“Toast with tomato, oil and a coffee with milk, and sometimes orange juice.” This is how nutritionist Sandra Moñino, from Nutriciónate, summarizes the typical breakfast of many people in Spain, “from north to south.” According to the specialist, “it is a basic breakfast and it is not exactly the healthiest option.” In the case of children, the standard breakfast is usually “even worse”: a glass of milk with cookies, croissant or cake. An easy, recurring and non-perishable option, but not at all healthy.
A priori, it may seem curious that we tend to always (or almost always) have the same breakfast, when we do not do so with the rest of the meals of the day, not even with the snack. There are many reasons why we are faithful to our breakfast (although many people change their patterns throughout their lives), and one of them is, in Moñino's words, habit. “The classic breakfast of toast with coffee is the one we constantly see in the media and even in movies or series,” he says. So these guidelines, although there may be differences by country, have been standardized and have become established in the collective imagination.
For doctor and nutritionist Núria Monfulleda, from the Loveyourself center in Barcelona, the habit of always having the same breakfast is largely due to the state of the body when it wakes up after several hours of fasting. “By going for so many hours without receiving food, the body needs energy to function, like a car that won't start if you don't put gas in it. And to do this, as he is intelligent, what he is going to ask us for is what is easiest to assimilate: easily absorbed carbohydrates.” They are what we essentially find in four food groups, which we also usually have on hand at home: the sugars present in milk, as well as in fruit, bread or cereals. From here, you can include derivatives such as pastries, something also common in breakfasts around the world.
“It is logical that in the morning the body asks us for carbohydrates after so many hours on an empty stomach, much more than at other times of the day. Of course, the specific hydrate that we choose does have a clearly cultural component, since it has to do with the one that is most common or most widespread in each country. Thus, while in Mexico they have tacos for breakfast and in Venezuela arepas, made with corn flour, in Japan, for example, they choose rice balls with different fillings. In Spain, for cultural reasons, we usually opt for bread and cereals and do not choose carbohydrates such as potatoes or rice." The Loveyourself nutritionist points out, in this sense, that there are usually two types of breakfast: “those in which a flourier carbohydrate takes precedence or people who prefer fruit carbohydrates. This probably has to do with habit: we tend to choose those foods that have been familiar to us since childhood. Therefore, if a child gets used to eating fruit for breakfast, it is likely that he will continue to do so throughout his life,” she explains.
A study published in the journal Appetite, carried out with French and American citizens, agrees with her and points out that people tend to choose calorific foods that are easily absorbed (which wake up the body) and caffeine (which wakes up the brain). The research also concludes that for the majority of researchers it is easy not to have to think too much in the mornings, and this is achieved with a simple and routine regimen that includes foods that are easily preserved. Finally, the study, carried out by scientists at the University of Rotterdam in collaboration with the Questrom School of Business in Boston, also points out that, in general terms, human beings are “more energized in the morning”, so they can choose less exciting meals so as not to feel totally overstimulated.
Thus, while hydrate provides us with quick and easy energy, we tend to choose, in the words of Monfulleda, “a fat, which provides flavor.” We already have the classic toast with olive oil, a typically Spanish breakfast that combines the energy of hydrate with the flavor of fat. In recent times, however, other breakfasts that respond in the same way to this pattern are becoming fashionable: filled with eggs and avocado, they are perfect for adding fat, flavor and, consequently, pleasure to those first moments of the meal. tomorrow. The same goes for butter, another standard breakfast around the world.
For Monfulleda, another reason that leads us to repeat the same breakfast pattern beyond those mentioned above is that it is the food that we usually make at home par excellence, so we prefer to opt for foods that are easy to preserve, "like bread. mold, milk and sometimes others such as cookies or pastries.” Since we don't have much time, simple preparations take priority, unlike at other times of the day, when "being away from home we have more options at our disposal, as is the case with snacks, and it is also likely that we have more time to prepare food. Monfulleda points out, in this sense, that cereals are so useful not only because they provide easily absorbed carbohydrates but because they are durable and easy to preserve. "Many people don't buy bread, because it spoils or because they don't like freezing it: it's easy to throw away cereal for breakfast because it seems like a simple option."
However, these options are far from what, for Moñino, the ideal breakfast should be. “A complete breakfast cannot miss a protein that comes from meat, fish or eggs, since it is the best, as well as good quality fats, such as those from extra virgin olive oil, olives, chia or flax seeds, or avocado. An example of a good breakfast would be a scrambled egg with a boiled egg or one-egg omelette, half an avocado, a sliced tomato, a slice of cheese and, if we want, a piece of 100% whole wheat bread, buckwheat or any other flour as long as be comprehensive. We can add a piece of fruit.”
This fruit, preferably in season and nearby, should always be eaten whole, without blending, since these preferences for smoothies right at the beginning of the morning also respond to the desire for easily absorbed carbohydrates. Nutritionist Susana León explains: "In no way should the intake of juice, even if it is a natural fruit smoothie, be understood as a way to replace fruit, since, by eliminating fiber, juices concentrate a large amount of sugar that causes spikes in blood glucose," he says. Therefore, León recommends giving priority to shakes and smoothies over smoothies and, above all, industrial juices, which should not be consumed under any circumstances.
The nutritionist also recommends, as far as possible, including some vegetables: "Tomato and arugula or lamb's lettuce are usually easy to include, for example on toast." Ideally, it should be made from buckwheat or oats, “since they are quite filling, provide some protein and contain a lot of fiber.” In any case, it is always better to opt for whole wheat bread than its normal version. León explains: "Whole foods, from pasta to bread or rice, contain slow-absorbing carbohydrates, which means that they do not cause glucose spikes in the body, they are satiating and have a lot of fiber, which improves intestinal transit and, therefore, So much so, they will make us feel better.
Both at breakfast and at other times of the day, it is a mistake to force ourselves to eat when we are not hungry and also not to eat when we are hungry. Thus, all those people who wake up not hungry, which largely depends on their habits (if they had a lot of dinner the night before) and their metabolism, should not force themselves to eat food. In fact –Moñino clarifies– “in the same way that people eat the same breakfast throughout their lives, those who are used to having little or no breakfast also tend to always repeat this pattern. Therefore, if we are not hungry, we can skip breakfast and eat directly when we feel like it and we are really hungry.” In the event that we wake up hungry, but we are short on time, it is always preferable to “prepare it the night before and have it ready in the morning than to end up using some unhealthy option on the way to work.”
