Choosing the right foods for breakfast can help to boost energy and curb hunger.
Eating a healthy breakfast really can set the stage for healthier eating all day long. The right foods in the morning can provide you with the energy you need to power through until lunch. And, with a healthy breakfast in your system, you’re less likely to experience mid-morning cravings for unhealthy foods – eating the right foods can help keep you satisfied and energized until your next meal or snack.
What Is A Good Breakfast?
The foods you eat for breakfast can really affect how you feel and perform throughout your morning, and there are several things that a good breakfast can do for you.
A healthy breakfast is a meal that can….
–
Keep you fueled up until your next meal or snack. A well-balanced
breakfast should provide you with staying power. Foods with protein help
to satisfy hunger, and high fiber foods help to fill you up.
– Supply your body and brain with energy. In the morning,
your body’s gas tank is running close to empty. When you eat the right
foods for breakfast, you’re providing your muscles and brain with the fuel they
need for optimal performance.
– Help avoid blood sugar swings and reduce cravings. A balanced
meal that contains both protein and healthy carbohydrates can provide a steady
and sustained release of energy into your system, and help ward off wild swings
in your blood sugar that can trigger cravings for sweets or other unhealthy
foods. (This applies as long as you don’t have any medical issues that might
affect your body’s ability to regulate your blood sugar).
– Help you make better food choices throughout the day. Breakfast
skippers often experience food cravings for sweets and fats that can persist
throughout the day. But a recent study1 found that when breakfast is eaten, the
cravings for sweets drop dramatically. And, if the breakfast is high in
protein, it tends to also reduce cravings for salty, fatty foods,
too. So, the right foods in the morning could help reduce cravings
for unhealthy foods later in the day, and could steer you towards healthier choices.
– Provide enough protein to help support muscle health. Eating
enough protein in the morning not only helps satisfy hunger, it can also help
maintain muscle health, too. For many people, typical daily meals tend to
provide little protein at breakfast, a bit more at lunch, and a much larger
amount at dinner – a pattern that may not provide the best conditions for the
building and repairing of muscle tissue. In a study published last year2, muscle protein
synthesis was shown to be 25% greater in subjects whose protein intake was more
evenly distributed throughout the day, compared to those who ate most of their
protein at the evening meal.