Break Fast

( photo from our campsite on Kartoum lake NE of Powell River...)

Today, I have been working on the final edits of my first non-fiction book: Fit & Free. With any luck I will have it sent off to the printers this week and by next week I will have a real live proof in my hands!

The second chapter titled Learn the Facts, separates fitness and health myths and facts for the reader. There is so much conflicting information out there that I wanted to expel some of most common myths that I hear. One of the myths is about breakfast...as it relates to weight loss. I thought I would share it with you to give you a sneak peek:

Myth: Skipping breakfast will result in weight loss.
Fact: Eating breakfast is one of the easiest and most effective ways to meet your weight loss goals.

Skipping breakfast continues the ‘fasting’ cycle that begins during sleep and results in a lowered metabolic rate throughout the day. Notice how you aren’t hungry until 10-11-12 when you don’t eat breakfast on a regular basis? This is a sign of fasting. This loss of hunger is the result of your metabolic rate slowing down to conserve energy and save every gram of fat for later use which is not a very effective way to burn excess body fat.

After a night of sleeping, your body’s metabolism is at its lowest rate in the day. Consuming a healthy breakfast will actually increase your metabolic rate during the day and provide you with more energy to complete the days activities which, in turn, burns more calories throughout the day.

In the 2005 study by Wing & Phelen, mentioned earlier in this chapter, consistently eating breakfast was one of 4 common traits with members of the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR). Of the 4000 members who have successfully lost an average of 70 pounds and have kept off the weight for an average of 5 years, 78% reported eating breakfast everyday. Chew on that for breakfast!

Did you have breakfast today? Yes? Good. Ever thought about what that common word actually means for a moment? It comes from two words of course: Break. Fast.

Today I had a slice of my grandmas Irish Soda Bread (I make it in her memory on Easter now that she is gone) slathered with raspberry jam along with muselix cereal which was topped with almonds and soymilk. Of course there was a cup of H20 and a cup of tea along with breaky.

I had a long run 2.5Z1 in the works so I wanted to make sure that my carbohydrate intake was substantial enough to top up my energy stores before heading out on the long run.

When you sleep your body gobbles up it's stored glycogen (storage form of the Carbs you eat) from your muscles and liver. You are close to 75% depleted by the time you wake up from a restful sleep. That is the FAST of breakfast.

You cannot expect your body to perform endurance exercise happily under a depleted state. You wouldn't try to drive to Victoria on a 1/4 tank of gas - well maybe if you have a SMART car, I don't know...

Do your body and your performance a favor and don't forget to BREAK fast every morning!

Happy Easter!

Sarah.