6 Reasons You should Never Skip Breakfast

Six reasons you should never skip breakfast

Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day - so don’t be tempted to go without it! Here are six reasons to start every morning with a healthy, nutritious meal. Why not include The highly nutritious Acai Berry!

1.    Better blood sugar and energy balance: By the time breakfast rolls around, you’ll probably have gone 10 or more hours without food. Postpone eating until lunchtime, and you’re potentially looking at closer to 16 hours – so its no wonder you’ll feel prone to energy slumps. A low glycaemic index (low-GI) breakfast (such as wholegrain toast with baked beans, or some rolled oats) is ideal, and may improve your blood glucose levels in the subsequent hours[1].

2.    Better appetite control and better body weight: One of the benefits of your blood sugar being more stable is that you’re less likely to get hungry later in the morning[2], so you won’t be as inclined to reach for sugary, starchy or fatty snacks[3]. Strange as it may sound, eating breakfast may therefore actually help you avoid putting weight on[4]. And if you’re looking to lose weight or maintain the trimmer figure you’ve already worked so hard for, eating breakfast can help there too![5]

3.    A more nutritious diet: People who eat breakfast are more likely to get all their required nutrients and food groups every day[6]. For example, it’s much easier to fit your recommended servings of dairy foods and fruit into your diet if you’re having cereal with milk or a RioLife Acai berry smoothie first thing in the morning. Overall, the diets of people who eat breakfast tend to be lower in fat and higher in fibre and key vitamins and minerals than the diets of people who skip breakfast[7].

4.    A healthier future: Over the long term, routinely going without breakfast may increase your risk of developing chronic health problems, including diabetes and cardiovascular disease[8]. (This may be partly due to improved cholesterol levels in those who regularly eat cereal[9] – perhaps because some types of fibre have the capacity to bind to cholesterol and aid its excretion from the body). If you’re still smoking, you should be aware that the combination of smoking and skipping breakfast may increase your tendency to develop diabetes[10].

5.    Improved stress coping: In a vicious cycle, we’re more likely to skip breakfast when we’re feeling stressed[11] [12], but going without breakfast may actually increase your stress responses and make you more emotionally volatile and prone to mood swings[13]. On the other hand, people who eat breakfast every day are less likely to report feeling depressed or distressed, and tend to perceive themselves as having lower stress levels than those who don’t eat breakfast[14].

6.    Better concentration: Research suggests that eating breakfast is associated with improved mental performance later in the morning[15]. If you have kids, get them into good habits now, because children who regularly eat breakfast are documented as having better school performance and learning skills than their non-brekky eating classmates[16].

One of my favourite breakfasts is a RioLife Acai Berry meal replacement smoothie, which combines the low-GI goodness of oats with antioxidant-rich acai berries and the sweetness of bananas.  What’s your favourite? Please share your ideas below.

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[1] Pal S, et al. The effect of a low glycaemic index breakfast on blood glucose, insulin, lipid profiles, blood pressure, body weight, body composition and satiety in obese and overweight individuals: a pilot study. J Am Coll Nutr 2008;27(3):387-93.

[2] Pal S, et al. The effect of a low glycaemic index breakfast on blood glucose, insulin, lipid profiles, blood pressure, body weight, body composition and satiety in obese and overweight individuals: a pilot study. J Am Coll Nutr 2008;27(3):387-93.

[3] Arumugam V, et al. A high-glycemic meal pattern elicited increased subjective appetite sensations in overweight and obese women. Appetite 2008;50(2-3):215-22.

[4] Giovannini M, et al. Symposium overview: Do we all eat breakfast and is it important? Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr 2010;50(2):97-9.

[5] Elfhag K, Rossner S. Who succeeds in maintaining weight loss? A conceptual review of factors associated with weight loss maintenance and weight regain. Obes Rev 2005;6(1):67-85.

[6] Giovannini M, et al. Symposium overview: Do we all eat breakfast and is it important? Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr 2010;50(2):97-9.

[7] Ruxton CH, Kirk TR. Breakfast: a review of associations with measures of dietary intake, physiology and biochemistry. Br J Nutr 1997;78(2):199-213.

[8] Giovannini M, et al. Symposium overview: Do we all eat breakfast and is it important? Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr 2010;50(2):97-9.

[9] Ruxton CH, Kirk TR. Breakfast: a review of associations with measures of dietary intake, physiology and biochemistry. Br J Nutr 1997;78(2):199-213.

[10] Nishiyama M, et al. The combined unhealthy behaviors of breakfast skipping and smoking are associated with the prevalence of diabetes mellitus. Tohoku J Exp Med 2009;218(4):259-64

[11] Cartwright M, et al. Stress and dietary practices in adolescents. Health Psychol 2003;22(4):362-9.

[12] Nishiyama M, et al. The combined unhealthy behaviors of breakfast skipping and smoking are associated with the prevalence of diabetes mellitus. Tohoku J Exp Med 2009;218(4):259-64

[13] Macht M. Effects of high- and low-energy meals on hunger, physiological processes and reactions to emotional stress. Appetite 1996;26(1):71-88.

[14] Smith AP. Breakfast and mental health. In J Food Sci Nutr. 1998;49(5):397-402.

[15] Kanarek R. Psychological effects of snacks and altered meal frequency. Br J Nutr 1997;77Suppl1:S105-20.

[16] Giovannini M, et al. Symposium overview: Do we all eat breakfast and is it important? Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr 2010;50(2):97-9.