We’ve all heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Waking up from a 6 to 8-hour slumber without any food, the first meal of the day is a prime time to restore the nutrients in your body. Optimal sleep is one of the most beneficial practices to ensuring the body manages stress, fends off illness and recovers the physiological components of the body that keeps bones and muscles healthy.
But what happens if we eat some breakfast that doesn’t necessarily support that great sleep we have had?
Deciding what foods to put in your body during your first meal of the day will either make or break how the body will react throughout the day. Not only could breakfast decisions affect the body throughout the rest of the day, but weeks and months in the future. Learning about what foods to put in your body at this critical time of the day will help us maintain lean muscle, lose fat, and perform at an elite level throughout the day.
One of the most common issues that we come across during our nutritional consultations with our personal training clients in Napa is the misunderstanding of what a “healthy” breakfast is. We hear about granola with non-fat milk, yogurt, breakfast sandwiches from Starbuck or McDonalds, or a delicious breakfast pastry from our favorite coffee shop in town on the way to work. The two elephants in the room here that make insulin spike through the roof and create a party in your fat cells are the consumption of dairy and processed carbohydrates.
Yes, it’s true that the pastries and breakfast sandwiches are delicious. Especially if we stop by Model Bakery here in Napa and order one of their famous English Muffin breakfast sandwiches (probably the best English Muffin in the world). However, once we consume these foods on a regular basis, the detrimental effects of insulin concentration in the blood and fat from the clarified butter in the English muffin adds up. Before we know it, we’re having two, it not three breakfast sandwiches each week.
But what if we replace the god of all breakfast sandwiches for something a little healthier?
A common solution that hear from our clients is that granola and non-fat milk or low-fat yogurt sound like a better option. Unfortunately, the truth is that granola usually has extra sugar added to it in the form of honey. In addition, granola is a has many baked grains in it made up of a substantial amount of simple sugars that are responsible for increasing insulin levels. Add in the dairy from the yogurt or non-fat milk, you now have another type of sugar added to the equation in the form of lactose. Not only will the increased simple sugars from the cooked grains in the granola spike insulin and lead to fat storage, but the lactose from the dairy products will cause an inflammation response in the digestive tract, slowing down digestion and leaving the body feeling bloated. If we think about it, granola and yogurt have similar ingredients to pizza. Grains and dairy vs flour and Cheese. We can understand that pizza is not the healthiest option. Sometimes the breakdown of our usual breakfast routines is like other decadent foods. As a life time fitness specialist, I don’t recommend pizza for breakfast.
Some solutions that we offer to the convenient “on-the-go” breakfasts are to fix your own breakfast at home. Making the effort to control what goes on your plate rather than seeing what randomly comes to mind while getting your coffee on the way to work makes a big different. Being able to choose healthy items from your pantry or fridge are great method to get some healthy foods in your body. You are under control about what goes into your body. Some heathier options that you can make at home omit the likelihood of too many processed carbs or an over abundance of dairy into your diet. For example, having fresh fruit in the morning with some scrambled eggs might be a better option than bread. Perhaps having some oatmeal with chia seeds and shaved almonds for protein and fresh or dried fruit for flavor would be a better option than granola and yogurt. By making your own breakfast, you can control what types of sugars, fats and proteins enter your body.
We aren’t saying to never have an amazing Model Bakery English muffin breakfast sandwich ever again. However, it’s important to be aware how the ingredients in some common breakfast foods effect your body and life time fitness goals. Perhaps having a few breakfasts at home that you create from your own efforts a few times out of the week would help benefit your body during the most important meal of the day.
Sean McCawley, the founder and owner of Napa Tenacious Fitness in Napa, CA, welcomes questions and comments. Reach him at 707-287-2727, napatenacious@gmail.com or visit the website napatenaciousfitness.com.
