Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It gets your metabolism going. A healthy nutrient dense breakfast should maintain your blood sugar until lunch. Skipping breakfast seems to be a common practice these days but it’s not a very healthy one. On the other hand eating empty calories (foods with little to no nutritional value) is equally problematic. Since our bodies need 6-10 hours of sleep every night and since it’s not recommended for the average person to eat past 9PM, our bodies have been fasting and conserving energy for several hours. Breakfast is what wakes up the body’s metabolism to start burning calories. No breakfast can result in unproductive mornings and a slower metabolism. Things change for the pregnant woman but breakfast is still essential.
I was like most people, I didn’t really put too much thought or time into breakfast especially during the work week. Breakfast usually consisted of a piece of whole wheat toast. I started eating a balanced breakfast regularly during my first pregnancy. Eating breakfast every single morning became a priority and this practice continues today.
Now that I am expecting our second baby (and with the onset of morning sickness nausea), breakfast can make or break my day. When I wake up in the morning it doesn’t take long for the nausea to begin. The sooner I eat breakfast (something high in protein like eggs and Ezk 4:9 toast), the sooner the nausea subsides. Eating breakfast while feeling nauseous is hard! I feel nauseous which destroys my appetite. I don’t want to eat. I feel like if I eat I will inevitably vomit. But eating has the exact opposite affect. Sure I feel like puking through breakfast but I don’t and soon the nausea subsides.
One morning I had the opportunity to sleep in and I did. I ended up eating breakfast three hours later than I normally do. The end result was that I felt nauseated pretty much all day.
Unlike my pre-pregnancy days, breakfast does not maintain my blood sugar until lunch. Eating small protein packed snacks between meals throughout the day is a must!
Eating breakfast is hard especially when you are pregnant and nauseated, but eating a healthy nutrient and protein dense breakfast every morning soon after you wake up can significantly decrease your morning sickness blues.