The importance to break your fast

The number of people, dealing with weight gain, stress, anxiety, and/or depression, who don't have a proper breakfast in the morning is astonishing.

When you fail to “break a fast” with a nutritious breakfast, it costs a lot to your brain as well as your weight loss journey. In some ways, breakfast is the most important meal of the day, you can think of it as your fuel. It's the meal that ends the longest amount of time without eating— hence the term break-fast. The point here is that a balance of foods helps you to start the day with the biochemistry you need to thrive so that you don’t drag yourself through the day.

Breaking your fast properly, enables you to think clearly, remember important information by paying adequate attention, keep your energy high, learn properly and maintain balanced moods. Skipping breakfast is associated with, an increased snacking during the day, a decreased short-term memory, anxiety, a low energy and mild depression. Mood and energy are two critically important factors to keep in mind when considering the importance of eating breakfast. On one hand, skipping breakfast is associated with high cortisol levels, whereas eating a nutritious breakfast is associated with lower cortisol levels and lower susceptibility to mood swings and anxiety. On the other hand, skipping breakfast is associated with lower glucose levels associated with lower energy and followed by high sugar snacks in order to provide energy to your body quickly.

People who skip breakfast tend to turn to less healthy options later in the day, most of the time sweeter and more fatty products.

As you can see, there are a number of benefits to eating breakfast and a number of costs to your brain and weight loss if you don’t.

However, having a breakfast does not mean eating directly after waking up, but rather that the first thing you fuel your body, is healthy and balanced.

To achieve optimum brain performance and weight loss throughout your journey, you’ll need to consume a smart balance of foods at each meal. For example, an optimum breakfast consists of a protein, a whole-grain cereal, a dairy product, a hot beverage without sugar and a fruit later on. For lunch, eat a meal that is higher in protein than in carbohydrates. This will contribute to less of a tired feeling in the afternoon. If you eat a high-carbohydrate lunch, you’ll dampen your ability to focus and pay attention, a phenomenon well known by students and workers after lunch break. Your dinner can be the reverse: slightly higher in carbohydrates than in protein. Then you’ll be sedated and mellowed out in the evening before you go to sleep.