Benefits of Breakfast

Some of the benefits of breakfast include controlling weight, normalizing blood sugar levels, and increasing your focus and concentration.  Because of the rampant obesity in this country (and abroad), weight control is probably the most publicized benefit of breakfast.  Consuming something when you wake up will help regulate your blood sugar and make you less inclined to overeat later in the day.  Eating smaller meals throughout the day will do even more to further this goal.

Too Busy?

There are several reasons why folks don’t eat breakfast, but not having the time to prepare something is by far the most popular excuse.  The craziness of the morning juggling act of getting ready for work, getting kids ready for school, and commuting reduce breakfast to some sort of caffeinated beverage (soda, coffee, etc.) and pastry (doughnut, bagel, muffin, etc.) for most people.  The main caveat here is that this type of breakfast actually ends up being counterproductive for your blood sugar levels.  In other words, processed carbs like doughnuts, bagels, and muffins spike blood sugar and cause a crash after about 30-60 minutes of consuming them.  This will leave you hungry soon after eating and many people end up overindulging later in the day.  This vicious cycle continues day in, day out for most Americans.

Other popular American breakfast foods like pancakes, waffles, and even fruit juices are highly processed, high-glycemic carbs as well and have the same yo-yo effect on blood sugar.  Breakfast meats like eggs, bacon, and sausage are slightly better, but are high in sodium, saturated fats, and cholesterol.  Eggs are actually an ideal breakfast food, and have been called a “perfect protein” by many health experts.  But, that doesn’t leave a lot of room for variety…unless you rethink what you’ve been taught about breakfast.

Thinking Outside The Bagel

Since the traditional American breakfast is cheap to produce, multinational food companies and restaurant chains continue to market these high-glycemic foods as proper fuel for your morning grind.  The truth is that, your body doesn’t really care what’s considered “proper.”  Proper nutrition is the only constant, regardless of the time of day.  Most mornings, I bring a dark green lettuce salad (iceberg lettuce has little nutritional value) topped with an assortment of raw veggies.  I’ll also add some sort of meat, fish or soy to it to fulfill my protein requirement.  And, I top this off with an olive oil and apple cider vinegar dressing.  It’s always interesting seeing the reactions of people when I eat this for breakfast.  In particular, I remember my mother saying “That ain’t breakfast food.”  I chuckled and politely challenged what she perceives as breakfast food.

And, I pose the same challenge to you.  If you’re reading this article, chances are that you either currently live healthy or are considering a healthy lifestyle.  By no means am I saying that everyone should eat an organic, raw salad with free-range meat every morning.  However, I am suggesting that your meal include a good mix of macro and micronutrients – lean protein (meat, fish, nuts), healthy fats (usually comes with lean protein), and veggies/fruits (phytonutrients, antioxidants, minerals).  Be creative and add a lot of variety to avoid boredom.  This is the most natural way to give your body the proper fuel it needs each morning.  It’s time to unlearn what we’ve been taught about American breakfast foods and think outside the bagel.

Plan You Work, Work Your Plan

Above all else, I’m a realist and I realize that these meals aren’t as easy as grabbing a blueberry muffin and a cup of joe.  They will take some effort and planning on your part.  The trade-off is that you’ll have more normalized blood-sugar levels, which means more sustained energy, focus, concentration and weight-control.  And hopefully, these eating habits make their way to other meals throughout your day as well.  Then, coupled with an exercise regimen, you’ll start to realize long-term benefits such as reduced risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, hypertension, obesity – the list goes on.

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NYTimes.com recently posted an article about sugar’s (cane and beet) overtaking of Big Food’s beloved high-fructose corn syrup in popular food items.  In the article, a market research analyst was quoted as saying “Sugar was the old devil, and high-fructose corn syrup is the new devil.”  According to the Dept. of Agriculture, consumption of the two was even in 2003, but sugar gained a slight edge in 2007.

Multi-national food companies like Pizza Hut and Kraft have started replacing the oft-vilified HFCS with sugar.  This should come as no surprise, but taste tests, consumer surveys, and potential profit margins always seem to trump consumer health.  Even the FDA considers both sweeteners natural, which I find disturbingly interesting given the chemical processes that HFCS goes through to bring it to market.

No one really knows the exact origins of sugar, but thousands of years ago, people used to chew the sugar cane stalk in order to extract the sugary liquid.  Many years later, the process that transforms this liquid into crystals was discovered in India.  And many years after that, other civilizations took this process and learned how to mass-produce it by creating the first large-scale sugar mills and refineries.

The process that produces high-fructose corn syrup was discovered in the early 1920s and assimilated into many processed foods and beverages in the 1970’s.  As the name suggests, this sweetner is derived from corn.  There are several chemical processes that occur to get it to its sweetened state.  Food manufacturers began substituting sugar with HFCS because it’s cheaper to produce and transport.

Health Implications

The real question, however, is if there is any real difference between the two, from a health perspective?  The short answer is a resounding no.  They are both high-glycemic carbs and the way your liver metabolizes them is virtually the same.  They also cause a spike in blood sugar and insulin, with the excess sugar stored as fat.  Much of it could theoretically be burned during exercise, but with today’s sedentary lifestyle so pervasive, that isn’t the case.  And more importantly,  high carb diets and excessive insulin levels have been implicated in being central to the body’s inflammatory response, which can lead to problems like obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, hypertension, and joint pain…among others.

You’ll find sugar/hfcs in foods like sauces, snacks, dressings, candy, desserts, cereals, some “low-fat” products as well as beverages like juices and sodas.

I’m not naive enough to think that one can totally avoid sugar, so they key is moderation as I often preach to my clients, family and friends.  And, artificial sweeteners are even worse.  Dr. Mercola’s site (search: artificial sweeteners) has a plethora of information on artificial sweeteners as well as a very good book, named “Sweet Deception,” on the subject.

Natural Alternatives

But, if you do have the discipline, means and access to avoid sugary foods, you may begin to wonder: what are some natural alternatives?  Sweeteners like xylitol, agave nectar, and stevia are gaining popularity because they don’t affect the blood sugar the way processed sugar does.  I’ve never really had a sweet-tooth or cravings for sugar in general (aside from an occasional carrot cake slice), but I’ve personally tried these in tea and they all have distinct tastes, so experiment to find out which ones you like.  Other alternatives like rice syrup, date sugar, and maple syrup are used by some folks as well.

Regardless of which sweetener you pick, the take home message is moderating your consumption of anything sweet.  Being judicious with or eliminating your intake sugary foods will help control insulin spikes and the subsequent, inflammatory health issues that can result after long-term use.

In the NYTimes.com article, Dr. Robert H. Lustig (a pediatric endocrinologist) says: “The argument about which is better for you, sucrose or HFCS, is garbage. Both are equally bad for your health.”  The truth is so sweet.  I’m impressed that an allopathic physician has taken this stance.  Do your health a favor, and drastically limit (or if you can, avoid) both of these sweeteners.

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