Is it truly the most important meal of the day?
Bacon, eggs, toast and a glass of orange juice is the typical breakfast combo we have been accustomed to seeing on TV since the early days of the picture box. Along with an image of what many will consider breakfast, the meal-time itself has been engraved into our minds since our childhood as the most important meal of the day. We grew up believing it was a dietary travesty to skip breakfast. Why is the first meal of the day, our morning pleasure (or torture depending on who you are) considered to be so important? The clue to that question lies in its name: break-fast, which literally means to break our overnight fasting.
One reasoning behind why our morning meal is so important is because our bodies use up a lot of energy to repair injuries and maintain muscle and functions, as well as to grow. A balanced breakfast in the morning aids our bodies to replenish the used up energy stores. However, does this really justify placing it on top of the hierarchy of meals?
Today, much of the advertised breakfasts we see in the media contain a huge amount of sugar, saturated fats, and other food stuffs you might want to stay away from for a healthy diet. In fact, much of the breakfast meals we see today are highly dangerous to a healthy diet. A breakfast high in sugar and other unnecessary ingredients can result in obesity and other diseases, such as diabetes.
So, is breakfast really the energy boost we need for a productive and healthy day or is it all just a marketing ploy? Well, eating a healthy balanced breakfast with a minimum amount of sugar can be a great way to jumpstart your metabolism, and it can also help you with shedding those extra pounds. You decide… everything.
