“Eat your breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper.”
You must often hear or read this valuable and long-known phrase, but have you ever pondered why breakfast is a quintessential meal of your day? Well, the answer in most cases will be no because, somewhere in our busy lifestyles, we’ve lost the time to actually find the reasons behind all those things that we’re told.
So, lets be rational for a few minutes and understand why skipping breakfast everyday is our biggest mistake.
1. Causes Weight Gain
If you’re dieting or dreaming of a “perfect body”, you tend to miss breakfast as a part of your weight loss regimen. But, according to studies done on the negative aspects of skipping breakfast, it was found that people tend to gain more weight if they skip the first meal of the day.
This is supported by two reasons. Firstly, skipping breakfast makes our body crave for more sugary and fatty foods, and we end up fulfilling these cravings. Secondly, it intensifies our hunger pangs, which in turn, increase our calorie intake.
So, what you thought might actually cause weight loss will be doing completely opposite for you.
2. Triggers Hypertension
According to a study published in JAMA, Dr. Leah Cahill supported the fact that “indulging in a healthy breakfast could actually curb the risks of heart attack.” Avoiding breakfast increases hypertension, which leads to clogging of arteries. This also increases the risks of developing cardiovascular health conditions, including stroke.
Another study conducted by Harvard University School of Public Health came with the outcome that people who skipped their breakfast were at a higher risk of developing Type-2 Diabetes.
3. Affects Metabolism
“Breakfast” as the term suggests means “to break the fasting period of the prior night“. Breakfast is a catalyst for the metabolic process. Studies show that people who eat breakfast regularly have a higher rate of metabolism.
4. Menstrual Irregularities
We’ve so many activities piled up in our daily routine, that sometimes, 24 hours seem less in a day. This statement goes well with the lifestyle of college students, where, they are trapped between internals, assignments and internships. In an attempt to reach college on time, we tend to skip our breakfast a lot of times, right? But, this has an adverse effect on our health, especially for women.
According to a 2010 survey published in journal Appetite, “female college students who consistently skipped breakfast had more menstrual irregularities. These dysfunctions included the severity of painful menses and irregular menstrual bleeds.”
Running late for college? Try these easy and quick breakfast recipes.
5. Mood Swings and Low Energy Levels
The British research team conducted a study on 144 healthy people divided into three groups. The people underwent a prolonged overnight fasting, and the next morning Group 1 was given a healthy and moderate breakfast to eat, Group 2 only had a mug of coffee while Group 3 had no breakfast.
After monitoring the three groups for a couple of hours, the conclusion was made that Group 3 showcased the poorest memory skills, highest fatigue levels and bad mood. No significant changes were noticed between the other two groups.
6. Averts Hair growth
If you’re having bad hair fall, maybe you should stop blaming the changing weather conditions or your hair products. The real reason might lie in your eating habits, especially, related to breakfast.
Eating meals with low levels of proteins adversely effects levels of keratin, which leads to hair loss. Breakfast plays a major role in promoting growth of hair follicles. So, this is an important reason why you should indulge in a protein-rich breakfast every day.
7. Affects Cognitive Thinking
According to a study conducted with teenagers between the ages of 12 and 15 in two groups, it was concluded that the group which had a healthy breakfast daily showcased better accuracy in a visual search test. On the other hand, the group which was refrained from having breakfast showed lack of cognitive thinking.
8. Causes Migraine
Skipping meals leads to a drop in sugar levels. Due to this drop in sugar levels, the body releases hormones to compensate for the low glucose level. This can cause a hype in blood pressure levels, which in turn, leads to migraine and headache.
This happens more frequently when you miss breakfast, since it’s the first meal of the day that we have after a break of almost 12 hours.
9. Accelerates risks of Cancer
As stated earlier, skipping breakfast can lead to increased body weight. According to a research conducted by Cancer Research UK, it was found that an overweight or obese person has an increased risk of developing cancer. Skipping breakfast, in turn, can also become a major cause of cancer.
So, keeping in mind these reasons, I hope you’ll begin living a life of a king and eat healthy and nutritious breakfast everyday.