We all know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. If you skip it, your stomach will growl, you'll lose your energy and ability to concentrate. Further, skipping breakfast means eating lavishly throughout the rest of the day, which in turn leads to weight gain.
Besides being essential, a breakfast must also be healthy. However, even if we eat the most highly recommended fruit, muesli or toast with avocado, we don't feel the necessary energy boost. This is because, despite our good intentions, we still have a tendency to make a series of mistakes when choosing a breakfast food.
Half our breakfast plate needs to be filled with fruits and vegetables, 1/4 with something wholegrain and the last 1/4 - with protein. The main reason why we get hungry quickly is indeed because we miss out on important proteins.
Protein provides fuel for the body and is important for all cell processes. If you eat only carbohydrates for breakfast, such as wholegrain foods, fruits, vegetables, bread, this inevitably slows metabolism for the entire day and leaves you feeling hungry. Skipping out on your proteins also means that soon after you'll feel bitter and ready to consume larger amounts of food, which also happens to be unhealthy in most cases.
There are other downsides which skipping proteins during breakfast leads to. During our meal at the start of the day, the human body can effectively process about 2 tbsp (30 g) of protein. If it is not provided within that time frame, digestion of this food nutrient becomes quite difficult for the body if taken later on in the day.
Besides everything else, by not consuming proteins, you deprive the body of their proven benefits. A woman needs 80 - 100 g of protein daily, with the exact quantities depending on weight and activity levels.
Also keep in mind that we don't need to stuff ourselves with fried eggs and bacon to provide our bodies protein for breakfast. Some of the healthy ways to get the required protein include eating boiled eggs, feta cheese, nuts, yoghurt, chicken and turkey meat. Other good sources of proteins are legumes and seeds, hummus, soybeans and tofu.
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