Blood Sugar: Regain Your Lost Energy And Regulate Your Blood Sugar Levels Tomorrow By Starting The Day With The Great English Breakfast

A problem with modern life is lack of time. You know what I mean. You get up in the morning, grab a quick coffee and rush to work. While there, you can't think straight; you're tired and grumpy. By evening when you can relax, that's all you can do. And it seems to get worse as you get older. Even if your morning is more relaxed, you still seem to run out of oomph just about time for a mid-morning tea-break.

Well, there's a good reason for that. When you get up in the morning, you probably haven't eaten for the best part of 12 hours. You're running on empty. There's an old saying well worth remembering: 'breakfast like a king, lunch like a lord and dine like a pauper'. Think for a minute. You need to take in around 2,000 calories a day (more if you are doing manual work). There is little point in eating most of that at a time when all you want to do is watch your favourite soap and go to bed. You need it to work. You need a good breakfast.

And I don't mean a bowl of cereal and a slice of toast. That can actually be worse than having nothing. A good breakfast is one that is rich in protein.

Forgotten research that proves the benefits of a high-protein breakfast
Many studies have been conducted into the effects of different breakfasts, with remarkably consistent findings. In one, conducted over 50 years ago (U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Circular No. 827, 1949), subjects ate a variety of breakfasts after their blood sugar levels had been measured. These breakfasts ranged from coffee alone to combinations of different types of cereals with milk and sugar, toast and marmalade, fruit juice, bacon and eggs. Then blood sugar levels were checked hourly during the morning.

The results, looked at today, were quite remarkable, for the types of breakfast advocated today as 'healthy' are the ones which gave the worst results in these tests. All of those based on cereals and bread lifted blood sugar levels initially but after about an hour they fell to below the pre-breakfast levels. In addition, those who had eaten the cereal/bread breakfasts experienced lassitude, irritability, nervousness, headaches, hunger and fatigue; symptoms of which worsened as the morning wore on. Only after breakfasts that included eggs and bacon did blood sugar levels remain high; and subjects were bright, alert and efficient.

Another series of tests checked blood-sugar levels after lunch. (Ann. Int. Med., XVIII: 435, 1943) This showed that those who had eaten the 'healthy' breakfasts had low blood sugar all afternoon, regardless of the quality of their lunch.

Why carbohydrates won't sustain your energy levels throughout the day
The problem is that all carbohydrates (it doesn't matter whether it is bread, sugar, cornflakes, pasta, or fruit) are digested and absorbed into the bloodstream as the blood sugar, glucose. And they are digested quickly. This raises glucose to abnormally high levels and the pancreas produces large amounts of insulin to bring it back to normal by taking the excess glucose out of your bloodstream and putting it into storage. But there is inevitably a time delay between cause and effect. When a normal blood sugar level is reached, insulin is still being produced. This drives your glucose levels below normal and, despite the fact that you probably ate enough calories to keep you going for several hours, they've all been stored as fat. So by mid-morning you feel hungry again, snack on sweets or biscuits because they are convenient, and start the cycle all over again. It's a condition known as reactive hypoglycaemia. You are 'yo-yo' dieting by the hour, your blood glucose levels are going up and down, and your pancreas doesn't know whether it's coming or going.

The secret to vitality that lasts lies in the full English breakfast
Now let us look at what happens if you have eggs, bacon and fried bread for breakfast.

Again the carbohydrate in the bread is digested quickly and blood glucose level rises. But this time the pancreas can cope and glucose doesn't go too high. Proteins in the meat and eggs digest more slowly and the fat takes longest of all. Thus energy is fed into the bloodstream slowly over two or three hours. Your energy levels are continually being replenished.

The French may deride our cooking, but there is one meal we excel at: the Great English Breakfast. It is far and away the best start to the day. But if you can't face, or haven't time, for a fry-up in the morning, a continental breakfast (and I don't mean croissants and coffee, I mean a real continental breakfast of cheese, cold meat, hard-boiled eggs, sausage) is nearly as good. And it requires little preparation or can be prepared the night before.

A big breakfast will also improve your heart health, help you lose weight and improve the quality of your sleep
Apart from making you feel and work better, a substantial breakfast is good for your health. For example, it will help to keep your weight down. Studies have shown convincingly that people who skimp on breakfast and eat their main meal at night are generally fatter than those who have a good breakfast and a small evening meal (J. Royal Soc. Med., 82:770, 1989). It's understandable really: eat a good breakfast and you won't want those fattening snacks; and why eat a large meal in the evening?

You'll sleep much better without it.

A high-protein breakfast is a good way to keep your heart ticking over properly too. Like all muscles, the heart's fuels are oxygen and blood sugar. The cholesterol hypothesis has it that heart attacks are caused by lack of oxygen. But low blood sugar is just as dangerous to the heart (Lancet, 337:787, 1991). It is noticeable that there is a much higher incidence of heart attacks first thing in the morning. (Br. Heart J., 65:299-301, 1991) Avoiding those low and fluctuating blood sugar levels could be more beneficial than you think.

So if you normally skimp on breakfast, why not set your alarm ten minutes earlier next week, have a good breakfast and see the difference it makes.