on the market that tout themselves at breakfast foods. Many of these items are rich in carbohydrates and lacking both fat and protein (I’m looking at you cereal - and even plain/flavored oatmeal). The most nutrient dense meals contain all three macronutrients: protein, carbohydrate and fat. Your breakfast should include all three of these items! Check out some recipes and ideas below that include all three.
Recipes
If you saw one of my Instagram posts last week, you know I’m not a big fan of cooking. I’m all about those quick and easy meals. Below you will find some satiating breakfast ideas that won’t take too much time out of your day. A few of the recipes below do take around 15 minutes to prepare. However, you can prepare a batch for the whole week, or you could freeze an item and heat it up whenever you want to enjoy it.
I get it though, we’re also very busy and sometimes wonder what else we can have that’s convenient. Remember the basics: pair protein, carbohydrate and fat all together. Some quick options could be:
2 hard boiled eggs + toast with avocado
Oatmeal with peanut butter, chia seeds, flax seeds and/or nuts
MUSH oats + handful of nuts
Whole fat plain Greek yogurt with berries
So breakfast; to eat or not to eat ?
I recommend people eat breakfast. It doesn’t have to be right when you get out of bed, but if you can consume it within the first couple hours of waking that would be ideal. Try some of these breakfast items and let us know what you think in the comments!
References
Gibney, M., Barr, S., Bellisle, F., Drewnowski, A., Fagt, S., Livingstone, B., Masset, G., Varela Moreiras, G., Moreno, L., Smith, J., Vieux, F., Thielecke, F., & Hopkins, S. (2018). Breakfast in human nutrition: The International Breakfast Research Initiative. Nutrients, 10(5), 559. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu10050559
Gwin, J. A., & Leidy, H. J. (2018). Breakfast consumption augments appetite, eating behavior, and exploratory markers of sleep quality compared with skipping breakfast in healthy young adults. Current Developments in Nutrition, 2(11). https://doi.org/10.1093/cdn/nzy074