now the low calorie breakfast also increased cravings for carbs and sugar throughout the day which is not what you want to be doing why well it has to do with our circadian rhythms which primes our body to be more efficient at digesting absorbing and metabolizing food early in the day because we haven't eaten all night so we're just ready to go we need to get food to fuel the tank for the day it's like putting gas at the beginning of a a car trip rather than at the end of the trip right welcome to the Doctor's Pharmacy and another edition of Health bites I'm Dr Mark H You' probably heard the old adage that breakfast is the most important meal of the day but what does that really mean is is there truth to it or is it more about the specific nutrition you need to Kickstart your day well maybe you've heard about Tim restricted eating or intermittent fasting where you skip breakfast all together is that better than eating breakfast in this episode I'm going to answer your burning questions about breakfast should you eat it or should you skip it what's the ideal time to break your overnight fast and most importantly when do you break your fast and most importantly when you do break your fast how can you fuel your body to ensure the best possible start to your day we're going to explore what the latest research says about the best the worst foods to start your day with I'm going to provide simple actionable tips to help you incorporate these insights into your daily routine and we're going to also discuss the role of breakfast in maintaining a healthy weight in preventing belly fat accumulation yep that and lowering your risk of chronic disease now if you've ever wondered about the true impact of breakfast on your health you're in the right place so stay tuned as we set the record straight on the breakfast debate and Empower you with the knowledge to make informed decisions around your health let's dive in and uncover the truth about the nutrition you need to start your day right I'm going to cut right to the chase yes breakfast is the most important meal of the day breakfast is the first chance you get to feel your body to energize your brain and to get your protein in for the day yep protein not what we typically eat for breakfast in America which is sugar or dessert for breakfast but contrary to what you may have been told about breakfast it doesn't have to happen right when you first wake up you can wait a bit to prolong your overnight fast which should be about 12 to 14 hours and has the term break fast or breakfast in fact I don't eat breakfast until usually two or three hours after I wake up after I do my morning meditation and get my workout in for the day so my last meal the previous day was 7 o'clock I wouldn't break my fast until the next mid morning around 9 or 10 the next day so it's less about when you break the fast and more about what you eat for breakfast but you can eat breakfast too late right and then it's called lunch but you do want to make sure you're eating something uh mid morning to early afternoon 11: to1 at the latest especially if you sleep late you can have a longer fast but most people shouldn't do more than a 12 to 14 hour fast overnight long term maybe 16 hours if you're if you're really going for it uh but it depends on you and we've done podcasts on intermittent fasting so we'll link to those in the show notes the research shows that skipping breakfast is a bad idea skipping breakfast according to the research is associated with an increased risk of lots of things like type two diabetes obesity and weight gain in fact in a systematic review and met analysis of 45 observational studies researchers reported a 31% higher risk of of excess belly fat by not eating breakfast a 48% greater risk of being overweight and a 44% greater risk of becoming obese over time in those who are breakfast Skippers that's pretty significant so what could be causing the increased risk for metabolic disorders well there's a good chance this could be due to increased late night eating right when we skip meals we miss out on eating good stuff that's satiating like Protein healthy fats and fiber if we're not getting this in we're more likely to feel hungry at night and our ability to make healthy choices also isn't so great late at night when our defenses are down we're more likely to reach for a sleeve of Oreos or a bag of chips than an apple another study found a causal link between skipping breakfast and increased risk for ADHD which is a a big problem also an increased risk for major depressive disorder and reduce cognitive performance and increase Frailty so that's a lot of things that happen when you skip breakfast you don't want that now why would that happen well what you eat for breakfast sets the tone for the rest of the day it's really an opportunity to get in the essential nutrients you need to help you better reach your daily protein goals which most people probably aren't to balance your hormones your blood sugar your mood your energy your focus cognition all that depends on your breakfast now have you ever heard the saying eat breakfast like a king lunch like a prince and dinner like a popper well research shows that there's actually truth behind this and then it's better to skip dinner than breakfast so have a bigger breakfast a lighter dinner an interesting study showed that men who initially consumed low calorie breakfast and a high calorie dinner experienced a significant boost in diet induced thermogenesis when they switch to eating the same high calorie dinner for breakfast in other words if you eat a low calorie breakfast versus a high calorie dinner uh the high calorie dinner is going to actually stimulate your metabolism so if you a low calorie breakfast or not breakfast at all you're going to have a slower metabolism which isn't good specifically their diet induced thermogenesis which means the Heat and the calories that are burned just by the process of metabolizing your food was two and a half times higher when the high calory meal was consumed in the morning compared to the evening so you basically burnt two and a half times more energy when you had breakfast compared to eating the same meal at dinner now the low calorie breakfast also increased cravings for carbs and sugar throughout the day which is not what you want to be doing and it means that diet induced thermogenesis is higher in the morning than the evening why well it has to do with our circadian rhythms which primes our body to be more efficient at digesting absorbing and metabolizing food early in the day because we haven't eaten all night so we're just ready to go we need to get food to fuel the tank for the day it's like putting gas at the beginning of a a car trip rather than at the end of the trip right your insulin sensitivity is higher your melatonin also reduces insulin release you know get these spikes of insulin which cause belly fat and it could be really a good strategy for weight loss uh when you eat the majority of your calories earlier in the day what should you eat for breakfast to get the best start to the day protein protein protein protein uh let me say it again protein and you can add fat in there too but protein and fat are basically the foods you should be eating for breakfast why well high protein breakfast leads to making you feel full it controls your appetite it makes overeating less likely at your next meal it helps balance your blood sugar it keeps your insulin levels low it cuts your cravings and it reduces snacking and there is something magical called the thermogenic effect of protein which means you actually burn more calories when you consume protein so about 30% of the calories get use in actually just metabolizing the protein now one study compared the effects of savory breakfast eggs cheese and sausage with 30 or 39 gram of protein that smash for fat for fiber versus a low protein sweet breakfast of ego mini pancakes with three grams of protein with pancake syrup and butter or no breakfast in 34 healthy women age 18 to 55 now what did that study show well it showed an increased Port of satiety or feeling full for the protein versus the low protein and the no breakfast I mean obviously protein you're not going to feel hungry uh postmeal glucose and insulin levels were significantly lower in the savory breakfast group than in sweet breakfast also makes sense you don't have sugar for breakfast you're not going to spike your sugar and Insulin right insulin levels in the low protein group The Pancake group peaked after 30 minutes of eating followed by a sharp decline 30 90 minutes after eating and that's going to cause this this roller coaster of blood sugar and Insulin then your energy intake at lunch people who got you know studied how much they ate at lunch was significantly Less in the highest protein group so the more protein you eat for breakfast the less likely you are to overeat at lunch or to eat too much now the total energy intake for the day for the whole day if you ate protein for breakfast was the lowest in the high protein group and the highest in the low protein group in other words you have low protein for breakfast you're going to eat more food throughout the day and more calories and gain weight and if you eat high protein for breakfast you're going to feel full and not eat over overeat calories during the day and you're going to be good and this really suggested high sugar breakfast are just going to make you increase your total calorie intake through the day and that's why eating protein for breakfast versus grains has been shown to help with weight loss so it's really really important I think people don't understand that that the the protein is such a key factor in helping with metabolism and weight and and you cannot control your calories by counting them you if you're off 100 calories a day it's like a 14 pound weight gain in a year so nobody can measure exactly to 100 calories so your body naturally regulates all of its metabolic functions through hormones neurotransmitters uh your microbiome and lots of factors that are regulated by the quality and the type of calories you eat so when you eat protein for breakfast it has a very different set of messages to your body than if you eat sugar for breakfast and that's why you don't overeat and you will eat less calories there was a study in in um in in China it was 156 obese Chinese adolescents uh it was a randomized control trial they were told to eat either uh breakfast of eggs or steamed bread for three months now energy intake was significantly less for lunch in the egg breakfast group meaning they ate less food at lunch so this was this was correlated with weight loss and lower levels of the hunger hormones and higher levels of the feel full hormones after 3 hours so basically your hormones are set by what you're eating and when you eat the right Foods you naturally regulate your hormones particularly hormones that regulate appetite or peptides like pyy and grin and all these other important uh regulatory factors for for your appetite which are built in and they're hard to control with willpower when they looked at what happened they also saw they had dramatically higher weight loss in the egg breakfast than in the steam Bread breakfast about 3.9% versus about 2.2% that's like a you know I don't know 20 fold difference that's huge right the pyy which is the appetite suppressing hormone increased by 66% on those who eat eggs versus just 18% in the bread group now glp1 which is you know zic which is your body naturally makes it those levels were lower and more stable in those who ate eggs whereas in the bread group the gp1 level surged and then dropped so you got the spikes and then dropped so you're going to be hungry so frontloading your day with protein really helps you better reach your protein goals and sets you up for optimizing your metabolism it makes you eat less during the day it uh supplies your body with great amino acids for making hormones enzymes neurotransmitters for muscle helps with muscle protein synthesis which is really key and I think I'm just going to sort of point this out when you eat breakfast it's the most important meal because you're eating on a fast Ed State and you know fasting is good overnight fast is great but it's key what you eat when you refeed and the refeeding with protein has unique properties that increases stem cells activates all these longevity Pathways and is an incredible way to build muscle so make sure you have protein for breakfast I think you probably got the point by now now protein also has a lot of other stuff it has essential amino acids and micronutrients it helps your hormones metabolism so how much protein should you eat well I would have 30 to 40 grams of prote protein for breakfast and then you probably need another 30 40 grams in each meal now that's a palm siiz portion so have a savory breakfast instead of a sweet one have eggs have greet yogurt with nuts and fat in there not low fat that's worse cottage cheese but don't have the weird ones with gums make a tofu scramble with veggies Tempe I love Tempe or protein shake that's my go-to it's easy it's quick delicious I use goat way you can have dinner leftovers for breakfast some you will do that there's no no rule that says you can't have chicken or steak for breakfast some people will do some have steak and eggs right so what else do you need to eat for breakfast well healthy fats they're really important because they help you promote satiety or feeling full they slow your digestion they increase a couple of peptides digestive molecules and hormones and Regulatory molecules that actually regulate your appetite like cck and peptide YY or pyy it balances your blood sugar and it fuels your brain and it doesn't Spike insulin so what what could you eat while half an avocado with your four eggs or two eggs with the yolks no yolk-free eggs please uh make sure you have pasture raised eggs if you can uh cook them in olive oil you can just cook at a lower temperature and extra virgin olive oil otherwise it gets oxidized if you have too high temperature lots of other fats are great for breakfast almonds cashews Brazil nuts peans seeds like pumpkin Chia flax seeds you can throw those in your smoothies too nut Butters you have coconut oil lots of fiber really important you can have frozen berries or highend fiber for example I put that in my smoothie uh when you do that the fiber also helps right fiber helps to support feeling full why because it actually increases glp1 right increases the very hormone that is the hormone that we think of as OIC or it's a peptide hormone we call it pep so is insulin by the way it's a peptide hormone and and this supports you uh in terms of digestion stabilizing your blood sugar and helps your gut be healthy now what could you eat well blueberries raspberries blackberries kiwi citrus fruit grapefruit oranges chia seeds flax seeds spinach um leafy greens kale bell pepper also you can put a lot of veggies in an omelette an omelet is great for breakfast why because it has protein it has healthy fats when you throw veggies in there you got the fiber it's a triple triple header what are examples of breakfast well you can have omega-3 eggs or pasturas eggs sauteed with dark leafy greens and berries on the side and now one egg has only six to seven grams of protein so you need at least three to four eggs to reach your morning protein goal you can also try two eggs and egg whites if you're worried about the saturated fat but you really don't need to be if the rest of your diet is dialed in and you're not eating Ultra processed food now if you think eggs are boring you can try the breakfast scramble which is two or three eggs pasta Ras chicken or turkey sausage spinach Tomatoes feta go chees you know one of my favorite thing is make a frittata I basically take all the leftover veggies in the fridge onions garlic olive oil stir fry them up took out all the extra veggies put them in there then I pour the eggs on the six seven eggs and then I salt and pepper it maybe at the end I'll throw a little bit of goat cheese on there and I bake in the oven and it comes out fluffy and nice and amazing delicious you can create mini egg bites you know basically take a whatever you put in a key and cut it up cook it and then put in a muffin tin and put the eggs on it and it's like a little muffin egg egg muffin but without the mick you can make it on a Sunday you can you know it's great to have in your fridge it's it's great for meal preps you can eat throughout the week also tofu scrambles are yummy I love those you can chop some extra firm tofu cook an extra virgin olive with turmeric greens cherry tomatoes makes look like actually scrambled eggs with the yellow from the turmeric plus it's super anti-inflammatory now if you're on the go and you're busy you can make chia seed pudding at night you just put some chia seeds in a cup or Bowl pour some almond milk on it you can throw some berries nuts in there and it'll basically prepare itself overnight it's low glycemic it's high in protein and you can make a also a smoothie U but a high protein low glycemic smoothie I used the frozen berries I use unsweetened nut milk like Macadamia milk I do protein powder like goat way uh basically probably 30 40 grams at least sometimes I do 50 if I'm working out you can throw in some chia seeds or flax seeds yeah you can that's a great smoothie um you can also have hard boiled eggs are easy to do you can have you can also um have hardboiled eggs and you can have them with sliced apples or berries a handful of almonds really simple easy portable not not something you have to worry about preparing make it the night before uh if you really want to go for it you can have a last night's dinner for breakfast so uh you can put uh whatever you had for dinner for breakfast if it's protein and veggies you can make a yogurt parf bable I like a sheep coconut goat yogurt unsweetened Greek yogurt that's plain hopefully grass-fed put in berries almonds pecans little drizz honey that's fine or you can try plain unsweetened goat kefir there's a lot of options out there right if you need breakfast inspiration I would check out my recipes that are featured weekly in my newsletter Mark's Kitchen some my favorite go-to recipes are kimchi wild rice breakfast bowl cabbage pancakes with Poached Eggs my 15minute turmeric fried eggs everything but the bagel egg bites something sweet might be okay that doesn't spike your blood sugar like a high protein chocolate muffin I have a recipe for that check out my brand new Young Forever cookbook I'm going to link to it in the show notes for tons of inspiration and recipes they'll be sure to make your mouth water they certainly do mine so thanks for joining me for another episode I hope you now feel more equipped to plan your first meal of the day whether it's at 8:00 am or 11: am. whatever works best for you uh starting your day with a high quality nutrition rich in Protein healthy fats and fiber is going to set you up for Success it's going give you lots of energy it's going to improve your focus it'll help you lose weight and it's just better for your overall health now remember the choices you make for your first meal are going to have a profound impact on how you feel throughout the day so by prioritizing nutrient intense Foods you're not only fueling your body but you're also supporting your long-term well-being so stay tuned for future episodes where we're going to continue to explore more ways to optimize your health and Tackle various aspects of Wellness if you found this episode helpful be sure to share it with your friends and family who might benefit with this information until next time stay healthy stay informed keep making choices that support your best self take care and I'll see you in the next episode if you love that last video you're going to love the next one check it out here