What should I eat for Breakfast to Stay Healthy
You’ve probably heard conflicting views about eating breakfast from… “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day”… to… “skipping breakfast helps with weight control.”
I’m not going to try and convince you of eating or not eating breakfast (even though I do sell a ‘breakfast’ recipe book) but rather present some scientific research on the subject and leave you with a few things to think about.
First… “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day”…
“A meta-analysis confirmed that skipping breakfast is associated with overweight/obesity, and skipping breakfast increases the risk of overweight/obesity. The results of cohort studies and cross-sectional studies are consistent. There is no significant difference in these results among different ages, gender, regions, and economic conditions.” [1]
Then there are studies that suggest…
“that the addition of breakfast might not be a good strategy for weight loss, regardless of established breakfast habit. Caution is needed when recommending breakfast for weight loss in adults, as it could have the opposite effect.” [2]
The latter is the type of study most often quoted in ‘blogs’ about the benefits of ‘skipping breakfast’ to lose weight. And reading this could lead you to think that. But what these blogs do NOT tell you is… whether the study had a risk of bias, what type of follow up was undertaken, what the subjects ate and what other factors were taken into account.
Interestingly this review and meta-analysis that came out with the statement of ‘addition of breakfast might not be a good strategy for weight loss’… were based on studies that ALL had a high risk of bias, had short term follow-ups and those who ate breakfast were eating food such as… Rice Krispies with semi-skimmed milk or a liquid pre-load meal; Crisped rice cereal, semi-skimmed milk, white bread, butter, strawberry jam, and orange juice; Bran cereal and a chocolate covered cookie; Oat porridge made with whole milk served with 200 mL of decaffeinated coffee; Frosted Flakes served with low fat milk with 200 mL of decaffeinated coffee; Wheat flakes plus milk, scrambled eggs, and orange juice.
Eating that type of nutrient poor food isn’t a good strategy for weight loss, because it isn’t a good strategy for health! Apart from the oat porridge, and possibly the scrambled eggs, participants were not consuming REAL whole food. And on that note, the weight loss reported was only an average of 400g (14oz) compared to those who ate breakfast and…
“None of the other body composition parameter changes were statistically significant, including a nonsignificant decrease in lean mass and increase in percent body fat.” [3]
This study ALSO didn’t discuss all the other factors that are relevant to health e.g…
How much were they eating for other meals?
What food were they eating?
Timing of eating?
What movement were they undertaking daily?
How was their sleep?
How was their hydration?
What medications were they taking?
Supplements?
Social connections?
Stressors?
And the list goes on.
While I am a (big) fan of research, I am not a fan of research that doesn’t look at the wider-scope of health-related factors. Meta-analysis is all well-and-good… but it is essential to sanity check the meta-analysis.
Having read over 350+ research papers on ‘the pros and cons on the consumption of breakfast’ and over 2200+ studies based on ‘nutrition and the gut microbiome’, what is compelling, and clear, is that the consumption of a diverse range of whole foods, predominantly plants and consuming breakfast after a standard overnight fast, led to better health outcomes such as…
Better cognitive and academic performance.
“Children and adolescents who habitually consume breakfast are more likely to have better micro and macronutrient intake less likely to be overweight or obese and more likely to have higher physical activity levels”… and to… “maintain this higher metabolic rate, a continuous supply of energy derived from glucose is needed. Hence breakfast consumption may be vital to providing adequate energy for the morning.”
An increase in anti-inflammatory Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium microbes and a decrease in pathogenic bacteria.
Improved insulin sensitivity, reduced oxidative stress and inflammation.
A sustained increase in physical performance.
Reduces the risk for developing coronary heart disease, stroke, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and certain gastrointestinal disorders.
Improved serum lipid concentrations, lower blood pressure and improved blood glucose control.
Regular bowel movements and improved gastric motility.
An increase in lean muscle mass and reduction in body fat.
Reduced waist circumference.
Promoted the proliferation and/or activity of beneficial microbes.
Improved immune function through reinforcing mucosal barrier function and increasing mucosal antibody production.
Now you know what’s best for you… here’s a full week of Microbiome-Boosting Breakfasts …
Day 1: Overnight Oats… Before bed mix 1 cup full cream milk, or homemade nut or seed milk, with ½ cup organic oats. Mix, cover put in fridge. In the morning, add berries or sliced bananas or cacao nibs. Flavour your overnight oats by adding raspberries, cacao, mango etc when mixing your oats.
Day 2: Green Smoothie In Blender… add 1 unripe banana, 1 celery stick, 1 cup spinach, 1 cup pineapple, handful of mint, 1/2 cup cucumber, 1 apple and then blitz until smooth. If too thick, add some coconut water.
Day 3: Chia Pudding… Before bed, mix 1 can coconut milk (400g) with ⅓ cup chia seeds in a bowl. Stir well. Portion into 4 breakfast cups. Serve topped with chopped nuts/seeds, fruit or a drizzle of raw unprocessed honey. .
Day 4: Sprouted Smashed Avo with toasted sprouted grain bread… Smash ½ avocado in a bowl with a squeeze of lime and black pepper. Toast bread, add smashed avo then top with alfalfa , broccoli or snow pea sprouts. Or load it up with sliced tomatoes and cucumber.
Day 5: Buckwheat Porridge… Before bed. Soak ½ cup buckwheat in water, cover and set aside on counter. In the morning rinse very well in a sieve. Then put in a blender with 1 cup homemade nut or seed milk and blitz until smooth. Top with berries, banana slices, coconut, walnuts if desired and drizzle of raw unprocessed honey.
Day 6: Tofu Scramble… Finely chop 1 small capsicum and 1 small red onion sauté in fry pan until tender. Add 300g firm organic non-GMO Tofu (crumble with your hands when adding).Then add ¼ tsp turmeric, ½ tsp of cumin and any other spices you desire - keep stirring until completely heated through. Serve on toasted sprouted grain bread.
Day 7: Smoothie Bowl… Before bed, freeze 2 peeled unripe bananas. In the morning, add to blender frozen bananas, ½ cup coconut water and 1 cup of frozen berries (any type) and blend on high. It should be thicker than a smoothie. Spoon into a bowl and top with chia seeds, nuts/seeds, coconut shavings, hemp seeds… as desired.
With (gut) love, Nat 💚
Gut Health Nutritionist
References
Ma, X., Chen, Q., Pu, Y., Guo, M., Jiang, Z., Huang, W., Long, Y., & Xu, Y. (2020). Skipping breakfast is associated with overweight and obesity: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Obesity research & clinical practice, 14(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orcp.2019.12.002
Sievert, K., Hussain, S. M., Page, M. J., Wang, Y., Hughes, H. J., Malek, M., & Cicuttini, F. M. (2019). Effect of breakfast on weight and energy intake: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 364, l42. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l42
Adolphus, K., Lawton, C. L., Champ, C. L., & Dye, L. (2016). The Effects of Breakfast and Breakfast Composition on Cognition in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review. Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.), 7(3), 590S–612S.