Friday’s Fixin’s: The Most Important Meal of the Day: The Benefits of Eating Breakfast

The Benefits of Eating Breakfast

How many times have we heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day? The Silver Lining is that it’s not an old wives’ tale. It really IS the most important meal of the day full of wonderful health benefits! There are lots of reasons that this is the case. Some of my favorite are…

1. Increase Metabolism Healthy food is fuel and energy for the body. Eating breakfast kick starts the body into using fuel. Without breakfast the body goes into lockdown mode and hoards fuel – which slows down the metabolism. In short, eating breakfast equals more energy (and more Silver Linings!).
2. Maintain or Lose Weight Research shows that breakfast skippers are more likely to be overweight. Going without breakfast frequently creates a starve-binge routine. A desperate body is much more likely to reach for calorie packed, unhealthy foods, and in larger quantities, just to satisfy the hunger later in the day. Prolonged fasting increases the body’s response to insulin, which increases fat – and ultimately weight gain.
3. Enhance Mood Eating a healthy breakfast helps regulate blood sugar levels, which contributes to an overall good mood. A depleted body is a grumpy body (I can sooooo relate to this!). Keeping the body nutritionally satisfied makes for a bright, optimistic mood!
4. Stimulate Intelligence Yes, eating breakfast makes you smarter! Indeed, eating breakfast enhances alertness, concentration and performance! When the body gets fed, so does the brain! (I just noticed that I ended each of these sentences with exclamation points! Clearly, stimulating intelligence makes me excited!!!!)
5. Enhance Immune System Eating a substantial breakfast actually boosts the body’s gamma-interferon (a natural antiviral known to directly activate immune cells). A healthy immune system leads to healthy skin, a properly functioning body, and ultimately – to a longer life!

Considering the positive evidence of starting your day with breakfast, you may think twice before skipping it. Hopefully you will choose to greet the day with a smile, energy and clear mind and avoid a grumpy lethargic fog.

Melissa Costello of Karma Chow (I just love the name of her company!) generously agreed to share a delish breakfast recipe for her from her cookbook The Karma Chow Ultimate Cookbook. This happens to be my new favorite cookbook. All of the recipes fit my (strict!) criteria of being easy peasy and yummy. The Silver Lining is that her recipes are also vegan! Yippeee Doozers!

I hope that you enjoy this recipe as much as I am. My batch is calling my name as I type…