Some people skip breakfast because they think it will help them lose weight. In fact, research shows that eating breakfast can help people control their weight. A healthy breakfast is an important part of a balanced diet, and provides some of the vitamins and minerals we need for good health. Wholemeal cereal, with fruit sliced over the top is a tasty and nutritious breakfast.
If you sometimes run in the morning, you may be tempted to skip breakfast because you don’t want to wake up early enough to give yourself time to digest before running. Some runners also skip breakfast because they don’t have time, they don’t like traditional breakfast foods, or they think it will help with their weight loss efforts.
The problem with missing breakfast is that if you wait until lunch to eat, your body assumes you’re fasting and responds by slowing your metabolism. So skipping breakfast won’t help you lose weight. In fact, it will just make you hungrier, which increases your temptation to eat everything in sight. A nutritious breakfast gets you fueled for the day and helps prevent you from binging later in the day.
If you eat breakfast, you have a greater chance of burning off those calories because you’re consuming them early in the day. And a proper breakfast will actually help you burn more calories during your runs because you’ll be properly fueled and have a more effective run.
If you find that you don’t have time to eat breakfast, try some of these quick and healthy breakfast ideas:
- Scoop 1/2 cup low-fat cottage cheese into a cantaloupe or honeydew half.
- Fix a quick breakfast smoothie. Blend 1/2 cup each of plain low-fat yogurt and orange juice with 1/2 banana and some frozen berries.
- Top a bagel with non-fat cream cheese and thin apple or pear slices.
- Spread a thin layer of peanut butter on toast, bagels, or English muffins. Top with banana slices.