Core Tip: Breakfast is extremely important as it is the start of the day's nutrition and a source of energy for work. The best time for the body to detoxify is also in the morning, so the quality of your breakfast is a key factor in determining fat burning. While the body is sleeping, metabolism and bodily functions are running slowly. Upon waking in the morning, metabolism gradually returns to normal. If eaten properly, it can have a great weight-loss effect. Skipping breakfast for weight loss is an extremely unwise decision. Today, let's learn together how to eat a breakfast that is both healthy and reasonable for weight loss.
What are the harms of skipping breakfast?
1. Skipping breakfast can easily lead to weight gain
Some people like to eat high-calorie breakfasts and have low-calorie lunches or skip dinner, while others have a simple breakfast but a very rich, high-calorie lunch and dinner. Although the total daily calorie intake for both types of people is the same, their fat oxidation is different. People who eat high-calorie breakfasts, combined with low-calorie lunches and dinners, are less likely to accumulate fat. On the other hand, people who skip breakfast or eat too simply cannot provide enough calories and nutrition. By the time lunch and dinner arrive, the body's ability to burn fat is reduced, and they then eat high-calorie food. The result is that more calories are consumed than burned, so it's easy to gain weight.
2. Driving with low blood sugar is dangerous
After waking up in the morning, the body has not eaten for about 10 hours, and the stomach is empty. At this time, blood sugar levels have dropped to a fasting level. After starting activities, the brain and muscles consume sugar (i.e., blood sugar), so blood sugar levels will continue to drop. If you still do not eat or eat a poor-quality breakfast, there will not be enough blood sugar for the body to consume. The person will feel tired, fatigued, irritable, and have slow reactions. A survey by American nutritionists shows that many car accidents are related to the driver's low blood sugar and slow reactions. Therefore, nutritionists warn drivers that driving with low blood sugar is as dangerous as drunk driving.
3. Skipping breakfast can make you age faster
During sleep, the stomach still secretes a small amount of gastric acid. If you skip breakfast, the gastric acid has no food to neutralize it, which can irritate the gastric mucosa, leading to stomach discomfort. Over time, this may cause gastritis or ulcers. Skipping breakfast forces the body to use its stored glycogen and proteins. Over time, this can lead to dry, wrinkled skin, anemia, and accelerate the body's aging process. Experiments abroad have shown that insufficient nutrition at breakfast is difficult to make up for in other meals. Skipping breakfast or having a poor-quality breakfast is one of the main reasons for insufficient energy and nutrient intake throughout the day. In severe cases, it can lead to nutritional deficiencies such as malnutrition and iron-deficiency anemia. Moreover, a makeshift breakfast is difficult to replenish the water and nutrients consumed overnight, which can increase blood viscosity and the risk of stroke and myocardial infarction. In the morning, when the stomach is empty, the body's cholesterol saturation is high, and skipping breakfast can easily lead to gallstones.
Stay away from fattening breakfasts
However, some breakfasts are not only unhealthy but can also promote weight gain. So, what are these fattening breakfasts?
1. Traditional Breakfast
Analysis: Youtiao (fried dough sticks) and youbing (fried savory pancakes) are high-temperature fried foods. After being fried at high temperatures, nutrients are destroyed, and carcinogenic substances can be produced. Not only are youtiao and youbing very "oily," foods like shaobing (sesame seed pancakes) and jiaozi (fried dumplings) also have significantly excessive amounts of oil and are not suitable for long-term consumption.
Suggestion: Breakfast must be paired with vegetables or fruit. Traditional Chinese breakfasts should not be eaten more than once a week. On those days, lunch and dinner should be as light as possible, avoiding fried, stir-fried, or deep-fried foods, and you should eat more vegetables.
2. Leftover Breakfast
Analysis: Many people who are lazy must like to cook extra staple food at night to make fried rice for breakfast the next day, or congee with leftover rice. Some might even mix all kinds of leftover dishes together? Such breakfasts are quick to make, look cleaner than outside breakfasts, and save money. However, after a night, vegetables can produce nitrites (a carcinogen), which is very harmful to human health.
Suggestion: Do not eat leftover vegetables. If you use leftover staple food for breakfast, be sure to store it properly to prevent spoilage. Food taken from the refrigerator must be heated thoroughly.
3. Western Fast Food
Analysis: McDonald's and KFC all claim to provide nutritious breakfasts, and convenience stores like 7-Eleven also offer Western-style breakfasts such as hamburgers and fried chicken. Office ladies have always been partial to such mornings. Not to mention how tempting KFC's commercials are, even eating a hamburger on the subway looks more elegant than eating xiaolongbao (soup dumplings). In fact, although the calorie content of a Western fast food breakfast is much lower than their regular meals, it is still higher compared to a Chinese breakfast. And do you really believe that a thin slice of lettuce in a hamburger can meet your body's vitamin needs for the entire morning?
Suggestion: If you choose Western fast food for breakfast, add fruit or vegetable soup to maintain a balanced nutrition and ensure the intake of various nutrients. It is also best not to eat it long-term to avoid excessive oil intake.
4. Snack Breakfast
Analysis: Many office workers like to keep various snacks at home or in the office, such as snow cakes, cookies, and chocolate, for emergencies. When they wake up in the morning and are short on time, they often grab a snack for breakfast. In fact, it's okay to eat snacks like cookies or chocolate when you're 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 easy to digest and absorb for the body, which is in a semi-dehydrated state in the morning. Moreover, snacks like cookies are mainly made from grains. Although they can provide energy in a short time, they will soon make you feel hungry again. Blood sugar levels will drop significantly by noon. Eating snacks for breakfast can easily lead to malnutrition, a decline in physical fitness, and make it easier for various diseases to invade.
Suggestion: It is not advisable to replace breakfast with snacks, especially too many dry foods. Breakfast should contain enough moisture. If your breakfast for the day has too little water, be sure to drink an extra glass of water to make up for it.
How to eat a healthy and reasonable weight-loss breakfast
The best time for breakfast is 7:30 AM. This is when the body's metabolism is most active and the body is most receptive to food, making it less likely to cause fat accumulation. If you wake up late, try to eat breakfast within 1 hour of getting up. Don't try to make up for it all at lunch.
Staple Foods: Mantou (steamed bun), sesame honey bun, steamed small bun with pure lean meat
Here are a few nutritious weight-loss breakfast recipes for you
1. Whole wheat bread + milk and oatmeal
In the morning, the body absorbs oxygen well, which promotes fat burning. Calcium speeds up fat burning, and oatmeal speeds up the body's metabolism and aids in detoxification.
2. Black rice porridge + oatmeal mantou
It's good to eat some coarse grains in the morning, but avoid adding white sugar; a small amount of rock sugar is fine. This won't make you fat and is beneficial for your nutrient absorption. This combination is low in calories, so those on a diet can eat it with peace of mind.
Such a breakfast is not likely to make you fat.
3. One apple + one egg + a glass of juice (vegetable juice)
If you are on a diet and consume enough dietary fiber, it will speed up your gastrointestinal motility. Apples have this effect and also contain sugar. Combined with the protein in eggs and a glass of fresh juice, this combination is a great slimming breakfast.
4. Soy milk + protein powder meal
The focus of this breakfast is the protein powder. It is rich in nutrients and contains phytoestrogens, which will make you healthy, beautiful, and slim.
Tips: Adding protein powder will give you more energy.
5. Fruit and Vegetable Meal
Ingredients: Fruit and vegetable juice, egg sandwich.
A simple fruit and vegetable breakfast can meet your daily vitamin needs.
Method: Fry an egg in a non-stick pan (no oil needed). Take two slices of whole wheat bread. You can also add ham, lettuce, and fat-free salad dressing according to your personal preference. Make juice with seasonal fruits.
Tips: Fresh orange-carrot juice, melon-apple juice, pure kiwi juice, and pure cucumber juice are all excellent choices that help expel toxins from the body and boost metabolism.
6. Milk Meal
Ingredients: Milk, soda crackers
This breakfast is primarily Western-style, centered on milk. Westerners never forget to drink a glass of milk for breakfast. Milk is rich in calcium, vitamin D, and all the amino acids needed for human growth and development, with a digestibility of up to 98%, which is incomparable to other foods.
Method: Store-bought milk can be drunk cold and is also very convenient to heat. Fresh milk needs to be boiled for five minutes to ensure bacteria are killed. The correct order for eating this breakfast is to eat the soda crackers first, then drink the milk. Do not drink milk on an empty stomach.