To lower BMI, BP, lipids and more: Get your breakfast on!

I do my best to eat healthily, not because I’m obsessed with my weight but because I’ve always been worried about heart disease.

You see, it runs in my family.

I’ve watched so many people I love go through open heart surgeries or have heart attacks and I’ve been determined that it would not be me. I would never be one more in a long line of family members with heart problems.

And, I really thought I was doing everything right until I found out it was actually something I was NOT doing that could be leading me down the path to heart disease.

Here’s what I found…

The meal your heart craves

Now, much research has focused on what and how much of anything you should eat to be healthy. But little has focused on when you should be eating it or how it affects you.

So, researchers in Madrid decided to examine healthy volunteers, free from cardiovascular or chronic kidney disease about their breakfast habits…

A computerized questionnaire was used to estimate their usual diet, and breakfast patterns were based on the percentage of total daily energy intake consumed at breakfast.

Three groups were identified basically as:

• Breakfast skippers — this group regularly ate less than five percent of their total energy intake in the morning (skipped breakfast and only had coffee, juice or other non-alcoholic beverages)
• Breakfast eaters — this group regularly ate more than 20 percent of their total energy intake in the morning
• Breakfast nibblers — this group ate between five and 20 percent of their total energy intake in the morning (low-energy breakfast consumers)

And the results were more than a little surprising…

As far as hardening and narrowing of the arteries due to plaque build-up goes, the folks who skipped breakfast or ate little breakfast were hit the hardest…

That’s because atherosclerosis was observed more frequently among breakfast-skippers and was also higher in the breakfast nibblers who consumed lower-energy breakfasts compared to breakfast eaters.

To top it off, cardio-metabolic risk markers were also more prevalent in those who skipped breakfast and or ate the low-energy breakfast compared to the breakfast eaters.

And get this: Participants who skipped breakfast even had the greatest waist circumference, body mass index, blood pressure, blood lipids and fasting glucose levels!

Get your breakfast on

So, if like me, you’re one of the 20 to 30 percent of adults who skip breakfast, it’s time to make a better choice for healthier arteries and a healthier heart.

Here are a few heart-healthy breakfast ideas to try:

• Salmon omelet – Instead of your normal sausage and cheese omelet, why not substitute salmon instead for a tasty treat that offers heart-healthy omega-3s?
• Almond-Blueberry Oatmeal – Skip the brown sugar and top off your oatmeal with almonds and blueberries for a great start to your day.
• Avocado and Egg Breakfast Sandwich – Top a multi-grain English muffin with scrambled eggs, sliced avocado and a spoonful of Pico de Gallo for a South of the Border treat.
• Berry Parfait – Layer Greek yogurt and blueberries for a beautiful breakfast that will get your blood pumping.
• Top it off with heart–healthy nutrients—Vitamin K2 and CoQ10 help support blood flow and blood pressure.