Is breakfast important?

Yes, breakfast is important. In fact it is the most important meal of you day. As you sleep at night, your body is in a fasting state taking in nutrition. Depending on how long you sleep, and when you would normally take in your first meal, you could be in a fasting state from 6-12 hours. For example if you normally got to bed at 11 at night, get up in the morning and head to work, your first meal may be coffee break or lunch the next day. That is far too long without food.

If you think of a furnace requiring fuel or wood to burn, your metabolism is no different. Without fuel a furnace will not operate. The same holds true for your metabolism. Without food or fuel, your metabolism will not burn. The best way to kickstart a slow metabolism is by feeding it.

So, now the question – what does constitute a good breakfast. What should I eat? Well, this is a good time to clear your mind of the old standard breakfast. There is no rule that says breakfast has to contain eggs or cereal. In fact, breakfast does not need to be much different that any of your other meals throughout the day. You need to change your way of looking at breakfast. Meats such as turkey sausage, turkey bacon as well as vegetables such as spinach, broccoli or cauliflower can also be used as a kick start for the furnace.

Breakfast needs to contain three vital ingredients – protein, carbohydrates and good fats. It is your choice, as long as it is a healthy choice, what you prepare for breakfast.

If weight loss or weight control is your objective, then it is imperative that you keep your furnace or metabolism burning. The best way to stall your weight loss efforts is to skip meals and the best way to halt any weight loss is to not eat breakfast. This most important meal does not have to be a large meal as I realize that some people do not have an appetite first thing. A couple of suggestions for breakfast would be:

Smoothie or Shake: Mix 1-2 scoops protein powder with 8 -12 oz skim milk or water. Add fresh or frozen berries (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries). Add 2 tbsp flax seeds, ice and put all ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth..

~The Anytime Smoothie~

Smoothies are something that we’ve all tinkered with…Here’s my favorite combination which is easily prepared in the morning. Simply throw in your favorite combinations & always feel free to experiment with something a little exotic… This smoothie features “mint”. A handful of Fresh Strawberries, 1 Kiwi, 1 Banana, 4 Mint Leaves, 1/3 cup of Plain Yogurt, 1 Tbs. of Essential Oil & a scoop of Protein Powder. This essentially creates an “on the go” well balanced pick me up, for breakfast, or even a pre-lunch snack, keeping your energy levels & metabolic rate regulated

Other great breakfast suggestions:

1) Omelet – Beat together 1 whole egg plus 3 egg whites (or 1/2 cup egg white from carton). Cook the egg mixture in a skillet. Add handful of fresh spinach or bout 1/3 cup frozen spinach, chopped onion and 1 slice fat free cheese.
2) 1 chicken sausage, 1 cup cooked broccoli, 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
3) Hard boiled egg and yogurt mixed with real fruit
4) 2 eggs, 1 cup steamed cauliflower, 2 tsp flaxseed oil over the cauliflower

Another great meal you can use for breakfast (remember – think outside the box) is recipe from Todd:

Zucchini Pasta with Homemade Orange Pepper Tomato Sauce

Orange Pepper Tomato Sauce:
In a food processor combine, 4 Tomatoes, 2-3 cloves of Garlic, Half of an Orange Pepper, 6 or more prepared Sun dried Tomatoes, a healthy handful of Fresh Basil Leaves, a large pinch of Fresh Thyme, 3 table spoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Fresh Cracked Pepper. Finally, mix until desired texture. After you have the texture you like, stir in a can of well-rinsed & drained Chick Peas before adding on top of your Zucchini Pasta. This Pasta Sauce can be served hot or right from the mixer?!

Zucchini pasta:
Simply, decide how many are eating & use Zucchini in place of pasta. Cut into pasta-ish strips, lightly sauté in a little Olive Oil, until desired texture 2-4 minutes “andante”. Garnish with a Tomato, Avocado, a few mint or Basil leaves; perhaps Fennel. Drizzle some Olive Oil.

Another great resource is a excellent little cookbook put out by Prograde Nutrition. It is a great breakfast section with lots of healthy, low calories recipes for breakfast. You can pick up your copy at: http://victoriawellness.getprograde.com/prograderecipebook.html

There we have it. Now we know we all need to be eating a healthy breakfast. Let’s get that furnace charged up and ready to burn. Enjoy!

Till next time,
Narina
“Monitoring, Mentoring, Motivation

Today’s gym newsletter was all about oranges and juices in general. The topic started with an article that one of our trainers had put up on the bulletin board in the studio. The article was about eating whole fruits as opposed to fruit juices. As with most of us, I enjoy the odd glass or OJ or grapefruit (myfav) juice. It usually save it for special occasion as opposed to making it a common occurence. Reason being is that fruit juices are primarily sugar and most of the nutritional content has been lost.

Let’s take a look and compare orange juice to a whole orange.
Calories in Tropicana Orange Juice Serving Size: 1 serving

Amount Per Serving
Calories 110.0
Total Fat 0.0 g Cholesterol 0.0 mg Sodium 0.0 mg Potassium 450.0 mg
Total Carbohydrate 26.0 g
Dietary Fiber 0.0 g
Sugars 22.0 g
Protein 2.0 g Vitamin A 0.0 % Vitamin B-12 0.0 % Vitamin B-6 6.0 % Vitamin C 120.0 %
Vitamin D 0.0 % Vitamin E 0.0 % Calcium 0.0 % Copper 0.0 % Folate 15.0 %
Iron 0.0 % Magnesium 6.0 % Manganese 0.0 % Niacin 4.0 % Pantothenic Acid 0.0 %
Phosphorus 0.0 % Riboflavin 0.0 % Selenium 0.0 % Thiamin 10.0 % Zinc 0.0 %

Now let’s look at the breakdown of a whole orange:

Total Calories = 62
Fat: 0.2 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 g Sodium: 0.0 g
Carbohydrates: 15.4 g
Fiber: 3.1 g
Sugar: 12.2 g
Protein: 1.2 g Vitamin 6% of RDA Calcium 5% of RDA
Vitamin C 116% of RDA Iron 1% of RDA

The whole orange provides:
1) less calories
2) less total carbohydrates
3) less total sugars
4) fiber

Eating the fruit whole is always a better choice than juice. Try to limit the juices you drink. Instead, reach for the whole fruit.

Till next time,
Narina

This morning I was sitting in front of my computer struggling to come up with a catchy title for this. I was thinking – yet again – about stressing the importance of breakfast to you.

So as I sat there trying to be clever I mumbled out loud, “Breakfast is boring.”

And there you have it. That’s exactly how I came up with this title. But do NOT take this message lightly.

You see, I know you’re heard it a million times before. “You have to eat breakfast.” And I know it’s not a super sexy message. But do you have any idea how many people I meet as a fitness professional that DO NOT eat breakfast? A lot. And do you have any idea how many of those people that don’t eat breakfast are overweight? Pretty much all of them.

Look, I’m not crazy. I know you don’t have much time in the morning. And I know many of you just aren’t all that hungry right after you wake up.

So let’s look at this another way. You get up each morning and go to work every day because you want a roof over your head and food on the table, right? Day after day after day you go to work because you want the RESULT of that effort.

Well, IF you want to burn fat, feel better and have more energy you WILL eat breakfast every morning. Period. End of discussion.

Some things are boring. Some things just have to be done to get the result you want. For those of you that want to burn fat all day long, breakfast is just one of those things.

Till next time,
Narina

PS – Prograde Lean http://victoriawellness.getprograde.com is a DELICIOUS chocolate meal replacement shake that I recommend. It’s the perfect solution to breakfast.

Our local newspaper just happened to print an article today on Breakfast and it’s importance. To read this article, go to the following link:

http://www.timescolonist.com/health/diet-fitness/healthy+breakfast+keep+weight/1091532/story.html

I also had done a newsletter for our group this morning. I have included that article below:

There used to be a cereal commercial on T.V. I can’t remember which specific cereal it was, but their tag line was “Breakfast of Champions”. The commercials and the cereal box usually had a picture of some Olympic or professional athlete. Naturally they wanted to imply that the pictured athlete used their breakfast cereal and of course it may be responsible for their athletic performance.

Their thinking wasn’t far off. Breakfast is indeed the the meal of champions. First and foremost it is the most important meal of the day. Research has shown that successful weight loss programs always begin with a well balanced breakfast. If you think about it, you are fasting when you are asleep at night. Your first task of the day should be to get the furnace started, and the furnace will not burn without fuel.

So, now the question – what does constitute a good breakfast. What should I eat? Well, this is a good time to clear your mind of the old standard breakfast. There is no rule that says breakfast has
to contain eggs or cereal. In fact, breakfast does not need to be much different that any of your other meals throughout the day. You need to change your way of looking at breakfast. Meats such as turkey sausage, turkey bacon as well as vegetables such as spinach, broccoli or cauliflower can also be used as a kick start for the furnace.

Breakfast needs to contain three vital ingredients – protein, carbohydrates and good fats. It is your choice, as long as it is a healthy choice, what you prepare for breakfast.

Here are a few suggestions for breakfast:

1 chicken sausage, 1 cup cooked broccoli, 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil

Hard boiled egg and yogurt mixed with real fruit

2 eggs, 1 cup steamed cauliflower, 2 tsp flaxseed oil over the cauliflower

1 whole egg, 2 egg white – make into omelet with spinach

There are several sources on the web that provide excellent nutritional information. A couple sites you can look at are:

www.precisionnutrition.com – John Berardi

www.ProvenFatLossDiet.com – Isabel De Los Rios. A couple of the
meal plans above are from her.

www.sparkpeople.com – a site submitted by one of our clients

Please be selective where you gather your information and feel free to talk with me about any information you come across on the web.

So, if you are already eating a healthy breakfast, good for you! If you are skipping this meal, now is the time to make some changes. If you are trying to lose weight, this is Step #1 in your weight loss plan.

We are all Champions, so let’s start eating like Champions.

Till next time,
Narina