Why Eating a Healthy Breakfast will Speed Up Metabolism

The most important meal of the day is,

{Drumroll}

Breakfast.

We’ve heard it time and time again. From the time we are young our parents have been hollering, “eat your breakfast.”

And while it is true that a healthy breakfast is the most important meal of the day, the traditional thoughts on what and when to eat it are far from accurate.

So when should you eat breakfast you might wonder?

Later is better.

But don’t over complicate it.

To be honest, I’m new woman with a new mission. A mission to wake you up to a world of food peace and food happiness. To tell you that life isn’t perfect {GASP} and it never goes as planned {GASP AGAIN} but you can still eat really, really well and more importantly enjoy everything you do eat.

Here’s the bottom line, REALISTIC health always wins so keep all of the suggestions you hear within reach for you, mkay?

Now that we got that settled, let’s get back to this breakfast thing.

Breakfast, also known as “breaking-the-fast” is a critical meal to your body. It is the time in which you change how your body is functioning from running on your own fuel sources to running on the external fuel sources and taking in ample amounts of nutrients.

But maybe you’ve heard it a different way, breakfast is when you wake up your metabolism…..

You’ve heard that before right? Unfortunately this is only partially true. Our metabolism never really stops. It is constantly running and if done appropriately it is running most efficiently at rest on our own body stores. Because we have them and enough at that.

So while our metabolism never really ceases, it just changes. It goes from restoring and burning to replenishing when you take your first bite everyday. So in fact, if the tables turn quite a bit, you can better see the breakdown.

Nighttime or the absence of food is when you burn excess fat stores and use up some of those nutrients to replenish the body.

Daytime or in the presence of food is when you build. You build up nutrient stores and if done inappropriately body fat stores as well.

With this knowledge I challenge you to question what matters more. The what or the how and the when?

[Tweet “What if what you ate wasn’t as important as the how and when?”]

As usual, I’m going to constantly be that person, that nutritionist who always questions and rebels against common thought. To question what is being taught and understanding that the information isn’t working and turn the tables forming a new strategy that will help you change your life for good.

This strategy, focusing on the how and when and putting less focus on the what.

Don’t get me wrong the what is VERY important. But because we are a nation obsessed with the what we can’t overcome and understand that the how and the when are maybe even more important. And when we become obsessed with the what we lose hope and excitement and joy for what we are eating. Our satisfaction decreases and our emotional eating increases.

It has to be easier right?

My friends, I’m excited to tell you it is so much easier.

Stop focusing so much on the what and watch as you transform your attention to the how and when which will snowball into you naturally changing the what without restriction, deprivation or fear.

In a weird sort of way, to trick your mind and body into something that is so incredibly healthy you actually want to do it.

But the awesome reality is you’re not actually tricking anything but instead achieving true and lasting health.

How does this pertain to breakfast?

Because breakfast is the start of your eating window. It is the critical point that either starts your day loaded with nutrition, a true energizing nutrition, or puts you on that wild sugar-roller coaster ride that leaves you tired and miserable. Starting the day on the right foot makes all the difference.

So here are my quick and dirty healthy breakfast tips:

Don’t start too early. Eating breakfast before you workout at 5:00 am can leave you tired and fatigued earlier in the day. Our goal is to aim to stay in that fat-burning fast as long as possible. Make sure you don’t eat your breakfast until you’ve been without food for at least 12 hours.
Load it up. Breakfast is one of the best meals to absorb as many energizing nutrients as possible. Keep it well-rounded with lots of protein, fat and vegetables.
Think outside breakfast foods. While we have glorified desserts to be breakfast foods, it doesn’t mean you can’t think outside the box (literally). Leftovers, taco salads, steak and eggs you see where this is going. Real wholesome, hearty food can be a delicious and filling start to the day.
Watch what you drink. Not only do we tend to focus on the wrong food sources we also tend to over drink at breakfast. Now I’m not saying we shouldn’t drink, I’m just saying we shouldn’t guzzle with our meals. This can cause excess gassiness, indigestion and slow our digestion down making things not as effective. Just sip with meals and skip the guzzling all together.
Focus on the protein and fat. Fat is needed to replenish the energy stores at night. We crave what we burn and if we want to burn fat we have to eat it. Focus on fat at breakfast to keep your body in that fat burning mode.

By taking and using these five tips it can be the start of a cascade of healthier events. Just know that breakfast or breaking-the-fast really is the most important meal of the day. Keep it in check and find ways to enjoy it. You may need to re-train your body but it will be worth it in the end.

If you’re in need of some new healthy breakfast ideas here are some of our favorite, more traditional breakfasts;