Are you a parent, a busy professional or someone trying to lose some bodyfat? You might even be all three!
Do you find yourself hungry and tired mid morning?
Are you travelling or have a lot of meetings and want to focus on something other than where you can find the next bite to eat?
Here’s a little bit of biology to get you started…
Different types of foods digest at different speeds, and leave your stomach at different stages.
Carbs leave first followed by proteins. Lastly, fats and fibre make their way into the small intestine out of your stomach.
So, grabbing that piece of jam on toast as you rush around in the morning, isn’t actually going to last long before you’re hungry again. You’ll feel full and energetic in the short term but as it moves through your digestive system very quickly your energy levels will dip again
So, now a little tip for if you know you’re going to be busy or work is going to have you in meetings or travelling. Hopefully we can set you up so that you aren’t running through high carb snacks just to get through to lunch.
Try consuming some slow-digesting protein (cottage cheese, chicken, beef) alongside some decent fat (nuts, avocado, nut butter), and some fibre (some fruits, whole-grain bread) as your first meal of the day.
This will slow down the rate at which your stomach empties and in turn will help with hunger, which lengthens the time before you want to kill someone because you’re so hungry, and can also help with weight loss as you won’t feel the need to eat so often, which can reduce calorie consumption.
Liquids tend to pass through the stomach more quickly so if you are going to grab a smoothie, try and make sure it has some fats included alongside some protein (whey protein, casein) so that it digests slower. You can even hide some vegetables such as spinach or carrots in a smoothie to get your day off to a better start in terms of micronutrients as well
Planning for breakfast is key.
This may take a bit more preparation than you are used to, but the time investment of 3-4 minutes can pay massive dividends down the line to your waistline as you trim down, and your bank balance as you don’t buy a bunch of snacks!