To skip or not to skip: Why it helps to be wise about eating breakfast

If you want to lose weight, eat breakfast.

All along, we were told that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. If you want to lose weight, eat breakfast. In fact, we have grown up hearing the phrase 'eat breakfast like a king'.
This phrase, however, has got so misleading that in the name of eating breakfast, people actually end up having big bowls of sugary cereals with milk, toast with jam and greasy spreads along with sugar-laden fruit juices out of a carton, pancakes and waffles with honey and maple and other flavoured syrups. And oh, let's not forget the 'favourite', croissant with a large coffee with milk, cream and sugar. The list of such high-calorie breakfasts is endless. I blame it on the well-curated advertisements we see on television and hoardings.
And now, suddenly, we are bombarded with the new information that skipping breakfast makes you lose weight. Of course, if you suddenly cut down on the 700-1,000 calories of junk you were eating at one go, you are bound to lose weight. But based on this logic, can we claim that breakfast is unhealthy? No, we can't.
Firstly, why do we eat breakfast? As the name suggests, it is the first meal of the day after a long fast. That's the food you are having after a full night's rest, that often lasts 10 to 12 hours. This meal is crucial as it decides your nutrient absorption, which is highest in the morning, and the digestion levels are optimal. This meal will decide your energy, blood sugar, insulin and concentration levels for the day. But you need to eat the right breakfast. Not a breakfast of refined processed carbs, but a wholesome breakfast of proteins, fats, fibre and complex carbs. Having plain refined carbs will make you hungry within less than an hour and you will tend to snack on sugar again. Your blood sugar will shoot up, your body will produce extra insulin and, bam, you will be hungry again shortly.
So, once again, it's not breakfast that makes us gain weight, it's what we eat for breakfast that's the problem here. Eat a breakfast that's nourishing with complete protein, fibre, fat and slow release of glucose carbs, which means carbs with low glycemic index. Choosing the right ingredients will ensure you are getting your natural source of vitamins and minerals from food first thing in the morning. In case intermittent fasting works for you, then opt for it (I reiterate intermittent fasting is a pattern of dieting and not a diet by itself). So, people who go on intermittent fasting are still eating breakfast - the first meal of the day, just that they are eating it later than usual.
My suggestion would be to listen to your body. If you wake up hungry, eat a wholesome breakfast. If you aren't hungry till noon and don't find a healthy option around, don't force yourself to eat a processed granola or a protein bar or store-bought, sugar-filled smoothie or a croissant for the sake of eating breakfast. Remember, it's all about the quality!
Here are some of my favourite breakfast options
- Steel-cut oats with chia, cinnamon and berries cooked in organic milk or any nut-based milk
- Eggs with spinach and broccoli and sweet potatoes cooked in coconut oil or ghee
- Steamed idlis with Sambar and chutney
- Avocados and protein bread and cottage cheese
- Greek yoghurt with flaxseeds , chia seeds , chopped nuts and seeds and banana.
wknd@khaleejtimes.com