Every week, I write a member's blog which invites you to think about different aspects of your eating, lifestyle, and thinking.
You are here because you know that when it comes to making changes to the way you eat, going extreme is unsustainable in the long term, and you are looking for a way to make small and meaningful changes, that fit in with your lifestyle. These weekly resources offer up tips, points of view, and things to try out, alongside your coaching.
This week, I am inviting you to think about, the most important meal of the day; breakfast. How many times have you heard it said that breakfast is the most important part of the day? Do you believe it?
When we are trying to keep our eating under control, how we start our day is key. Often skipping breakfast is done as an attempt to reduce food intake, but it has been shown in a few studies, that breakfast eaters tend to eat the same amount as non-breakfast eaters throughout the day. So this means that people who skip breakfast, tend to catch up later; skipping breakfast, doesn’t actually lead to less food intake, just the feeling that you’ve eaten less…. (There is another story in there for another week!). In addition, we know that eating breakfast is related to maintaining weight loss in the long term. There seems to be a good case for eating a regular breakfast, and it is living up to its reputation of being the most important meal of the day.
Where do you stand on breakfast?
When we think about the psychology of eating, so much is going on here at breakfast time, so let’s break it down.
Self control - the science says that we are better at self control in the morning. Think about whether you have seen this happening in your own life. For example, how many times has a day started well, but feels like the plan has totally fallen apart by 9pm? Knowing self-control is better in the morning is pretty useful though. We can use this information to our advantage. We know we will be better with self control in the morning, this means that if we set a goal to do something in a morning, then we are more likely to stick to them. Building important changes into a morning routine is more likely to lead to success.
What the hell - the science also says that we are likely to give up on the whole day if things don’t go too well in the morning. There are fancy names for this, but I like the “what the hell effect”. How can you use this information? Simply being aware that this effect happens - you are only human. If you notice this pattern, name it, and try to bring your awareness back to your remaining choices, and how you wish to lead the rest of your day.
Boredom - breakfast (at least in the UK) is by far the most routine and boring meal of the day. Possibly because we are all too tired to really think creatively about what we want. However, keeping lots of interesting flavours on your plate is key to enjoying food, and feeling satisfied with what you eat. Experimenting with breakfast is rare, but can bring some long lasting changes to our habits, and might even ensure that breakfast is not neglected.
Which of these facts is most useful to your goals? You may want to think about what new breakfasts you can try this week, or work on how you can bring one of your target habits into your morning routine. I am interested to hear about how you find this, and how breakfast features in your routine.
See you next week!
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