After explaining the many reasons why you should never skip breakfast in my last blog post, I will now go into what that breakfast you are making time for in the morning should consist of. There are so many options for breakfast foods and, personally, they are some of my favorite things to eat. Between cereals, yogurt, fruit, pop-tarts, oatmeal and omelets, what breakfast foods are best?
Professor of pediatrics and Duke University, Terrill Bravender, says keep a low glycemic index. As I said in my last post, glucose fuels the brain. This glycemic index shows how fast our bodies convert the carbohydrates in our food to fuel. Foods high in sugar are absorbed into our bodies quickly and cause a quick rise in our blood sugar. This spike drops rapidly after a couple hours, leaving us hungry again and it can even release hormones that affect our mood along with concentration. Sugary cereals have a high glycemic index. In other words, stay away from them.
Many researchers highly recommend oatmeal – good thing I just stocked up on a couple more boxes. Although it is similar in the amount of carbohydrates when compared to cereal, it is absorbed slowly into the body so it lasts you the morning and doesn’t cause the spike in blood sugar. Holly Taylor, a psychologist at Tufts University, did a study having children split into two groups and feeding one group sweetened oatmeal for breakfast, while the other ate Cap’n Crunch. The tests they then performed included things like memorizing names of countries on a map. She says that this study showed kids who ate oatmeal did up to 20% better than those who ate Cap’n Crunch. While this is just one study, and as we know correlation does not prove causation, it’s not a bad idea to swap out sugary cereal for oatmeal instead. However, this is not to say that refined grain and whole-grain cereals are not acceptable. Oatmeal has plenty of fiber, including a type known as beta-glucan, which can also help lower cholesterol. A good suggestion is to add some milk, honey and fruit to make your oatmeal even more delicious and nutritious. In general, whole grains and a little protein are a good way to go for breakfast. These are just what you need to give you a boost and keep you satisfied.
As always, a classic breakfast of eggs is always an excellent way to get your protein. A study done by researches at Pennington Biomedical Research Center compared the weight loss of women who ate either two eggs or a bagel for breakfast every morning. Both foods had the same amount of calories and volume, however, when worked into a diet for overweight women, the egg eaters lost 65% more weight, shrank their waist by 83% and had higher energy levels with no increase in cholesterol levels.
Overall, great options to combine for your breakfast would be things like whole-grain toast or a whole-wheat english muffin, fruit smoothies with low-fat yogurt, greek yogurt, fresh fruit, oatmeal, an egg or two, and a cup of tea or coffee. There are so many possibilities when it comes to breakfast, just make sure you are actually making time to eat it!
http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/many-benefits-breakfast?page=2
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5738848
http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20676415_15,00.html