_edited.png)
How do you normally kickstart your day? Are you one who would grab a bite, or are you one who skips the morning meal?
Worryingly, we have realised that many youths would go for the latter. Based on a survey we conducted, around 45% of the youths we surveyed responded that they do not consume breakfast regularly.
However, breakfast is an important meal for us and in today's post, we break down the top 3 reasons why!
1) Energize yourself for the day
It's common to hear that eating breakfast fuels us with energy for the day. First, let us understand how that works from a normal meal (with just a quick biology lesson!)
Usually after we eat, our food gets digested and carbohydrates found in our food will be broken down into glucose, that is absorbed into our bloodstream. When our cells are low in glucose, the glucose in our bloodstream enters our cells (with the help of a hormone called insulin). Glucose can then be converted into energy for our body.
If glucose is not being used up for energy, it can be converted into glycogen that is stored in our liver. Glycogen can be converted into glucose (with the help of another hormone called glucagon) that is released into our bloodstream when it has low blood glucose levels. It's like having a "back-up supply" for our cells when they are in need of more glucose for energy.
Glucose can also be converted into fat, that is stored in adipose tissue (aka body fat) which can be used for energy later on, like when you use your muscles to exercise!
Hence, when you consume breakfast in the morning, this would provide you with glucose that actually "fuels you up" with energy to move and complete your tasks throughout the day. Eating breakfast would also replenish your glycogen level at the start of the day, to ensure you do not run out of glucose.
Even if you're not one to move around much, our brain depends on glucose to function too. Having a healthy breakfast ensures stable blood glucose level, and thus your brain would receive sufficient glucose to boost your mental performance. This helps you to focus on your tasks throughout the day!
2) Skipping breakfast may increase the risk of diabetes
Now that we understand how we get our energy from eating breakfast, what happens when we skip it?
One of the risks is actually diabetes. How does that come about?
Based on a study from The Journal of Nutrition, the more frequent people were to skip their breakfast in a week, their risk of type 2 diabetes would increase too. It was also concluded that skipping breakfast on 1 day would increase the risk by 6% and by skipping breakfast for 4 to 5 days, it may rise to as high as 55%. This may be caused by the sudden spike of blood glucose only after consuming a meal later in the day, which may lead to insulin resistance and eventually, type 2 diabetes.
Hence, to protect ourselves from getting diabetes in the future, we can take care of our body by consuming breakfast more frequently.
3) Form healthy eating habits to avoid obesity
When we skip our breakfast, we tend to get hungry later on. Hence, we may start snacking or overeating later in the day which may lead to obesity.
However, you might be thinking, would it really make a difference if I don't eat in the morning, but eat more at night?
Well, what causes weight gain is a high intake of calories instead of the time that you eat. However, if we eat later in the day, we tend to eat more calories than we should. Based on a study on the relationship between meal timing and total calorie intake, individuals who ate closer to their bedtime would consume a higher calorie intake as compared to individuals who ate their last meal earlier.
Yishun Health's head of the Department of Nutrition & Dietetics, Ms Chow Pek Yee, commented on a Straits Times article that although we may eat more at dinner after skipping breakfast, our low satiety in the evening may cause us to still feel hungry at night and start snacking later on. Weight gain and obesity may then occur from the consumption of extra calories and this increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases too.
Therefore, by eating breakfast in the morning, we can prevent ourselves from unhealthy eating habits that would negatively affect our health in the future.
+ Tips for you if you face difficulties in eating breakfast!
From the survey we conducted, of the youths who do not eat breakfast regularly, about 97% of their reasons to not do so was due to the lack of time, while about 71% of them also responded that they had no appetite in the morning.
Hence, here are some tips you can use, that can help you grab that morning meal!
1. Make time for breakfast
Since we now know how important breakfast is, let's try to use our time more wisely to ensure we get that important meal!
For example, before leaving home to head to school or work, we can set 10 minutes aside for breakfast, instead of scrolling through our social media (which you can do later on while commuting!)
Besides that, tasks such as choosing our outfit-of-the-day or packing our bags can be done before we head to bed, so that we can grab breakfast before we leave home the next morning.
We can also prepare our breakfast the night before so that if we're in a rush the next morning, we don't need to spend a lot of time to prepare breakfast. Some suggestions you can try are overnight oats and healthy smoothies!
2. Avoid eating late at night or eating too much for dinner
Sometimes, eating a heavy dinner or eating late at night may cause us to feel full or bloated the next morning. Thus, by trying to eat lesser late at night, we will feel hungry the next morning and have the appetite to stomach our breakfast.
Conclusion
Now that you've come to the end of this blog post, we hope that you were able to understand the reasons on why you should start your day by eating breakfast. So that we can live on and prevent ourselves from the risk of chronic diseases, let's start eating breakfast regularly! That one meal in the morning means so much more to your body than what it may seem to be 😊
As much as eating breakfast is important, eating a healthy one is what matters as well, so that we don't consume too much calories in the morning! We recommend reading the article linked below, about various Healthier Breakfast Ideas recommended by the Health Promotion Board!
And with that, we hope you were able to learn healthy and see you at our next post!
Sources
Ballon, A., Neuenschwander, M. & Schlesinger, S., 2018. Breakfast Skipping Is Associated with Increased Risk of Type 2 Diabetes among Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies. The Journal of Nutrition, 9 November, 149(1), pp. 106 - 113.
Cleveland Clinic, 2019. Breakfast-Skipping Linked to Type 2 Diabetes. [Online] Available at: https://newsroom.clevelandclinic.org/2019/04/02/breakfast-skipping-linked-to-type-2-diabetes/ [Accessed 16 June 2021].
Department of Health, Statement Government of Victoria, 2020. Breakfast. [Online] Available at: https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/HealthyLiving/breakfast#why-breakfast-is-so-important [Accessed 13 June 2021].
Health Promotion Board, 2020. Energy-Boosting Wholesome Breakfasts. [Online] Available at: https://www.healthhub.sg/live-healthy/940/energy-boosting-breakfasts [Accessed 10 June 2021].
Kaur, A., 2021. Skipping breakfast? You may be putting your health at risk. [Online] Available at: https://www.straitstimes.com/life/skipping-breakfast-you-may-be-putting-your-health-at-risk [Accessed 13 June 2021].
Meixner, M., 2018. Does Eating Late at Night Cause Weight Gain?. [Online] Available at: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/eating-at-night [Accessed 13 June 2021].
Reid, K. J., Baron, K. G. & Zee, P. C., 2014. Meal timing influences daily caloric intake in healthy adults. Nutrition Research, November, 34(11), pp. 930-935.
Yun, T. H., 2020. Take heart, the time you eat matters too. [Online]
Available at: https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/take-heart-the-time-you-eat-matters-too
[Accessed 13 June 2021].
:0 i usually skip breakfast because i wake up late and i never knew it could have so many adverse effects…. :( thanks for letting us know :D