This is a guest post by: Madhavi Dandu a senior editor at UrbanWired with deep love and passion for all things health, wellness, fitness and fashion. Given how uninformed people were about personal health, fitness, she sees the need to educate average joe and jane about healthy living through her writing.
‘Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper’, so goes the saying. How true is that. The first meal of the day should always be healthy and rich in nutrition so as to keep you going throughout the day. As the day progresses, the intake of food should reduce with the dinner being the lightest meal of the day.
Why is breakfast important?
In today’s fast paced and stressful life, health usually takes a backseat. When youngsters are questioned on why they skip the most important meal of the day, out comes a reply “I can’t cook”, “I am busy”, “who has the time to buy grocery?” and so on.
These answers might sound reasonable for now but, after some time, the body starts showing its harmful side effects. One best reason emphasizing the importance of breakfast is: Dinner is the last meal consumed by the body, after which a long gap of 8 hour sleep activates your digestive organs to constantly work at digesting the food and hence, in the morning the body has practically no fuel to energize.
Skipping breakfast leads to intense eating for lunch resulting in additional 100 to 200 calories per day. No wonder, breakfast literally implies “breaking the fast” and hence, one needs healthy food to carry out the daily functions.
10 harmful effects of not eating a healthy breakfast
By skipping such a crucial meal, you tend to deny your body the fuel to function smoothly. The body then lacks glucose, the sugar which supplies energy to your brain through the foods you eat, thereby resulting in harmful side effects.
The side effects of skipping breakfast are not merely physiological but also psychological.
Studies have shown that people skipping breakfast may also suffer from fatigue and irritability throughout the morning. Some people try to compensate for tiredness by drinking coffee in the morning. However, this is not a proper substitute. Such people also show signs of grouchiness.
This often results in a decline of performance at work, whether at school or at office. Here are 10 harmful effects of not eating breakfast:
- Poor Concentration levels
- Decreased productivity levels
- Memory trouble
- Obesity
- Fatigue
- Anger and irritation
- Binge eating
- Stomach problems
- Prone to serious diseases like diabetes, blood pressure and heart attacks
- Lowers body metabolism
Numerous studies have been conducted all over the world to understand the effect of breakfast on the human body. One such study was conducted in the US in which it was observed that eating breakfast helps in staying healthy and people, who tend to skip the very first meal of the day, are usually prone to becoming obese. They may even become diabetic with the rise in the blood sugar levels thereby increasing the possibility of Type 2 diabetes. They may even suffer a heart attack. In comparison to this, it was observed that people having regular breakfast were one third less likely to be obese and face any of those problems
The British Dietetic Association also conducted a study and presented the findings at the American Heart Association’s annual conference in Miami. They observed that breakfast can be a very good source of vitamins. Many processed cereals are fortified with vitamins and minerals. It is almost impossible to replace these vitamins and minerals if you are having just two meals a day.
So the next time you step out of the house, make sure to give your body and mind the nutrition it truly deserves. Invest now in the habit of eating healthy breakfast meals and see the wonders it shows on your body and mind!
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