Skipping Breakfast

INSHAPE NEWS OPINION

Nick Jack – CHEK Holistic Lifestyle Coach and Personal Trainer

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. To achieve optimal health you absolutely MUST eat a good healthy breakfast. The word breakfast means to ‘BREAK the FAST’, as your body has most likely not been fed for 8 to 12 hours whilst you have been asleep.

Breakfast is the most important meal because your metabolism is starting to fire up, your stress hormone (Cortisol) is also on the rise, so it is important to get some much needed fuel into the body. We have found over the past 8 years that clients who succeed with weight loss have a breakfast that is almost 25% of their daily food intake. This is especially true for women wanting to restore or elevate their metabolic rate.

If people skip breakfast it causes a blood sugar crisis and elevates your stress hormone Cortisol, which creates a downward spiral of emotions in the body. Have you seen the latest Snickers TV commercial? Eat like this, and it will set you up for all sorts of problems throughout the day, such as mood swings, drops in energy, and cravings. But, even more importantly you will begin to deteriorate in health and either get sick or put weight on. The side effect of too much Cortisol results in you being susceptible to illness and weight gain, let alone all of the other symptoms.

So if your goal this year is to shed some unwanted kilos or body fat, or improve your health then eating a good nutritious breakfast is not negotiable. You must remember that the body’s metabolism is elevated by simply eating. The act of eating requires the process of digestion, utilisation of minerals and vitamins, and lastly the elimination of food.

Your body therefore needs the right fuel to get to work. I recommend a breakfast that includes some good quality protein and some type of vegetable. This will allow you to achieve your daily goals.

Nick Jack is a qualified CHEK Exercise Coach, Level II Holistic Lifestyle Coach and personal trainer. He runs a personal training business called No Regrets Personal Training.

Nick likes to lift weights, cycle, run and triathlon. He has played almost every sport at one time in his life. Now, he enjoys spending time walking his dog and relaxing with his wife and friends.

Let’s start this topic with a question, “what does ‘breakfast’ mean?”

Answer: your body responds to not eating anything for hours and hours by ‘slowing down’ and diminishing its metabolic rate and burning fewer calories to conserve energy. By eating breakfast, you wake up your metabolism and get your engine running, so to speak.

Researchers have repeatedly shown that people that eat breakfast have a better chance of losing weight and keeping it off. When you skip breakfast you become so hungry by lunchtime that you are ready to eat the entire cow, rather than just the chop. Eating breakfast also wakes you up. You become more alert and this positively affects the retention of new information that many of us use for new tasks. This is why a hungry child can be apathetic, disinterested and irritable when confronted with difficult tasks without having eaten breakfast.

No doubt adults need breakfast as much as kids do, which leads me to my next point. Monkey see monkey do. Our parents told us everyday as kids to eat all of our breakfast. Therefore,  ask yourself this, “If you skip breakfast what example are WE setting for our own children?”

A coffee and a muffin on the run just doesn’t cut it. These types of foods cause a blood sugar dip and a couple of hours later you’ll be desperate for something to perk you up. This is when most people grab another high-sugar/ carbohydrate type food for a quick sugar rush.

Lastly, it is important to consider what you should be eating for breakfast.  Eating what’s healthy out there is a great start. Read the labels on cereal boxes well before buying, as manufacturers are experts in using key words that send a false message of health. Also, try mixing it up each day, so that you give yourself variety. Try eggs on one day and porridge or muesli on the next.

All the best in health.

Anthony “Chief” Ippindo is a dedicated fitness professional, who is an AFL football player and physical conditioning coach that has a career spanning over 10 years. Anthony has a Bachelors in Sports Science and is a qualified strength and conditioning coach, which has enabled him to work with elite athletes from AFL football, hockey and tennis to rowing and high performance diving at the South Australian Institute Of Sport. In addition, Anthony has also studied a holistic approach to exercise under Paul Chek to become a qualified exercise coach and a level II holistic lifestyle coach. This has enabled him to move forward from personal training to become a holistic lifestyle coach.
Breakfast isn’t called that by random or accident. The word literally means to ‘break the fast’ meaning that the overnight fasting period that is caused by sleep is broken. Breakfast serves to fire up the metabolism and replenish your glucose and essential nutrients, which are required to keep you humming along smoothly throughout the day.

Vanessa Auditore – Human Behaviour and Wellbeing Specialist

My ideal breakfast contains a well balanced nutrient rich diet, that is organic and free range. This allows me to balance out my nutritional needs throughout the course of a day. You can also follow a similar diet that is based on your personal needs, exercise load, stress and lifestyle factors. Remember that food is like clothing; one size does not fit all!

Breakfast supplies a great foundation for your day on all levels:

Better Health, a government organisation, and Deakin University research states that:

• Many children who skip breakfast are significantly heavier than those who eat breakfast.
• Skipping breakfast may diminish mental performance.
• Eating breakfast may aid learning, as you are better able to pay attention and are more interested in learning.
• Children who eat an inadequate breakfast are more likely to make poor food choices for the rest of the day and in the long term.
• People who eat breakfast have more nutritious diets than people who skip breakfast. They also have better eating habits as they are less likely to be hungry for snacks during the day.

These results are not limited to children as going without breakfast becomes more common with advancing age. Statistics suggest that approximately 15 per cent of teenagers and one third of adults don’t eat breakfast.  Adults often say that they skip breakfast because they ‘don’t have time’, therefore we have greater demands and responsibilities that magnify the impact.

Breakfast for me consists of a Paleo based diet and I find it sets my day up well. I am able to be alert and available for my clients, run a business, study at university and head to the gym to train for my competition. This is because I have a content, happy and well fueled metabolism that is working behind the scenes while I go about my day.  As I started my day well by breaking the fast.

Remember food is fuel. You wouldn’t expect to get very far without putting fuel in your car, so you need to think about your body in the same light. A well tuned metabolism creates a trim, fit and finely tuned body, mind and spirit.

Vanessa Auditore has been working in the health and wellness industry since 1998, when she graduated as a master personal trainer. Since then, she has continued her professional development to include transformational life coaching, counsellor QMACA, presenter and lecturer for the Australian fitness industry, expert advice consultant for national magazines including Cleo, Cosmopolitan, Fitness First, Blitz magazine and has developed a successful online presence via the SuccessheadQ blog. In addition, Vanessa features regularly as a guest on many Australian based health and wellbeing blogs, and has also competed  in natural figure competitions, at a national level. Vanessa is continuing to expand her academic pursuits with a double degree in behavioural science and communication and media, and is applying her expertise to achieve personal goals by integrating holistic practices.