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"
Breakfast
is just another meal
. It doesn't have to be the most important. And, of course, it can be the worst of the day if it's based on pastries or sugary cereals."
This is how blunt
Marcos Vázquez
is , one of the most prestigious health popularizers and a collection of publications based on nutrition and sports studies, both in his books and on his blog and podcast Fitness Revolucionario.
"There's nothing magical about breakfast
, and if you don't like it you can skip it," continues this fitness authority, unblinking.
Many will raise their hands to their heads with this headline, but not with others that continue to spread myths about the first daily intake, according to Vázquez, who goes back to the caves to reason that food has always been the reward for previous effort , and not a
shot
of sugar that will make us feel low on energy in the middle of the morning.
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STATISTICAL COMPLEXITY
There are studies that
associate eating breakfast with better health
, but most are observational and care must be taken with the correlations that are established, warns this expert.
"When you have a lot of data about habits, we can find two variables that are not a consequence of each other."
For example, in summer there is a very strong correlation between the consumption of ice cream and drowning.
"Here there is an
association, but not causal, between the two
, but rather they depend on a third: the increase in temperature. We eat more ice cream because of the heat and we bathe more, so the risk of drowning increases. Similarly, in health this type of association is frequent and hence the
alarmist headlines
that we see so much in the press", he justifies.
It also adds another handicap:
the healthy user bias
.
"People who care less about their health skip breakfast more often, smoke more, do less physical activity, drink more alcohol... the statistics say. So, is worse health due to skipping breakfast or to all the other bad habits together?" asks Vázquez.
Eating breakfast means breaking the fast, and absolutely everyone does that, he defends.
"It just depends on the time: whether you do it earlier or later. In fact,
breakfast is quite modern
," she continues.
Science has already shown some important benefits of fasting, although it is also demonized.
"It's true that you make up for those 400 calories you skipped at the next meal, but you don't eat 700 in general," she adds.
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DOES IT GIVE UP WORSE WITHOUT EATING BREAKFAST?
Croissants, white bread toast with jam and butter, Maria biscuits, churros or batons, muffins with processed juices... These are some typical breakfasts, especially among the youngest, and are
full of refined flours, sugars, vegetable oils, additives
... "To take this, it is better not to eat breakfast, and that does not mean that it will perform worse, as evidenced by studies of the effects of Ramadan carried out on Muslims. There is even one that indicates that
women
improve their body composition [ less fat]
even though they eat about the same total calories and have the same physical activity as when they don't do this fast.
Marcos Vázquez, health promoter creator of Fitness Revolucionario.Bolboreta
What is beneficial regarding breakfast first thing in the morning is that we will eat less at night, indicates Vázquez: "Circadian rhythms, which are being studied more and more, show that the digestive system is better adapted to digesting food during the day, while that
in Spain we are very used to having a copious dinner very late
".
If we raise body temperature with digestion when it should tend to drop while sleeping, we also inhibit rest.
"We are losing the ability to oxidize fatty acids
and we have clinical trials with groups of people where we can indeed show this causality. And it is seen in a few weeks that people who eat more during the day lose more weight than those who eat more at night" .
CONCLUSIONS
We've all heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Shutterstock
Breakfast is just another meal
.
"Having said this, it is true that those who tend to eat a lot are better off eating breakfast instead of delaying their intake at night. As long as, as I say, they do not understand breakfast as pastries," warns Vázquez.
Breakfast should be based on
real food
.
This means in foods that are minimally processed and rich in protein.
"We have a lot of evidence that people take much less than they should and, furthermore, of low quality. However, it has many benefits in terms of satiety and sports performance, as it helps preserve muscle mass."
A
high-protein breakfast
keeps glucose levels more stable and is thus less likely to attack the
vending
machine first thing in the morning.
"Fat is also interesting and fiber, although not as interesting as protein. A combination of protein and fiber would be ideal."
There are many possible breakfasts that are better than the ones we usually have, believing they are good.
"We are increasingly aware of how
oats, one of my favorites,
provide good amounts of minerals and their consumption has less risk of coronary heart disease, something that is not observed with wheat, and reduces the risk of diabetes thanks to its content of beta-glucans".
OVERNIGHTS
: THE SATISFYING EFFECT
Oatmeal is one of the most complete breakfasts, due to its satiety and the nutrients it provides.Shutterstock
Basing himself on the
power of oats
, the Asturian Pelayo Pérez discovered the fashion for
overnights
in the United States and wanted to introduce it in Spain.
"I was tired of healthy being focused only on
square guys or elite athletes
and I wanted to normalize it among normal people, like me."
The idea is to mix your favorite liquid with oatmeal the night before, hence the name.
It can be a vegetable almond drink, a natural juice, yogurt...
To do this, he has asked for help from his countryman Marcos Vázquez, who had the knowledge to develop a revolutionary product under his Spanish brand, La Newyorkina.
"When the oats are cooled,
their content of resistant starch increases
and this implies a greater benefit in satiety for, ultimately, being able to lose weight."
Oatmeal is a versatile product: there is the cut one that is cooked, the flakes and the instant one, without major nutritional differences, says the tandem.
"It's based on preferences and textures. Oatmeal like this is already a very good breakfast and it's based on good food, but we wanted
to improve it with more protein, animal and pea whey to have another vegan option
. And we've also added polyphenols like blueberries , which I dare to say is one of the fruits with the most benefits, in addition to chia seeds, which are better absorbed by leaving them overnight," says Vázquez.
What usually happens with oatmeal is that it has little sweetness.
To compensate, Vázquez turns to
cocoa
nibs
and the sweetener in fashion: erythritol.
"It has virtually no calories and is a natural sweetener, unlike other artificial sweeteners that are hundreds of times sweeter than sugar."
The
product is prepared in a bowl and left resting in the fridge
, to have breakfast ready in the morning.
Even take it as a shake for those who don't have time and want to take it to the office or after training.
They claim to want to make things easier in a frenetic daily rhythm like the one we have.
"It's about turning the traditional
porridge
on its head . We don't package the oats as such, anyone can do that, but we have promoted the best breakfast between two neighbors, one from Gijón and the other from Oviedo."
They intend to communicate a healthy and complete breakfast: "Telling the truth and not putting anything in the packaging that is not true," clarifies Pelayo Pérez, who says that it is more important to him
that this type of breakfast is known than to sell his brand
.
"If people start eating oatmeal with protein instead of a muffin for listening to us, I'm happy."
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