Have you ever thought about how your morning habits influence your ongoing day?
Sometimes we don’t realize how important it is to follow a morning routine to keep our daily health goals on track.
Here it goes some easy tips to incorporate into your morning habits:
1-Starting your Day with a big glass of water.
We lose water while sleeping, so it’s essential to proper refueling to keep your metabolism working correctly. A good morning hydration helps cleanse the intestinal tube, awaken the brain and nervous system, and activate the circulation of the kidneys among other body systems.
Warm water with lemon is a great option to wake up your metabolism and the digestive system immediately. It helps to detoxify your body and gives you a natural burst of energy. After you’ve brushed your teeth each morning, have a large glass before drinking or eating anything else.
Also, starting your morning with plenty of water and staying well hydrated throughout the day is a great way to help your weight loss.
2. Eat a High-Protein Breakfast.
Breakfast is essential because after a whole night in a “resting metabolism mode,” you need to choose how to “break” your “fast,” and the way you choose to break the digestive rest body cycle determines how your metabolism will work throughout the day.
If you start your day with a HIGH CARB meal, you will initiate your day activating your brain responses with the addictive properties of carbohydrates. Eating high amounts of carbs requires a discharge of insulin from your pancreas to regulate the high sugar level in the blood (homeostasis). The problem is the faster your blood sugar level decreases after a discharge of insulin, the higher your urge for more carbs to raise your levels again which means, in the last instance, the beginning of the carbs vicious cycle! In addition, after these sugar levels rollercoasters, you will probably feel exhausted, bloated, and berating yourself because you feel fat.
On the other hand, starting your day with a HIGH PROTEIN meal may help cut cravings throughout the day. Protein keeps you feeling fuller for longer when compared to carbs, and also the body uses more energy (calories) to metabolize protein. Maintaining sugar blood levels stable, and avoiding the rollercoasters mentioned above, is an important mechanism to decrease ghrelin levels, the “hunger hormone” which is responsible for increasing appetite throughout the day.
Good options to consider for a balanced breakfast are eggs, greek yogurt, cottage cheese, protein pancakes, nuts, tofu, seeds, broccoli, and mushrooms.
3- Physical Activity in the morning.
Morning workouts enhance your metabolism throughout the day and have been shown to improve focus all day long. Some research has measured the effectiveness of exercise to wake up the mind, and its results were measured as stronger as coffee. Also, working out in the morning inspires you to keep moving throughout the rest of the day and may reduce determined food motivation. Last but not least, the National Sleep Foundation says that morning workouts bring a deeper and longer sleep at night, and an increment of 75 percent more time in the most reparative sleep stages.
The best way to meet your health goals is to be aware of your choices and take consistent small steps. By integrating new behaviors at your pace, the chances of success will be much more effective and sustainable.
Sincerely,
Carla Righi
Ref.:
Fox, K. (1999). The influence of physical activity on mental well-being. Public Health Nutrition, 2(3a), 411-418. doi:10.1017/S1368980099000567
https://www.thedailybeast.com/what-happened-when-i-replaced-coffee-with-30-seconds-of-exercise
https://www.sleep.org/articles/exercise-time-of-day/
