Breakfast!

You would be amazed what a difference your breakfast can make!

It is one of the most underestimated things you can possibly do, to help make you look and feel better from the inside and out!

To have or not to have breakfast?

If you are doing the fasting diet there is something you need to consider. Is fasting actually right for you? Generally speaking, unless you have extremely well-balanced hormones (which is rare in today’s day and age) it isn’t recommended that you fast. Fasting leads to long periods of time without food. If your hormones are not balanced, this can stress your adrenal system and ultimately your thyroid. Your thyroid manages your metabolism. If your thyroid function is reduced slowing down secretion of your thyroid hormones, it can lead to reduced metabolism, health issues, fatigue, lowered mood, and weight gain.

This is the same for people who skip breakfast simply because they skip breakfast.

The effects of high sugar breakfasts:

Packaged foods such as cereals, milk boxes, pre-made packaged smoothies, are high in sugar.

Ghrelin Hormone:

When you consume food that is high in sugar, such as cereals, milk boxes and pre-made packaged smoothies, you trigger the Ghrelin hormone, the hormone that notifies your brain you are hungry, so you need to keep eating. It also suppresses the Leptin hormone, the hormone that notifies your brain you are full so you can stop eating. When this occurs, you tend to overeat throughout the day, leading to weight gain and health issues such as metabolic syndrome, obesity, Diabetes type 2, heart disease, imbalance in your hormones and more.

Fast Digesting:

Sugar foods are fast digesting, high G.I. if you like, so you tend to get hungrier faster, which leads to overeating and all the other health issues listed above.

Addiction:

These sugary foods also trigger the Opioid receptors in the brain. These are the addiction causing receptors. When you consume sugary foods your body secretes the Dopamine hormone, the ‘feel good’ hormone. Between the opioid receptors and Dopamine hormone you start to get a serious sugar addiction. Like anything addiction related, over time, you tend to need higher doses each time, in order to get the same ‘feel good’ response. This leads to further over consumption of sugary foods which again leads to weight gain and health issues.

Energy Levels:

Breakfast high in sugar also causes a sudden excess peak in energy, and as with anything, what goes up, must come down. This leads to a major energy drop quite fast, sending your searching for the next sugar fix to get the energy boost again. Once again, leading to overeating, and now you have a roller coaster of energy levels to go with it.

Mood Swings and the Compounding Effect:

Together with the roller coaster of energy levels also comes a roller coaster of mood swings which come as a result of increased inflammation and stress on the body. You see the increased sugar levels stresses the body as you can only have 5g of glucose in the blood stream at any given time before it starts to increase your risk of mortality. This stress increases inflammation as your body tries to combat the stress. Increased inflammation increases your cholesterol levels and the downward spiral of health continues.

All of these combined impacts the quality of your sleep. Now we have a compounding effect because the worse your sleep, the more you crave sugar, the more fatigued you feel, the higher your body’s stress, inflammation increases, cholesterol increases, your health reduces, you feel miserable so you need a pep-me-up so you have more sugar, and the cycle begins again!

The effects of breakfast high in trans-fats:

Let’s first explain what trans-fats are. Trans-fats are fats that have been warped through processing and man-made fats.

Examples include anything cooked in:

• Canola oil (think hashbrowns)
• Vegetable oil or fat
• Copha
• Anything that contains the words ‘hydrogenized’ or ‘partially hydrogenized’ in the ingredients

Trans-fats tend to imbed into artery walls, increasing the thickness of the wall leading to arteriosclerosis and increased risk of heart disease and mortality.

They also increase your cholesterol levels. You can see this in your cholesterol blood test. If your ‘Triglycerides’ tend to be over 1.0 then you may be having too many trans-fats or sugar in your diet.

Trans-fats cannot be used as energy as they are warped fat molecules so the body cannot metabolise them. A build-up of trans-fats therefore is very dangerous to your health.

Packaged foods contain very minimal nutrition value:

Packaged food that has been ‘fortified’ with vitamins and minerals, means that it did not contain any nutrients to legally classify it as food so the manufacturer had to add synthetic nutrients so that it can legally be called food. These synthetic nutrients are not as bio usable as natural nutrients. This can lead to nutrient deficiencies and further health issues.

Best choice for breakfast:

As with all your meals, your breakfast needs to contain a protein source, some good fats and some vegetables for nutrients and fibre.

Good fats are natural fats such as organic butter, coconut oil, olive oil, ghee, grass fed organic lard, duck fat, avocado, nuts, seeds, flax seed oil, fish oils, castor oil, cod liver oil, to name a few.

The benefits of a fresh food breakfast:

Protein, fat and fibre keep you feeling fuller for longer as they are slower digesting, low G.I. if you like.

Protein, fat and fibre trigger the Leptin hormone which triggers your brain to stop eating because you are full. This helps you naturally portion control and avoid overeating. This in turn reduces the risk of all the health issues that come with overeating.

Protein, fat and fibre help regulate your hormones, which in turns reduces risk of addiction, help balance your mood and energy levels. You no longer have the peaks and troughs of Dopamine, your body doesn’t feel stressed, and protein, fat and fibre help manage inflammation.

You tend to then sleep better which then has a positive compounding effect on the body, rather than a negative one.

Protein, fat and vegetables are naturally full of both macronutrients (protein, fat and carbohydrates) and micronutrients (vitamins, minerals and fibre) so don’t need to be fortified. They help improve your overall health and limit the risk of deficiencies.

Not hungry at breakfast time, or feel sick if eat breakfast:

I often hear these concerns from people that don’t eat breakfast. This is very common. That’s because your body has developed a routine where your thyroid slows your metabolism down in the morning.

To help boost it back up, you can start off slowly. You might simply try a fresh smoothie to begin with or perhaps some yoghurt with berries, nuts and seeds. If you choose a cooked breakfast you can start with perhaps one scrambled egg in butter, with some spinach.

Do this for a week, then slowly increase the quantity over the coming weeks until you are eating full portions like you would in any meal.

You can’t eat that for breakfast!

Says who? If you make this statement you have become a victim of extremely good marketing. There is more money to be made in packaged food so food companies throws billions at marketing these foods over fresh food. Don’t stay a victim.

And think about this; when a lion wakes up in the morning do they look for a particular animal for breakfast? Oh, look a zebra! Oh no I can’t eat that, it’s breakfast time I need an antelope. No! It wakes up, it needs food, it eats whatever animal it comes across.

As part of the animal kingdom, we need to eat fresh food, just like a lion, or a parrot or an elephant. Only humans have been brain washed into thinking that factory made food is better for you.

• Coach Terri