According to the latest survey on the breakfast status of Chinese residents released by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention in 2016, the proportion of insufficient breakfast nutrition is over 80%. Skipping breakfast or having an irregular breakfast is commonplace. Long-term skipping of breakfast can increase the risk of obesity, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes, lead to ailments like stomach diseases and gallstones, and also affect cognitive ability, academic performance, and mental work capacity, easily accelerating the aging process. A study by the University of Erlangen in Germany shows that people who do not pay attention to eating breakfast have a lifespan that is shortened by an average of 2.5 years.
1. Breakfast doesn't have to be milk and eggs; you should add some grain-based foods, such as steamed buns,馒头 (mántou), or bread.
This doesn't mean you can't eat these two things together, but rather that if your breakfast consists solely of these two foods, it will be wasteful. Breakfast not only needs the "quality" from foods like eggs and milk that provide high-quality protein, but also the "quantity" from grains and other foods that provide energy. An ideal breakfast must have both quality and quantity. Only when an adequate amount of carbohydrates is provided can protein play its higher-level role; otherwise, it will be "burned" to provide energy and thus consumed as calories.
2. You shouldn't drink yogurt on an empty stomach.
Yogort is very beneficial for the intestines and is therefore very popular, but drinking it on an empty stomach is not ideal. When the stomach is empty, the concentration of gastric acid is relatively high, and the probiotics in the yogurt can be easily destroyed by the gastric acid and lose their value. Moreover, yogurt can stimulate gastric acid secretion. If there is no food to neutralize the acid at this time, long-term consumption can lead to gastritis or induce gastric ulcers.
3. You shouldn't eat breakfast while walking.
As life's pace quickens, many people like to eat while walking, or even while running, which is also not good. When the body is eating, the gastrointestinal tract is busy working, so blood supply to this area is abundant. If the body is also exercising at this time, it will significantly divert the "power supply" from the gastrointestinal tract, which will inevitably affect its normal digestive function, leading to gastritis and even gastric ptosis. The correct time to eat breakfast is to get up 15-20 minutes earlier and sit down peacefully to eat half an hour after waking up.
4. Breakfast shouldn't be just fruit; you should add dairy products (yogurt or milk) and whole grain products (oatmeal, whole wheat bread, etc.).
Often, you hear some beauty-conscious ladies say they only eat fruit for breakfast, with the goal of losing weight and improving their complexion. Little do they know that doing so for a long time might lead to the opposite effect. Fruits only contain vitamins, minerals, and fiber, all of which are essential for the body, but they only contain a small amount of carbohydrates and very little protein, which is far from enough to meet our body's metabolic needs for a whole morning. Therefore, the body will self-regulate, using up stored glycogen and protein. Over time, this can lead to dry and wrinkled skin, accelerating the body's aging process.
5. The timing and regularity of breakfast
Generally, breakfast should be scheduled between 6:30 and 8:30, or half an hour after waking up. The meal time should be controlled to 15-20 minutes.