4 Reasons You Should Eat Breakfast Within 60 Minutes Of Waking Up Every Day

Intermittent fasting is all the rage right now and many women ask me if I think that this practice will help speed up fat loss. I've been a weight-loss coach and trainer for almost a decade, and I always tell them that my personal and professional experience has shown me that women generally respond better to eating portion-controlled meals every few hours throughout the day—and always starting the day with a protein-rich breakfast. Of course not every single woman on the planet is the same, and there will be some extenuating circumstances (like an auto-immune disorder, etc.) or different preferences. But speaking from a general point of view, I have seen the majority of my weight-loss clients lose weight and keep it off after changing their diet to where they eat first thing in the morning.

Women tend to forget to eat breakfast in the morning, especially if they're mothers who are taking care of their young children and trying to get them out the door to school. But if we want to maintain our health and feel our very best, we should at least consider eating breakfast within 30-60 minutes of waking up every morning. I find that it works beautifully for myself and my clients. Here are four reasons why you should eat breakfast first thing in the morning.

1. It Helps to Balance Your Hormones

There are many women out there struggling with hormonal issues, sadly. Although the common answer is to just put them on the pill, we're learning more and more information by the day that tells us there are much better, more holistic ways to manage our menstrual cycles and balance our hormones. One of the first daily habits you can adopt to improve your hormonal health is eating a protein-rich breakfast each day. This supports a well-functioning metabolism, and when you have a healthy metabolism, your endocrine system, which makes and releases hormones directly into the blood, is more likely to be stable. When you skip out on breakfast and your body and brain are starved for energy, this increases your stress response, and a high amount of stress hormones coursing through your body is no good for balancing your overall hormones.

2. It Balances Your Blood Sugar

Even though intermittent fasting is very popular, there's a lot to be said about practicing portion control and eating every few hours throughout the day. Balancing your blood sugar isn't only crucial for balancing your hormones, but it's also responsible for curbing sugar cravings, preventing weight gain, and decreasing inflammation in the body. Having a balanced blood sugar also results in fewer mood swings, less brain fog, and more motivation to get through the day. My functional medicine doctor once told me that eating first thing in the morning sends a signal to my adrenal glands and tells them, "Don't worry. We've got this. You don't have to pump adrenaline and cortisol through my body to get the day going." This only works if your meals every few hours are a reasonable portion, though. Eating too much food in one sitting can actually cause your blood sugar levels to increase dramatically, so be sure to eat the correct portions.

3. It Keeps You Fuller For Longer

Psychologically, we have the most willpower and discipline in the morning so you think you're doing yourself a favor when you skip breakfast. You think that, by abstaining from an early meal, that you'll eat fewer calories throughout the day and stave off excess weight gain or even lose weight. This isn't how it works, unfortunately. Skipping breakfast makes you much more likely to experience extreme hunger later that will result in poor food choices and overeating. When you eat a protein-rich meal first thing in the morning, you give your body the fuel it needs to get through the first half of the day, and you may not feel so hungry by the time 11:30am rolls around, which makes it much easier to say no to the donuts that show up to your office around that time.

4. You'll Likely Make Better Nutrition Choices for the Rest of the Day

Nutrition expert and author Max Lugavere says "the amount of protein you eat for your first meal strongly predicts the amount of calories you'll consume the rest of the day." So if you eat a protein-rich breakfast in the morning, rather than skip the meal entirely, you're more likely to eat fewer calories throughout the day. No wonder the phrase "eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper" exists. Max references research published in the journal Obesity, showing that people who consumed a higher amount of protein at the very start of the day had lower overall calorie intake for the rest of the day. Eating an early meal also makes you much more inclined to reach for healthier foods throughout the day.

Closing Thoughts

It may feel foreign and even uncomfortable at first, but try it out and eat breakfast every day for one month straight and see how you feel. I think you'll find that you feel much more inclined to make healthier choices throughout the day. You may feel very full at first in the morning when you start, but this will change and over time you'll actually wake up very hungry in the morning and craving that protein-rich breakfast.