“Its the most important meal of the day.” –mom
Mom may be right by recent studies showing that eating breakfast regulates your blood glucose levels throughout the day. (1) The most interesting result: higher physical activity thermogenesis recorded and more stable afternoon and evening glycemia, which means the body is operating at a more efficient level in energy output with out the peaks and valley (aka: sugar crash) of glucose levels throughout the day.
What the world eats for breakfast. Enjoy the video courtesy of Buzzfeed.
Others open sources (Massive Health eatery app) show free-living adults posting pictures of their meals throughout the day and with this type of information, are able to glean bits of everyday people and their eating habits in terms of portion size, food choice, and frequency of food intake. (2) I am interested in this method of data collecting during the digital age. It certainly is a anecdotal resource that cannot be disputed compared to dietary recall and/or questionnaire methods. Massive Health asserts that those who skipped breakfast make poorer food choice as the day proceeds, see infographic below.
courtesy of Nayashkova Olga/Shutterstock
and colleagues reported eating breakfast recommendations did not promote weight loss in a group of healthy overweight or obese adults where the primary objective of the controlled trial was to determine any weight change. (3)
Bottom line is when hungry, the priority doesn’t seem to be how many grams of saturated fats are in one serving or how many milligrams of sodium are in 330 mL. Whatever food item is easiest and most convenient is what is consumed. (Don’t you wonder why there is a McDs or St*rbuks on every other corner? just grab-n-g0) Therefore, eating something in the morning will help curb your appetite and give you the space and time to make a more health conscious food choice for whatever you choose to eat next.
References:
1. Betts et. al., The causal role of breakfast in energy balance and health: a randomized controlled trial in lean adults. Am J Clin Nutr August 2014 vol. 100 no. 2 539-547 .
3. Dhurandhar EJ. et. al., The effectiveness of breakfast recommendations on weight loss: a randomized controlled trial Am J Clin Nutr 2014 100: 507-513.
its a NUTTY, NUTTYgrrl world... 