The Battle of Breakfast, Skipping Meals and the Abominable-Insulin-Ravenous-Monster

I’m sure you’ve already heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Well, keeping up with all your meals is very important, but I always take the breakfast as a starting point to help my clients adjust their eating habits, because that’s where the problem usually starts.

Reality is, every single meal will affect the next one. They all create compensatory reactions to the next meal.

As you can learn through the Metabolic Effect Fat Loss Program, the breakfast starts regulating the stress hormones that give you the jump start for the day. If you don’t do yourself the favor to start balancing things out in the beginning of the day, breakfast (and any other skipped meals) will turn into the Abominable-Insulin-Ravenous-Monster that will come back later and bite you in the ass. It generates mood swings, an energy roller-coaster and the sad ability to keep eating continuously and never feeling truly satiated by your last meal. Last meal? If there would ever be one, since you usually can’t stop eating when that happens.

If this sounds familiar, you can make your own experiment
 if you’re at mile zero right now but still believe that not having breakfast is a good deal. Basically, just do yourself a favor and thoroughly observe your body’s behavior. That’s the first step for a healthy chance to understand what you’re doing.

DISCLAIMER: this is for educational purposes only. This is not a diet suggestion or prescription and if you do it, you’ll do it at your own expense and risk. Don’t do it if you have any specific health conditions without your doctor’s approval.  

I’ve done this and for that reason, I’m just suggesting you observe the way your body reacts to meal scheduling and food choices. Open your mind.

Just one simple thing I ask you to do: write a food diary while doing  this. Every single bite you put in your mouth, write it down. Even if it’s just 1 tiny Hershey kiss, or 2 crackers or whatever! Also, please write every time you crave something: salt, sugar, chocolate, alcohol, windex (I said write it, don’t drink it!). Whatever it is you crave, write it all down, so you can compare at the end. Also, pay special attention to whatever happens at night.

So, you can try it for 1 day or maybe 3.

THE NO BREAKFAST OPTION:

If you are a no-breakfast person, I ask you to do the following:

Well, follow your habit and don’t have breakfast. Write down your next meal, what you eat, when you eat, how much. Then keep following your food diary until your last meal. Be very meticulous and detail oriented. Do this for 3 days. Don’t forget to write what you drink too!

Very important: write down your energy level throughout the day, sleep pattern, cravings.

THE FREQUENT MEAL OPTION:

Same deal about writing everything. Now what to eat: have at least 5-6 meals throughout the day, obviously starting with breakfast. Make your breakfast a protein rich meal: plenty of egg whites (5 or 6, hard boiled, omlet w/ veggies, your pick), 5-10 bites of carbs (preferably steel cut oats – ½ cup already cooked), and small serving of berries.

Set an alarm and eat no later than 2-3 hours later, even if you’re not hungry, making sure you include at least one lean protein per meal. No sweet snacks, no crackers. Repeat 2 hours later, repeat 2 hours later, repeat 2 hours later, etc.

A few ideas for the small meals: protein shake (not loaded with fruit syrup, please), or protein bar, or small apple and handful of nuts. Just make sure you don’t let yourself get hungry. Ever.

Stop reading this article right here and when you are done with your experiment, come back and read the rest. J

Yeah, right!

So, you could be the “hated cousin” that skips breakfast, eats pizza and drinks beer every day and looks awesome. Forget it. Of course the idea above is not a one size fits all solution. There is a lot more to it, because the quantity and types of food will depend on how your metabolism reacts. It’s something that you should adjust taking in consideration mainly your energy level, hunger and cravings. If you wrote it all down, time to compare your notes.

Basically, what you’re looking for here is to understand the difference between keeping your insulin level balanced throughout the day. If your insulin levels spike, your extra calories will be stored as fat and the fat cells get locked without letting the fat out to produce energy. Your cravings will go wild and you will tend to overeat too. Pay attention because that is very common to happen to people who barely get hungry throughout the day and end up at night either very hungry, or craving a waterfall of wine, ice cream, some yummy cake, pizza… all that “good stuff”.

There is a lot to be said and adjusted. Fat loss is a continuous learning process. If you can’t control energy, hunger and cravings, you won’t be able to accomplish and sustain fat loss.

There is a lot to understand when you go through this process to achieve sustainability. It’s a partnership between you and your body. Not a battle. Read, educate yourself, and understand how your body works. If you need to, ask for professional help, look for support. It makes things much easier too. I'd love to hear about your findings.