THE IMPORTANCE OF BREAKFAST

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. The human body requires energy for tissues repair and growth while sleeping. A balanced breakfast is important to supply energy and nutrients for every day. Nowadays, busy lifestyles lead consumers to skip breakfast or whose who want to lose weight or wake up late and eat only until lunch. Skipping breakfast will actually have negative effects on your body.

7 Side Effects of Skipping Breakfast
#1 Drop in Blood Sugar
After a night of sleep, the energy and blood sugar level are low in level. If you don’t eat breakfast, your blood sugar level may continue to drop and your cells become starved for energy. You may begin to appear pale, weak limbs, low energy and even coma.

#2 Slow Response
The brain cells cannot store energy and hence requires a continuous supply of glucose as fuel for brain function properly. Skipping breakfast can lead to a drop in blood sugar level and lack of brain energy may resulting fatigue, poor concentrate, lack of energy and slow response. This can affect study and work performance.

#3 Memory Loss
The energy of the brain is mainly derived from glucose. If you skip breakfast, it will cause insufficient energy supply in the brain and cause memory decline.

#4 Gastrointestinal Problems
If you do not eat breakfast until lunch, your stomach will be hungry and secrete a large amount of gastric acid and attack lining of the stomach, causing stomach pain, gastritis or gastric ulcers. The body will naturally produce gastrocolic reflex after meals, which is referred to as promoting defecation. If we skip breakfast, it may cause imbalance of gastrocolic reflex in long term can cause constipation.

#5 Leads to Weight Gain
If you skip breakfast, your body starts craving through the night. The next morning, you will be prone to overeating and increase calorie intake. This may eventually lead to weight gain. Skipping breakfast and obesity are closely linked together and if you want to keep fit, eat your breakfast on time.

#6 Accelerate Aging
People who often do not eat breakfast are more likely to age than those who eat breakfast. If you do not eat breakfast, the body utilize the sugar and protein stored in the body, which will cause malnutrition, anemia, dry skin and wrinkles, thereby accelerating aging.

#7 Immunity Go Down
When we skip breakfast may cause the bodies lack of nutrient supply or malnutrition. Thus, it can make your immune system weaker and get a higher risk of experiencing frequent colds and infections from viruses or bacteria.

Conclusion
Skipping breakfast for a long time may contribute to common diseases such as hypoglycemia, stomach problems, constipation, obesity, poor immunity and increase the risk of chronic diseases. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. The best ratio of breakfast, lunch and dinner is 3:2:1. Breakfast provides us with energy and nutrients required. Let’s breakfast kick start your day!!

Tips for Eating Breakfast:

• Dry foods should not be the main food for breakfast. Because your gut function is still in a state of restart and the body is in a state of dehydration, this is may be the reason for poor appetite in the morning. Eating dry foods such as bun or bread with an empty stomach will make you feel thirsty and hard to digest. For ideal breakfast, wet foods are more preferable, such as rice porridge, soy milk, milk or vegetable soup.
•  A hot breakfast is best for all. Cold meals can be more difficult to digest especially who with digestion problem may prefer eating a hot breakfast such as warm soup or warm soy milk.

Reference:
1.) Zhiho. The important of breakfast. Viewed on 24 May 2021, from: <https://www.sohu.com/a/229681419_100132703>.

2.) Sohu. The important of breakfast. Viewed on 24 May 2021, from: <https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/57348908>.