Not Hungry in the Morning?

You or someone you know may not be eating breakfast. "I’m just not hungry." Or you have breakfast when you get to work – 2 hours later. Just to be clear, breakfast is the meal that breaks the sleep fast, and your body expects to receive food within one hour of waking. 

Why would someone not be hungry in the morning? It’s not because you ate a big meal in the evening. I know when I have my Thanksgiving meal at noon; I am hungry again before bed. 

So why don’t you feel hungry when you wake up? If your glucose (brain fuel) level dropped too low while you were sleeping, your liver would have already received the signal to deliver a cocktail of hormones that tells the body to make fuel for the brain – and part of the cocktail is adrenaline. When adrenaline is in the system, we tend not to feel hungry. Historically, adrenaline signaled that someone or something was trying to hurt us and we should run; running and eating are not tightly wired together. 

Clinically, the short-term consequences of skipping breakfast happen about 8 hours later. You might be fatigued, and your lizard brain takes charge. This increases the likelihood that you will overeat, have more alcohol before or at dinner than planned, and have passive evenings.

What are the long-term consequences of skipping breakfast?  When we skip breakfast, we set up a cascade of stress hormones that are working to maintain our fuel supply. The most recent studies suggest that not eating breakfast causes:

• increased calorie intake during the day,

• Increased stress/inflammatory hormones, such as cortisol and insulin,

• increased weight gain and adipose tissue/body fat,

• increased cholesterol and blood pressure, and

• increased cardiovascular disease.

What to do about the fact that you just don’t feel hungry? Typically, a quarter cup of fruit juice or some other quick-acting sugar, such as a teaspoon of honey, will get your body to send the hunger signal within 20 minutes. Then, you can have breakfast. For the people who are not eating because they are jumping out of bed to go to work, try putting a protein shake in the refrigerator the night before so you can grab it on your way out in the morning. If you do this for about a week, you might find that your hunger signal kicks in more easily in the mornings. 

Do you skip breakfast? Try the experiment of starting your day with food that has protein (14-20 grams) + carbs + fiber + fat. This Shortcuts post has some ideas for breakfast. Observe the following changes:

• less anxiety, irritation, and agitation in the mornings

• more energy and mental clarity in the day

• less overdoing intake of sugar, alcohol, or snacking 8 hours after waking

• better sleep

• increased ability to participate in after-work activities that are important to you.

Tell us about your experience on the Dynamic Paths Facebook page or add a comment to our blog. 

Shortcuts to a Quick Breakfast

• Ready-to-drink protein shake (Odwalla Protein Shake or Orgain protein shake) with an apple

• Protein bar: Cliff, Zing, Stinger, or high-protein Kind bars

• High protein Greek yogurt (Fage, Chobani) with walnuts, almonds or cashews and raisins, an apple or 1/2 a banana

• Apple, carrot and/or celery with 4 Tbsp of nut or seed butter (almond, cashew, or tahini)

• Whole eggs: 1-2 scrambled/boiled/fried with a handful of veggies and toast or sweet potato

• Breakfast burrito with scrambled eggs, veggie sausage or refried beans, a handful of veggies, and cheese

• Make own protein shake with whey or rice protein powder, dark berries, chocolate powder, coconut milk and water

•  My favorite –  Dinner!

Share your favorite breakfast ideas by commenting below!

On-The-Go Protein Sources

Sometimes, between meetings or when on the road, I need a protein snack to get me through until I can site down for a meal. If I know I'll be having that meal in an hour or two, something with 8-10 grams of protein is ideal. If it's going to be longer than that, I'll reach for something with closer to 20 grams of protein as a one-off meal replacement.

Protein bars that have between a 1:1 - 3:1 ratio of calculated carbs to protein, are made with real ingredients (meaning I can pronounce and recognize all the words), no artificial sweeteners (manitol, stevia, aspartame), and - for me - no gluten, are ideal. 

Remembering that calculated carbs are total carbs minus fiber, here are some of my favorite protein bars that meet the above criteria*. I have indicated which flavors I like, but note that there are some variations in nutritional values among the different flavors - so don't forget to read the label!

•  Stinger Protein Bars (Mint Almond) - 17 grams calculated carbs, 10 grams protein, less than 2:1 calculated carbs:protein ratio. Gluten free, but not hypoallergenic, Has chocolate! 

•  Zing Bars (Double Nut Brownie) - 14 grams calculated carbs, 10 grams protein, less than 2:1 calculated carbs:protein ratio. Gluten free, soy free. vegan. Has chocolate!

•  Square Bars (Toasted Coconut Crisp) - 21 grams calculated carbs, 10 grams protein, 2:1 calculated carbs:protein ratio. Gluten free, dairy free, soy free but not hypoallergenic.

•  Clif Bars (Chocolate Chip Peanut Crunch) - 34 grams calculated carbs, 10 grams protein, ~ 3:1 calculated carbs:protein ratio. Has chocolate!

•  Clif Builders (Vanilla Almond) - 26 grams calculated carbs, 20 grams protein, close to 1:1 calculated carbs:protein ratio. With 20 grams of protein, this is more of a meal replacement than snack - but you can always break it up into chunks.

•  Rise Protein Bars (Almond Honey) - 16 grams calculated carbs, 20 grams protein, less than 1:1 calculated carbs:protein ratio. With 3 ingredients (almonds, honey whey protein) - this is as simple as it gets! Gluten free, soy free.

•  Kind Protein Bars (Double Dark Chocolate Nut) - 12 grams calculated carbs, 12 grams protein, 1:1 calculated carbs:protein ratio. Has chocolate! 

Other great on-the-go snacks are:

•  Krave Jerky (beef or turkey, flavored or not) - 10-11 grams calculated carbs, 10-11 grams protein, 1:1 calculated carbs:protein ratio,. Some choices are gluten free. Chewable!

 • Trader Joe's Nut Packs- Protein to Carb ratio will vary. Getting the individual packs will limit the unchecked grazing and prevent eating a pound of nuts -- which can be done in a day. 

Post a comment below to share some of your favorite on-the-go protein snacks.

*Note: I am not affiliated with these brands in any way.

Food of the Month: Cashews

Throughout 2018 I am going to highlight a food or product that helps us fuel our brain and body. 

If you don’t know about The World’s Healthiest Foods website, I love it. George Meteljan has done a great job describing the benefits of individual foods and why they are healthy for us. He mostly focuses on physical health. I will add to this and describe why the food also promotes good mental health. 

Cashews 

If you enjoy cashews, a handful of them as a midday snack is a great fuel to stabilize the brain before you go home to the kids. First, it's a good protein source with almost 8 grams of protein per 1/4 cup. It's also loaded with good (unsaturated) fats which not only help your heart but also help the myelin sheath of your brain. The big bonus to cashews is that they are high in copper and magnesium. I am often thinking about whether an individual is getting the right nutrients to synthesize dopamine and serotonin and both of these minerals are needed for the synthesis of neurotransmitters for our brain. 

Magnesium helps calm, and thus organizes nerve activity; it can help with depression, anxiety and sleep. Copper helps convert dopamine to norepinephrine and serotonin into melatonin. In my office, I check for copper deficiency. People with overt copper deficiency will be able organize chaos and complete tasks (dopamine characteristics), but they don’t get any pleasure out of doing it (low level of norepinephrine). Sometimes they also have problems sleeping.

Since high levels of copper can cause problems for both physical and mental health, if I am going to supplement I do it carefully. I would not recommend supplementing copper without lab work. However, increasing copper through food sources is a different story. When we eat whole foods and have a diversity of foods in our diets, it's challenging to overdose on nutrients. If you don’t like cashews, feel free to eat other nuts as a snack. All of them have a healthier profile than the sugar-carb treats that are so easily shared at work. 

Do you have favorite foods, or foods or products that you're curious about? Post a comment below to let me know what you're interested in learning more about.