Are You Making These Breakfast Mistakes?
By Sara Butler
Breakfast is often touted as the most important meal of the day. While all meals are important, one thing about breakfast is for certain: It's an important way to jump-start your metabolism for the day. However, people make a lot of mistakes when it comes to the choices they make for this meal and can spend the rest of the day paying for it.
Here are some of the most common mistakes people make when it comes to breakfast and what you should be starting your day off with instead.
Mistake No. 1: Only Eating Simple Carbohydrates
Simple carbohydrate choices abound at breakfast. From toast to granola, to muffins, you cannot escape them -- but you should try. When you have only simple carbohydrates for breakfast, you're making a mistake.
Highly refined carbohydrates are lacking in beneficial minerals and vitamins because they've been stripped out in the manufacturing process. They're also devoid of fiber, one of the things that makes complex carbohydrates so good for you. Simple carbs offer only empty calories and your body burns through them quickly, leaving you hungry much sooner than you would be otherwise.
You should try to have breakfast with protein, fiber, and healthy fats to help you stay fuller for longer and to give your body the fuel it really needs. Think whole grain toast with peanut butter or oatmeal with fruit.
Mistake No. 2: Having Too Much Sugar
Another ingredient found in a lot of breakfast foods is sugar. From cereal to fancy coffee drinks to smoothies, sugar is everywhere when it comes to breakfast choices -- and it needs to be avoided.
Aim to have a more balanced breakfast and be mindful of how much sugar you're actually having during your first meal of the day.
Mistake No. 3: You Don't Eat Breakfast At All
Skipping breakfast altogether is another costly mistake for your health. When you skip breakfast, it doesn't give your body's metabolism the wake-up call it needs to start working efficiently. This decreases your body's overall energy use from the start and is detrimental if you spend a lot of time sitting during the day. It only sets you up to overeat later when you're starving, too.
You can fix breakfast ahead of time if you have an issue with time management. You can make small crust-less quiches to pop in the microwave in the morning or quickly fix some toast and eggs. It doesn't have to be fancy, it simply needs to supply your body with energy to get it going.
If you're making these mistakes, change them and see how much it improves your health and overall wellness.
To learn more about your health, wellness, and fitness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Snellville, Ga.