Breakfast: The meal that kicks ass
Author: Jujimufu
Last modified: 12/3/03
Breakfast! You can't tell me you don't eat breakfast?! Breakfast is the most important meal of the day! It's my favorite, and without it I'd be nowhere near the shape I'm in now! Let's just take a look at the word. [Break - Fast] Where to fast is not eating, and breaking is self explanatory. You're breaking a fast induced by sleep! Here are some common excuses people give for not eating breakfast, and my reasons for why these excuses are worthless.
1. I don't need it, because I'm not hungry.
Yes you are, you just don't know it! You just slept for god's sake you haven't eating in 8 or more hours! While you're asleep, your body feeds on liver glycogen stores, which is drained by morning. When the body runs lows on glycogen (fuel) the body synthesizes amino acids from your muscles to fuel the brain, nervous system, and other vital organs and tissues. This sends your body into negative nitrogen balance, which is when excreted nitrogen wastes exceed that from consumed nitrogen fuel (protein). Your metabolism has turned catabolic (breakdown of muscle tissue for energy metabolism). This means your metabolism not only slows down greatly, but it's using your own hard earned muscles as fuel. When you start moving your body needs fuel much more in contrast to when you slept because you're moving around and not laying like around like a log! So your metabolism is catabolic and slow when you wake, that explains why sometimes you aren't immediately hungry on rising. You need the food badly, here is a quick analogy for your understanding >
Body's metabolism is slow and catabolic upon rising. Skip breakfast // Stretches the period of catabolism and lose more and more muscle while feeling miserable with a low metabolism.
Body's metabolism is slow and catabolic upon rising. Eat a complete breakfast // Ends catabolism (Breakdown of own muscle tissue for fuel) and starts anabolism (Fueling/Growth/Preservation of muscle tissue). Metabolism takes a huge boost for healthy fat loss and you're energized for the day.
2. I have no time for breakfast.
BULLSHIT! HAHA! The very minimum for breakfast can be a ready to drink (RTD) shake such as carnation good start or an instant protein beverage. Fruit is great as well for breakfast. How about a bowl of cereal? You have to be an idiot if it takes more then 1 minute to prepare a bowl (NO COOKING INVOLVED). You can even put cereal in a plastic bag and eat it on the way to work or school if you're in that much of a hurry. Oatmeal? Easy, takes 3 minutes for me to prepare and cook. Not only can breakfast be fast, it's easy and nutritious. Breakfast is also the prime meal for fitting important nutrients into your diet. Many foods eaten at breakfast contain significant amounts of Vitamins C and D, calcium, iron, and fiber. Milk/Grains/Orange juice? It's all healthy! You should make time for breakfast my friend...
3. I'm on a diet, so I skip breakfast.
You're an idiot. Seriously! No wonder you're not losing weight! *Punches you in face* Read the first reason people give for skipping breakfast and my explanation on why you shouldn't skip breakfast. When you don't eat your body uses muscle as fuel before it uses fat. So you'll be processing muscle for fuel first. Is this a bright idea? No! Because the more muscle you have the more calories you need on a day to day basis. Such as monster body builders, they require ungodly amounts of food to maintain their body mass. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn. The more calories you burn, the more calories you can eat. The more calories you can eat, the more food you can eat! Eating a complete breakfast sends your metabolism into a state of anabolism. This means your muscle is preserved and is now fueled to burn off the fat you're trying to rid yourself of. Just by eating breakfast, containing all of the three main components (protein, carbohydrates, and fat) can raise your metabolism 60-100%. So for a quick analogy >
Eat a balanced and filling breakfast > Metabolism soars and sends you in a state of anabolism / Muscles are fueled so you can kick ass, burn fat, and bust some mad tricks.
Don't eat breakfast > Metabolism remains at a crawl and preserves your body weight. This keeps you in a catabolic state induced by sleep / Muscles are not fueled, you burn more muscle then fat. You lose... Fucker...
The myth: Exercising before breakfast promotes fat loss >
The fact: Exercising before breakfast promotes muscle loss >
Reason is simple! Basically when you slept, your body has used all it's fuel (glycogen) and is now catabolizing your muscle as fuel, sending you into negative nitrogen balance. Which means, you're pissing out your muscle! Go for a jog before you eat and you'll be pissing out more muscle cause as you run you're body will be using muscle as fuel! w00t! Pissing out muscle suxors!! Eat!! EAT DAMMIT EAT!
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Fun sized facts regarding breakfast
Fat loss :
Studies show that eating breakfast regularly significantly lowers your body mass index, which is the ratio of your weight to your height. A lower BMI is an indicator of general good health. Skipping breakfast causes a mid-morning, low-sugar slump, which often results in your grabbing something shitty to eat. But high-sugar, high-fat foods only make you feel even shittier then the food you ate, fatigued and hungry for more shitty sugar shit. Start off healthy to avoid the crash, and don't eat shit, it's not right.
Fiber kicks ass :
Fiber can give you long-lasting energy. In fact many common breakfast foods are totally packed with the stuff. Fiber slows sugar’s release into the bloodstream, providing a longer-lasting fuel supply. Also it cleanses your soul, well.. It'll cleanse your colon at least haha! Seriously, many breakfast foods such as whole grain toast/oatmeal/cereals/fruit are packed with fiber. Fiber also binds with cholesterol in the blood stream and lowers cholesterol levels. SCORE!
Be smart, and wear pants :
It's a known fact that people perform better on memory and attention tests after eating a good breakfast. Your brain relies on glucose for fuel and the typical breakfast is usable energy for the brain as all meals are. So if you're enrolled in school you can make better grades with breakfast. If you have a job, get a raise or something I dunno... Generally though, you will gain a mental edge if you fuel in the morning with breakfast.
Morning workouts :
If you do endurance training in the morning, then breakfast is a must, as electrolytes such as sodium and potassium help to prevent muscle cramps. Remember we already discussed not working out in the morning on an empty stomach? Well you can still work on in the morning with a snack. Here is a good rule of thumb. Wait 1 hour before exercising after a light snack, and 2 hours after a meal. If you must work out in the morning you could grab a banana and some toast. Bananas are rich in potassium and also help regulate heartbeat and maintain your fluid and electrolyte balance. Drink a glass of water and have a small peanut butter and jelly sandwich or toast with a fruit and you can be out the door in 20-30 minutes after that snack. Come back after your work out and have a "REAL" breakfast though, otherwise you won't be eating a sufficient breakfast.
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My position on this topic, and further recommendations >
I started eating breakfast consistently in 8th grade (around age 14). I would get up and prepare two packets of instant oatmeal, and eat 1 banana as my breakfast everyday. I also would ingest many of my vitamins during this meal. I remember how great that breakfast was, but I've learned from then what a better breakfast consists of. One mistake I was making was not including a source of protein in my breakfast. Another mistake was including instant packaged oatmeal instead of the 100% rolled oats in the cylinder. The packets suck, they have too much sugar. Anyway, eating breakfast in general is the first step to getting new results in your training program and reach new levels of health, but eating the 'RIGHT' breakfast is just as important as eating breakfast at all. The difference is huge when your choice differs between the selection of eating a slice of left-over pizza and some potato ships with a can drink; or eating a bowl of 100% rolled grains oatmeal with eggs, fruit, and water. There is a big difference between pizza and oatmeal, especially during this time of day. Generally when you wake up anything tastes good. So eat as healthy as you can and you'll set a healthy meal template for the rest of the day. Eating a complete breakfast with all 3 essential macro nutrients (protein, carbohydrates, and fat) will make a world of difference between simply eating a carbohydrate breakfast as well. Let's have a comparison >
1. Breakfast A: 2 servings of cheerios (that's 2 cups, usually fills a whole bowl) with 2% milk, banana, and orange juice.
2. Breakfast B: 1 servings of 100% natural oatmeal (not instant), 2 eggs, 1 scoop whey protein powder, banana, water, multivitamin.
First of all, breakfast B is my common breakfast. Breakfast A lacks decent amounts of protein and fat, it's not complete. The carbohydrates will be released into your bloodstream quicker and your muscles have no complementary amino acids from a decent protein source, which means when you woke your body was already breaking down muscle for fuel, synthesizing amino acids. You lost some, you need to replace and rebuild more. You need protein. Fat is essential in small amounts for hormone regulation, small amounts of fat is healthy in the diet. Breakfast A has too much sugar. Milk has sugar, cheerios have lower sugar then most cereal, orange juice has sugar, a banana has sugar. All that sugar causes insulin to go wacko, and your body doesn't quite know how to react. What it does is it stores a lot of that as useless fat since it releases into the bloodstream too fast. For breakfast you want a slow release carbohydrate (low GI [Glycemic Index]). Oats are a slow release carbohydrate, and the 100% natural oats raise testosterone levels (if your a guy, this is awesome). You can get your vitamin C from a supplemental pill without taking in all that unnecessary sugar from orange juice. Having 1 small serving of orange juice won't harm you, but I prefer taking it in with a multivitamin, that also supplies many other essential micro nutrients. You need protein for breakfast as well.
Good sources of protein and ways to include them into your breakfast :
Your body requires 20 different amino acids and can only make 13 of them on it's own. It must obtain the rest through your diet. Protein sources with the amino acids your body can't produce must be obtained through the foods we eat. If a protein doesn't contain all the essential amino acids it won't be absorbed efficiently. Proteins with the full amino spectrum are called complete proteins.
Complete protein ideas >
Whole eggs
Egg whites
Egg beaters
Milk
Yogurt
Protein powders (whey, egg, milk, soy)
RTD drinks (Such as carnation good start or met RX instant meal replacement)
Tofu
Cottage Cheese
Meat (such as bacon or sausage, although this is high in saturated fats)
Fat free american cheese (like.. scrambled eggs with cheese eh?)
If you combine an incomplete protein and a complete protein, you will still be getting the full amino spectrum. Eating an incomplete protein alone doesn't do much for you, but combining them with a complete will add a lot to your meal.
Incomplete protein ideas to combine with complete proteins >
Grains such as :
Barley
Oats
Rice
Pasta
Rye
Wheat
Legumes such as :
Peanuts
Soy beans
Nuts/Seeds such as :
Sesame seeds
Sunflower seeds
You can sprinkle nuts in your cereal or oatmeal for a crunch. Your oatmeal also contains incomplete proteins, so that's cool eh?
Including a protein source will bring you into positive nitrogen balance, increase the metabolism through the digestion of the protein itself, and increase fat mobilization for fuel. Also including protein in an already carbohydrate rich breakfast will slow the release of sugar into the bloodstream, helping to keep your energy levels constant and consistent until your next meal.
Breakfast B revisited - My breakfast >
So let's go over my common breakfast. Two whole eggs, 1 piece of fat free cheese, 1 serving oatmeal, 1 banana, 1 glass of water, multivitamin, 1 scoop of whey protein. Two whole eggs have 16 grams of protein and have the 2nd highest quality protein you can eat (whey protein being the highest quality of protein available). 1 piece of cheese is 6 grams, and 1 scoop of whey is 20 grams of protein. That's 42 grams of protein. Add in an incomplete protein, oatmeal, and I now have 47 grams of protein for breakfast. If I made my oatmeal with milk I'd be getting even more. It's easy to get protein in your breakfast. Next a banana has awesome electrolytes and is good source of carbohydrates and fiber, while oatmeal is a great source of carbohydrates with lots of fiber. Natural oats also raise testosterone a bit (good for a guy again, SCORE!) and lowers cholesterol. The multivitamin must be taken with food, and it goes well with this meal. 1 glass of water helps take care of water soluble vitamins. This is my breakfast and it takes me 12-16 minutes to cook and eat. Not long at all since this is the meal that primarily fuels my work outs and keeps me kicking ass the whole day.
Breakfast ideas >>
Breakfast is such an easy meal to do. I would advise you try to minimize simple sugar intake, get a lot of high-fiber complex carbohydrates, eat enough protein, and drink one glass of water with it. Drinking 1 glass of water before breakfast is a good thing to do since it flushes the kidneys and primes the stomach for digestion. Drink a full glass right before you eat, and one during the meal and you'll feel it healing you haha...
The deal with eggs >>
People are scared to eat eggs in the morning because it has "cholesterol". Cholesterol is a waxy substance naturally produced in your body. If you have high cholesterol, your body is not effectively recycling excess cholesterol. The media hypes it up way to damn much. The deal is that when doctors many years ago said "Eat a cholesterol lowering diet" many people instead interpreted it as "Eat a low cholesterol diet". These are 2 totally different things. A diet rich in fiber will lower cholesterol, as that fiber binds with cholesterol in the bloodstream and helps deliver it to the necessary places for burning or recycling. A cholesterol lowering diet is rich in HDL (High density lipo-protein) and low in LDL (low density lipo-protein) and triglycerides. HDL is known as the "GOOD" fats. Which include polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats. Including these in your diets will lower blood serum cholesterol levels because it helps deliver cholesterol to the liver where it is recycled in the body. LDL which are the "BAD" fats, are saturated fats. These get cholesterol caught in the bad places such as artery walls or other blood vessels. Eating a diet that lowers total cholesterol and triglyercides (free floating fats in your bloodstream) will keep your circulatory system functioning properly and cholesterol at a healthy level. People with cholesterol problems often are not having problems with intaking too much dietary cholesterol, they are not getting enough HDL fats, and are getting too many LDL fats. Their body produces cholesterol and is not getting the right compounds to lower this amount. So all in all, your enemy is saturated fats. Eggs have 1-2 grams of saturated fats. That's almost nothing! Eggs will not harm you if you have a diet with a low LDL profile and a high HDL profile. I know some people who eat a dozen eggs a day, and they are healthy! So don't worry about them! Just don't make yourself sick off of them, I only eat 2-4 for breakfast a day. You can remove the yolk which contains most of the saturated fat (what little it has) and cholesterol and only eat the white albumin if you are still scared of the cholesterol. But you'll be missing out on many B-vitamins and some of the protein.
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Conclusion :
Breakfast is too easy too miss, and too important to forget. Maximize your energy levels in the morning and you can take your training to a whole new level. It's often the most affordable meal of the day as well. Don't miss out, get up and eat breakfast!! YAHHOO!!!!!
Resources :
http://www.fitforsuccess.com.au/breakfast.html
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/zaino3.htm
Men's Fitness / May, 2001
http://www.bodybuilding.com/teen/brent16.htm
