A healthy and nutritious breakfast is the source of energy for a new day, so it's very important to eat a good breakfast. So, how do you eat a healthy breakfast? What breakfasts are best avoided? The harm of skipping breakfast to the body has been recognized by more and more people. Breakfast must be eaten, but at the same time, you must pay attention to how to eat it and how not to eat it. Unhealthy breakfast eating habits can also damage your health and rob you of your happiness. There are several very popular common breakfast methods you should remember: do not eat like this!
Five common breakfasts you should not eat casually
Method 1: "Leftover Breakfast"
Breakfast content: Leftovers, or stir-fried rice with leftovers, noodles cooked with leftovers, etc.
Reasons for popularity: Many mothers in families will cook extra for dinner, and then make stir-fried rice for their children and family the next morning, or just reheat the remaining dishes. Such a breakfast is convenient to make, rich in content, basically the same as a main meal, and is usually considered nutritionally comprehensive.
Comment: After being left overnight, vegetables may produce nitrite (a carcinogen), which is harmful to human health.
Suggestion: Try not to eat leftover vegetables; if you use other leftover food for breakfast, be sure to store it properly to prevent spoilage; food taken from the refrigerator must be heated thoroughly.
Method 2: Fast Food Breakfast
Breakfast content: Various types of Western fast food
Reasons for popularity: Western fast food such as hamburgers and fried chicken wings has always been a dietary preference for fashionable people. Moreover, many fast food chains now also offer special breakfast menus, such as hamburgers with coffee or milk, black tea, which is convenient, fast, and tastes good.
Comment: This type of high-calorie breakfast can easily lead to obesity, and long-term consumption of fried food is also harmful to the body. If you use Western fast food for breakfast, lunch and dinner must consist of low-calorie foods. In addition, this type of Western breakfast has the problem of nutritional imbalance: it is high in calories but often lacks nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, and fiber.
Suggestion: If you choose Western fast food for breakfast, you should add fruits or vegetable soup to maintain nutritional balance and ensure the intake of various nutrients. It is also best not to eat it for a long time.
Method 3: Traditional Flavor Breakfast
Breakfast content: Fried dough sticks, soy milk
Reasons for popularity: Many people have been accustomed to eating fried dough sticks with soy milk since childhood, led by their grandparents. They are not only used to the taste but also have an "accumulated" emotional connection over the years.
Comment: Fried dough sticks are high-temperature fried foods, similar to baked cakes and pan-fried dumplings, they all have the problem of being high in oil. Nutrients are destroyed after food is deep-fried, and carcinogenic substances can also be produced. Moreover, fried dough sticks are relatively high in calories and the oil is difficult to digest. Coupled with the fact that soy milk is also a medium-fat food, the oil content of this breakfast combination is significantly excessive and is not suitable for long-term consumption.
Suggestion: Breakfast must include vegetables or fruits. It is best to eat the combination of soy milk and fried dough sticks infrequently, no more than once a week. The lunch and dinner on the same day must be as light as possible, avoiding fried, pan-fried, and stir-fried foods, and supplementing with more vegetables.
Method 4: Snack Breakfast
Breakfast content: Various snacks, such as snow crackers, biscuits, chocolate, etc.
Reasons for popularity: Many people keep some snacks at home for unexpected needs. In the morning when time is not very ample, they often grab snacks for breakfast, which is convenient and quick.
Comment: It's fine to eat snacks like biscuits and chocolate when you are hungry, but using snacks to replace the most important meal of the day, breakfast, is very unscientific. Most snacks are dry foods, which are not conducive to digestion and absorption for the human body in a semi-dehydrated state in the morning. Moreover, snacks like biscuits are mainly made of grains. Although they can provide energy in a short time, they will soon make the body feel hungry again, and blood sugar levels will drop significantly by noon. Eating snacks for breakfast can easily lead to malnutrition, a decline in physical fitness, and make one susceptible to various diseases.
Method 5: On-the-go Breakfast
Breakfast content: Breakfast bought from roadside stalls, eaten while walking. Hands, feet, and mouth are all in motion—a full-body workout.
Reasons for popularity: The mornings of the working class are often spent in a hurry. Especially for those who live far from their workplace, breakfast is often eaten on the way. Foods like buns, tea eggs, "Roujiamo" (Chinese hamburger), and "Jianbing Guozi" (Chinese crepes) sold at the entrance of residential communities or near bus stops are their first choice. They buy a portion and eat it while walking...
Comment: Eating while walking is not good for gastrointestinal health and is not conducive to digestion and absorption. In addition, street food often has hygiene problems, and it's possible to get sick from what you eat.
Suggestion: If you choose to eat breakfast from a street stall, pay attention to hygiene, and it's best to take it home or to the office to eat. Try not to eat breakfast on the way to work to avoid harming your health.
How to Eat a Healthy Breakfast
A. Healthy Pairing:
Don't neglect the balance of acid and alkaline. Many people are used to eating steamed buns, fried foods, and soy milk for breakfast. Others eat eggs, meat, and dairy products.
Although the above foods are rich in carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, they are all acidic foods. If the amount of acidic food in the diet exceeds the limit, it can easily lead to an acidic bias in the blood, causing an imbalance in the body's physiological acid-base balance, which can often lead to calcium deficiency. Therefore, eating some vegetables and fruits containing alkaline substances can achieve a balance of dietary acid-base and nutrients.
B. Basic Knowledge:
Best meal time and portion: Generally speaking, it is most appropriate to eat breakfast 30 minutes after getting up and moving, because this is when people's appetite is the strongest. 7:00 AM to 8:00 AM is the best time for breakfast because that's when people's appetite is the strongest. It is best to have a 4-5 hour interval between breakfast and lunch. If you eat breakfast early, the quantity should be increased accordingly or lunch should be moved up accordingly.
Breakfast should not only pay attention to quantity but also quality. For adults, the staple food for breakfast should be between 150-200 grams, and the calories should be around 700 kcal. Of course, people with different labor intensities and ages have different caloric needs. In terms of food intake and calories, breakfast should account for about 30% of the total daily food intake and total calories for different age groups.
C. Heartfelt Reminder:
Rinse your mouth immediately after drinking yogurt. Yogurt contains a large number of lactic acid bacteria that enter the gastrointestinal tract, but a small amount will remain and parasitize in the mouth. It can mix with bacteria in the mouth to ferment and produce acids, which can erode tooth tissue. Doing this frequently can cause decalcification of tooth tissue and even slowly lead to cavities. Therefore, after drinking yogurt, you should rinse your mouth immediately with warm water, tea, or mouthwash.
D. Must-know: The Correct Way to Drink Breakfast Beverages
Many people know that milk should not be consumed on an empty stomach, but the same applies when drinking soy milk and juice. When drinking soy milk, pay attention to the combination of dry and wet foods, allowing the protein in soy milk to be better absorbed by the human body with the help of starchy foods. For a more balanced nutrition, you can also pair it with vegetables and fruits. Soy milk is considered cooling in nature, so people with a weak spleen and stomach, or those who suffer from diarrhea and bloating, are advised to drink less or none.
Drinking a glass of fresh juice for breakfast can supplement the body's vitamins and inorganic salts, but to avoid gastrointestinal discomfort, it's best to eat some staple food first, especially for juices with higher acidity.
E. A Note for the Lazy:
Eating cold food for breakfast will lower your resistance. Many people, to save time in the morning, eat food without heating it. In the early morning, muscles, nerves, and blood vessels are still in a constricted state. Eating cold food will definitely cause the body's various systems to constrict further and lead to poor blood circulation. Over time, the digestive and absorption functions of the gastrointestinal tract will be affected.
Cold breakfast will also affect the body's absorption of food nutrients, leading to symptoms such as bloating, loose stools, worsening skin, and frequent colds, which lowers a person's resistance. Therefore, it's best to eat some hot porridge or congee when you get up in the morning.