It’s breakfast week, otherwise known as ‘Shake up your wake up’ – and this is a campaign we’re fully behind, as it emphasises the importance of our favourite meal of the day! When faced with the choice between getting up a few minutes early to eat or hitting the snooze button again, spending longer in bed can be really tempting, but it could make it much harder for you to achieve your weight loss goals.
At Hall Training, we always encourage our clients to make time for breakfast, and here are just five of the reasons we think it's so important:
1. A higher protein breakfast may improve weight loss. A recent 12-week study [1] saw three groups eating either a high-protein breakfast (38g), a low-protein breakfast (13g), or no breakfast at all. The study showed that eating a low-protein breakfast was better than eating no breakfast, and that even those with a low-protein breakfast remained the same body fat. But those on the high-protein breakfast ate less calories per day in total, lost body fat, and stayed fuller for longer.
2. Breakfast could stop you (or your kids) eating so much during the day. A recent study [2] found that students (aged 14) who ate a high-protein breakfast (48g) reported they felt fuller and satisfied for a longer period than students who skipped breakfast or ate traditional, higher-carb breakfasts.They also freely chose to eat 130 fewer calories at lunch than the other two groups. Their hormonal profile indicated better appetite control and regulation of metabolism than the students who ate the regular pancakes as well.
3. Eating more calories in the morning could help you lose weight. A study [3] conducted in 2014 found that eating a higher amount of calories (70 per cent) in the first part of the day could help you lose fat mass and improve your insulin sensitivity, as opposed to eating 55 per cent of your calories at the same time. You can find more information about the study and information on calorie-timing on another of our blog posts: How the timeing of calories may be important for weight loss
4. Eating breakfast could help your concentration. A study [4] conducted on children found that 3 hours after eating a low-GL (Glycemic Load) breakfast, their memory and mood improved. Even the day after eating the low-GL breakfast, the children were still processing information faster and showing improved spatial memory, suggesting that the benefits of a low-GL breakfast are accumulative.
5. Breakfast could help you be more active. An American study [5] looked at the activity levels and number of calories burnt by two groups, one who ate breakfast and the other who didn’t. The results showed that eating breakfast encouraged the participants to engage in more physical activity, and thus burn more calories. The total number of calories burned by those who ate breakfast was 851 per day, compared with just 442 by those who didn’t.
Although the research isn’t always very clear or consistent, it seems to suggest that there are some advantages to having breakfast, and if you are having breakfast then a high-protein looks to be better than a standard breakfast.
So, in celebration of Breakfast Week, here are some of the recipes we use to make sure we get plenty of protein at the start of the day!
Sources:
1. Leidy, Heather J., et al. "A highâprotein breakfast prevents body fat gain, through reductions in daily intake and hunger, in “Breakfast skipping” adolescents." Obesity (2015).
2. Leidy, J., Reki, E. The Addition of a Protein-Rich Breakfast and its Effects on Acute Control and Food Intake in “Breakfast-Skipping” Adolescents. International Journal of Obesity. (2010).
3. Lombardo M, et al. J Am Coll Nutr. 2014 May 8:1-8. [Epub ahead of print.]
4.Young, Hayley, and David Benton. "The effect of using isomaltulose (Palatinose™) to modulate the glycaemic properties of breakfast on the cognitive performance of children." European journal of nutrition (2014)
5. Betts JA, Richardson JD, Chowdhury EA, Holman GD, Tsintzas K, Thompson D. The causal role of breakfast in energy balance and health: a randomized controlled trial in lean adults. Am J Clin Nutr. (2014)
About Chris Hall
As the founder of Hall Training Systems, it is my mission to provide you with the very best personal training experience. I set up Hall Training Systems as Oxford's leading personal training service in nutrition, performance and weight loss, ensuring I can deliver the very best in training techniques.
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