The Importance of a Good Breakfast

Breakfast is touted as the most important meal of the day, yet many adults and children skip it as they rush out the door on their way to work and school.  Now, a new study shows that skipping breakfast on a regular basis or eating the wrong breakfast can negatively affect your health.

In addition to providing fuel for the body and the brain to perform physical and mental tasks, breakfast has also been proven to boost your metabolic rate, reduce insulin resistance and cholesterol, and reduce diabetes and heart disease.  Two recent studies show that it’s no longer enough to simply put food in your mouth as you are dashing to your first meeting of the day, it’s also critical that you are eating the right kinds of foods in the morning.

The Annual Endocrine Society Meeting recently published its findings on the importance of breakfast.  The most important the group says it found during the study was that eating a big breakfast aids weight loss. In the study women who ate a high calorie breakfast of about 600 calories with equal amounts of protein and carbohydrate (eggs and toast), lost more weight than women who ate a low calorie, high carbohydrate breakfast (consisting of just toast).  Researchers say the higher calorie breakfast eaters lost 21% body weight loss vs. a 4.5% weight loss in the lower calorie group. Scientist concluded that eating a higher calorie breakfast provided greater satiety and fewer carbohydrate cravings.  Subsequently, the women in this group ate smaller amounts of food at lunch and dinner.

The second study was conducted at Britain’s Northumbria University and found that children who ate high Glycemic cereals (a.k.a. sugary cereals) for breakfast had a sudden burst of energy followed by an energy slump, which affected learning and behavior.  Conversely, kids who ate low Glycemic cereals (ones with high fiber and whole grains), which are slower burning, sustained energy longer and experienced an increase in attention, memory and learning.

See Also:

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Relaxation through Aromatherapy Massage
Learning How to Relax