How many times have you had this tussle with your parents all your life only to hear them declare – breakfast is the most important meal of the day! It ended pretty much the same way in my house too. I would get my frown on, my spoon out and munch through my tiffin without another word. But as adults, having more knowledge about our body and its needs, it’s safe to ask once more – breakfast yea or nay?
Well, it depends on you and your body’s metabolism. Your body does a lot of things even when you aren’t exercising. Breathing, growing and repairing cells, circulating blood, adjusting hormone levels and many more. The number of calories your body uses to perform these functions is your basal metabolism rate. It is common knowledge that your body type, your gender and your age affect this rate. The more muscle you have, more the number of calories you burn. Men tend to have more muscle and lesser fat than their women counterpart (even though they may be the same age and weight!), and hence a higher metabolism. As you get older, it is typical to lose your muscle mass which tends to slow your metabolism.
Therefore, apart from the number of calories it takes your body to convert your food to energy, the amount of food consumed throughout the course of the day (be it breakfast, lunch, dinner or snacks) affects your metabolism.
Fact check! – It’s a myth that having breakfast kickstarts your metabolism!
Should your job affect your decision with breakfast? Well, if you have a physically demanding job it is essential to have a good breakfast! But then, if you’re going to be answering emails for the first half of your day.. it’s okay if you decide to skip that dosa.
Are you the type of person who’s always stressed and doesn’t realise you’re on your third serving already? You then proceed to look at your plate in horror once you’ve realised it? You mentally calculate your calorie intake and then curse internally? Worry not friend, you’re not alone! Having a healthy relationship with your food and spacing it out throughout the day are very essential to a healthy lifestyle. It’s not a good idea to skip breakfast if you’re only going to get hungry in an hour and will then proceed to binge eating. When you know you’re a person who’s highly stressed, take care of yourself and have that healthy meal to start off your day.
What about that rare breed who just can’t seem to put on any weight?! (Yes, it’s a real problem for HYPERLINK “https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgK51uFNOZY”women and HYPERLINK “https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jk5ljG0JU-M”men!) It’s best not to skip your breakfast if you’re looking to get some extra calories in the healthiest way possible. You go get that morning crunch! And what if you’re just plain not hungry? Yes, what if you wake up and your stomach doesn’t demand food? Then yes! You can definitely consider skipping!
Now, take a vote! Is it yea or nay?
