Want to Boost Your Metabolism and Lose Weight Faster? Don’t Skip this One Important Meal

Nutrition & Weight LossFebruary 1, 2018

From French croissants to a fully loaded plate of traditional English breakfast, scientists have been debating the benefits of having a hearty breakfast to begin your day. New studies are saying that there are plenty of reasons why you shouldn’t skip the most important meal of the day – including faster metabolism and better heart health.

Breakfast: The Most Important Meal of the Day

This isn’t probably the first time you’re reading about the benefits of having a hearty breakfast but it is important to remind ourselves every now and then how little things like not skipping the first meal of the day can help you live a healthier longer life. Previous studies have already found a link between not eating breakfast and higher risk of cardiovascular diseases, which is an indirect result of delayed eating which prolongs hunger and increases the risk of overeating and making poor lifestyle choices.

Skipping Breakfast and Cardiovascular Health

A research published in Journal of the American College of Cardiology followed the diets of over 4,000 middle-aged men and women with regular desk jobs and no history of heart diseases. The participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire about everything they had eaten for the past 15 days including timing for each meal.

Researchers then collected the BMI and cholesterol level of each participant along with their physical activity level and smoking status. Detailed screenings and imaging techniques were used to find out any signs of early atherosclerosis in arteries around the heart, neck and thighs. The results showed that participants who skipped breakfast were 20 per cent more likely to develop atherosclerosis compared to their counterparts who were wolfing down more than one-fifth of their daily calories every morning for breakfast.

Almost 57 percent of the participants who ate high-calorie breakfast showed signs of early atherosclerosis in comparison to 75 percent of those who skipped the meal completely. The trend remained the same even when other factors such as weight, age and smoking status was taken into account.

The researchers say that it is important to notice the eating pattern of those who skipped breakfast in order to understand why they are at a greater risk of developing heart diseases later on in their lives.

Skipping meals or delaying them can disrupt our body’s internal clock which can confuse our system and cause overeating

Enhanced Metabolism and Reduced Type 2 Diabetes Risk

Apparently, having a hearty, healthy breakfast isn’t just good for your heart, but also beneficial for your metabolism. People who want to lose weight are often advised to get into the habit of eating breakfast – and for good reason because evidence from a study published in the Journal of Physiology shows that regular morning meals affect genes responsible for insulin response and fat metabolism. Even if the breakfast is high in calories or fat, it can still reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and prevent weight gain by being balanced out by its energy-burning effects.

49 participants in the research were divided into two groups: one was asked to eat breakfast regularly while the other to fast until noon for six weeks. Those who ate breakfast were told to consume 700 calories or more before 11 a.m. or within the first two hours of waking. They were given free rein to choose whichever foods they wanted to include in their breakfast, and most of them opted for typical options such as eggs and toast or cereal.

Regular breakfast eaters also reduced their risk of type 2 diabetes due to an increase in their cells’ ability to absorb sugar and use it for their metabolic processes

After the experiment was over, researchers measured a change in the participants’ metabolism and body composition by comparing various physiological processes before and after the 6 weeks. By observing the cell biopsies, it was found that even though people who ate breakfast consumed more calories than those who skipped it, the net energy balance in the two groups of participants was the same as the extra calories consumed in breakfast were offset by increased energy expenditure due to faster metabolism.