Do You Skip Breakfast?
Skipping breakfast is one easy way to SLOW down your metabolism.
If you’re never hungry in the morning or find that you always skip breakfast - this is NOT something to ignore but rather look deeper into what kind of metabolic dysfunction or hormonal imbalance is taking place here?
Your body is hard wired to desire fuel in the morning upon rising.
At all times your cells need fuel to create energy (even when you are at rest or sleeping).
Overnight, you’re obviously not eating so the fuel your body is using for your cells to make energy is from your glucose reserves in the form of glycogen.
When you eat, glucose is released into the blood as food breaks down. Part of it is used for energy by the cells and the additional is stored in the liver and muscles as glycogen and if there is still glucose present, it gets stored as fat.
If you have eaten enough during the day, there will be enough glycogen stored to provide for your cells overnight while you're sleeping.
If you didn't eat enough in the day, you may find your sleep is disrupted because the body will typically release stress hormones (cortisol/adrenaline) in order to make glucose.
In the morning your glucose reserve aka energy source is tapped out and empty which is why your body should be signaling you for fuel and nourishment.
Many of us not only skip breakfast but put caffeine in our bodies first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. When you have a metabolic stimulant with zero fuel available what you're doing is causing stress hormones! Because again when the cells need fuel and there isnt any glucose available stress hormones will break things down in the body to make glucose available from gluconeogenesis.
It is possible to slowly wean yourself into a breakfast person after years of not waking up hungry.
START SMALL, SLOW AND BLOOD SUGAR BALANCED.
It can be uncomfortable to eat when youre really not feeling it which is why you have to start off slow. You want to make sure you are making as pleasant of an experience as possible which means digestion is working smoothly, dont eat in a rushed or stressed state, make sure you're giving yourself time to prepare food and be relaxed eating the food.
And as always make sure your breakfast (and all meals) are blood sugar balanced.
Avoid structuring your breakfasts with high levels of carbohydrates in an isolated form like: plain bowl of oatmeal, croissant, bread and butter or a bowl of fruit. You want to ensure there is protein and fibre with every meal to ensure your avoiding a rapid blood sugar spike.
Remember caffeine after food always.
