Balanced nutrition is the key to having optimal energy levels throughout the day. Many people skip breakfast, or they eat too little or an unbalanced meal. A healthy balanced breakfast is very important to ensure that you are starting your day right.
It is also important to drink water during breakfast. This will help replenish the body, as you may be dehydrated from fasting during sleep. Drinking coffee without drinking water can lead to dehydration. Staying hydrated is important to keep the body functioning optimally throughout the day.
Proper hydration combined with proper nutrition can help to ensure that you do not have hunger spikes throughout the day. Your breakfast should be your largest meal of the day consisting of about 25% of your daily caloric intake. It should contain the proper balance of macronutrients (protein, carbs, and fat).
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Once you have started your day with a balanced breakfast, you should not have cravings and hunger spikes, which can sometimes lead to poor food choices. A mid morning snack can help boost your metabolism and can serve as a bridge between your breakfast and your lunch. These snacks should help sustain energy and provide essential nutrients that may be getting left out during your breakfast, lunch, and dinner. These snacks should also be balanced with the proper amount of protein, carbs, and fat.
If you are eating a full balanced breakfast, you should have higher energy throughout the day. The rest of your meals should be balanced, and are consumed in order to maintain those energy levels, and elevate metabolism. Most people make poor breakfast choices, which leads to low energy and hunger later in the day.
When not consuming enough calories throughout the day, many people overeat or binge eat in the evening to the late night. When binge eating or overeating, it becomes harder to achieve weight loss or body fat loss goals. Hunger spikes may also result from an imbalance of macronutrients.
The Maddox Method follows the principles of the Zone diet, which is a system that balances the three macronutrients for each meal. The Zone diet also addresses food quality and portion control.
The Zone diet prescription has provided the best results for our members, helping them learn how to balance their nutrition. Additionally, learning portion control and what types of foods to eat have helped them lose weight and body fat, and improve their performance. Balanced nutrition begins with a full balanced breakfast. Using the Zone principles as a guideline, an example of a complete breakfast would consist of:
- 3 eggs
- 2/3 cups of steel cut oats
- ½ apple
- 3 Tbsp. of Avocado
Some common examples of poor breakfast choices include:
- Coffee and a Donut
- Processed Cereal
- Bagel with Fat Free Cream Cheese
- Sugary Drinks
- A slice of Toast
- Pancakes
These examples of poor breakfast choices have one thing in common, and that is the lack of balance between the three macronutrients. For the best results, you should use measurements to make sure you have the proper balance of these macronutrients. When you do not achieve this balance, you may experience hunger or a lack of energy.
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You may also have difficulty losing weight and achieving fitness goals. You should start your day with a balanced breakfast to help jumpstart your day. This should be your biggest meal of the day, and then you should be eating to sustain energy throughout your day.
This should also prevent you from wanting to go home and binge eat in the evening or late at night. This country has an obesity epidemic, and most of it is a result of people not knowing what to eat, when to eat, or even how to eat. Following the Zone prescription can help to educate our society on solutions to these problems.
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