Why it is important to have Breakfast?

You must have been told by your dietitian/doctor that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, yet nearly one-fifth of all adults choose to pass on the Wheaties. What is the big deal about breakfast? Can a solid breakfast really make or break your fitness goals? Read on as We answer your most pressing questions on this popular subject.

Let’s dissect the word ‘breakfast’. When you take it apart you find two words with an all-important hidden message. Break – Fast. Breakfast is the meal that breaks the fast that your body goes into each and every night when you sleep.

When breakfast is skipped, your body continues to fast until you eat later in the day.

Two Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Skip Breakfast:

Reason #1: Your brain needs fuel to function at its peak.

This fuel comes in the form of glucose derived from food and is needed to walk, talk and perform all other activities. When you skip breakfast your brain is forced to work extra hard in breaking down stored carbohydrates or to turn fats and proteins into usable forms of glucose. Eating breakfast has been proven to improve concentration, increase your problem solving capabilities, enhance overall mental performance and even boosts your memory and mood.

Reason #2: Your metabolism will go into ‘famine’ mode.

Three to four hours after you eat, your metabolism shuts down and acts as if it needs to store food. This is a great function to have if a famine were to break out, leaving you without food for days. Since this is likely not the case for you, it is pretty annoying when your body starts packing on the pounds in an attempt to protect you from starvation! Eating breakfast communicates with your body the fact that you are healthy, well fed and not in need of extra fat storage.

What about the cut calories?

“Skipping breakfast is how I cut calories out of my diet.” We can’t tell you how often we hear this response when we encourage people to eat breakfast. What these “calorie cutters” don’t realize is that they are the ones who turn to snacking later in the day in an attempt to ward off low energy levels. Allowing your body to become over-hungry leads to distorted satiety signals, and leaves the door wide open for overeating later in the day.

Start your day with breakfast and then continue to eat smaller meals and snacks throughout the day for optimal calorie burning.

Demystifying trans fats

Trans-fat is the common name for unsaturated fat. Trans fats may be monounsaturated or polyunsaturated but never saturated.

Unsaturated fat is a fat molecule containing one or more double bonds between the carbon atoms. Now since the carbons are double bonded to each other, there is fewer bonds t o hydrogen and hence they are SATURATED.

Wikipedia says:

Unlike other dietary fats, trans fats are not essential, and they do not promote good health. The consumption of trans fats increases the risk of coronary heart disease by raising levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol and lowering levels of “good” HDL cholesterol. Health authorities worldwide recommend that consumption of trans fat be reduced to trace amounts. Trans fats from partially hydrogenated oils are more harmful than naturally occurring oils.

What is Hydrogenation and why do we hydrogenate?

Hydrogenation is the process of heating oil and passing hydrogen through it. In other words, Hydrogenation is the chemical process by which liquid vegetable oil is turned into solid fat. The fatty acids in the oil then acquire some of the hydrogen, which makes it denser. If you completely hydrogenate, you create a solid (fat) out of the oil. But if you stop mid way, a semi-solid partially hydrogenated oil that has a consistency like butter is produced; only it’s a lot cheaper.

Why is partially hydrogenated fats used?

• High levels of trans – fats
• Consistency
• Cheap
• Richer flavor and texture at a cheap price

What’s the problem with Trans-fat?

Chemically-active part is messed up but the anchor end is unchanged and works perfectly fine.  And hence what happens is they let foreign invaders pass in to a cell and also impede supplies that need to come in.

To put it in even more simpler terms, trans-fats are poisons, just like cyanide or chromium. They interfere with the normal metabolic processes and disrupt critical functions. There is no immune mechanism against these because they never existed. The body never had the need to eliminate these and hence it’s not built in the body’s immune mechanism.

Worse, most partially hydrogenated oil is partially hydrogenated soybean oil. Soybean oil suppresses your thyroid, which lowers your metabolism and energy levels, makes you feel less like exercising, and generally makes you fatter.

What you should do:

1. Carefully read the ingredient label and check if the foods contain hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils
2. Be very careful when you buy less well known brand of Peanut butter.  As we have seen earlier, partially hydrogenated oils are a cheap substitute
3. Even some Milk Bars might contain partially hydrogenated oils
4. When eating out, avoid deep fried foods for your own good
5. Eat Healthy! Stay healthy!

QUICK ADVICE:

Oils to avoid: coconut oil, palm oil, butter, hard margarine.

For deep frying foods: The best oils are those with a high smoke point such as canola oil, corn oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil.