Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. However, most people either avoid eating breakfast altogether, thinking that it will help them lose weight or because they don't feel like eating, while others consume the wrong kind of foods. You might wonder why you should watch what you eat at breakfast if you are not trying to lose or gain weight. Here's why: If you continue to have an unhealthy breakfast everyday, it increases your risks of heart attack, as well as of contracting diabetes. Breakfast is called so, as we 'break' our 'fast' of almost 7 to 8 hours. What you eat for breakfast, is the first thing that goes into your body after a gap of an entire night. Therefore, it is absolutely essential to pay attention to your first meal of the day. Given below are some foods that are considered 'normal' or even healthy to be consumed as breakfast, but aren't quite so:-
Wheat bread - Once wheat bread gets digested, it instantly turns to sugar and raises your insulin levels. It would be all right to have bread if you have a very active lifestyle, but not if you have a sedentary office job. Thus, bread does you no good. Wheat is almost always contaminated with mycotoxins, which can lead to contraction of diseases like osteoporosis, arthritis and allergies.
Bakery products - These include muffins, cupcakes, waffles, doughnuts, as well as beacon, ham and sausage. An average doughnut has about 200 calories, and the more sugar coated, the more unhealthy it is. You would have to walk for an hour just to burn these calories. All these foods lack in vitamins, minerals and proteins which are vital to keep up your energy level throughout the day. Processed meat like ham and bacon are high in fat and sodium, especially sodium nitrate. Constant consumption of these can lead to heart problems and sodium nitrate intake augments your risk of cancer.
'Healthy' and 'fat-free' food - Although a lot of packaged food is claimed to be healthy, it is quite otherwise. Healthy breakfast cereals for example, have sugars and salts in some or the other form, which can increase your blood sugar and cholesterol level. Besides, anything that has a long shelf life, is loaded with preservatives, which are harmful for your body in the long run. Even packaged orange juice is unhealthy, as nutritious juice, from real oranges, and without preservatives cannot last for more than two or three days. Do not be deceived by the 'fat-free' label on most products. When fat is removed from food products, some of the flavor also has to be removed, and manufacturers often add sugar, salt and artificial flavors to make up for that. Besides, while consuming fat makes you feel full, because these are fat-free products, you might actually end up eating more till you feel satiated.
Fried food - Fried foods are high in calories, cholesterol and fat. They should be avoided at all costs. When you eat fried foods first thing in the morning, they tend to deposit against the walls of your stomach and intestines, and make it harder for your digestive system to assimilate food throughout the day.
Pasteurized milk - Raw milk or organic skimmed milk is one of the best and healthiest foods you can have. It provides calcium, vitamins and protein to your body and helps you to feel full. But pasteurization of milk destroys beneficial bacteria, enzymes, protein and vitamin content and helps the growth of pathogens. Therefore, it is much better to opt for organic skimmed milk.
