The best time to have your breakfast is within two hours of waking up. Having breakfast after waking up is good for your metabolism, say experts. If you are a gym-goer and prefer exercising in the morning, have something light like a banana or an avocado toast, at least half an hour before working out.
The best time to have breakfast is within two hours of getting up. “The sooner you eat breakfast after you wake up, the better it is for your metabolism,” says Larson.
When you sleep your metabolism naturally slows down because your body has fewer requirements. By eating breakfast within the first hour of waking you give your metabolism a jump start by initiating thermogenesis (the metabolic process of digesting and transporting food).
If you are not able to eat immediately after you wake up, you must at least eat something wholesome within one hour. Eating early can keep your blood sugar and insulin levels under control while boosting your metabolism.
Within one hour of waking up, your body has processed all the nutrients during your sleep and is ready to build energy. Choose high protein and low sugar and carb options to provide long-lasting energy without crashing mid-morning. About 3 hours later, a light, low-calorie snack should keep you energized until lunch.
The idea behind eating within the first hour of waking for blood sugar and hormonal imbalances is that your body is primed and ready to receive nutrients at that time—it's been a while since you last ate, after all—and balancing both out from the jump can lead to an uptick in energy.
Plan to eat breakfast within an hour of waking. This way, your breakfast doesn't blend into a mid-morning snack or grazing followed closely by lunch. Lunch should be about four to five hours after breakfast. For example, if you ate breakfast at 7 am, eat lunch between 11 am and noon.
The human body needs at least 3 to 4 hours to completely digest any meal. Therefore, there must be a minimum of four hours between any two meals. A gap that is both shorter and longer than that will result in overeating and acidity, respectively.
Studies show that for optimal health, it's best to consume most of your calories earlier in the day rather than later — for example by eating a large breakfast, a modest lunch, and a small dinner.
The best time to have your breakfast is within two hours of waking up. Having breakfast after waking up is good for your metabolism, say experts.
In the case of Intermittent fasting, skipping your dinner is better and easier. You can have your dinner either early or have a heavy snack and can begin your fasting. Research suggests that fasting in the evening and overnight, then eating early in the morning is the better way to follow this diet to lose weight.
The study also suggests that skipping breakfast or dinner might help people lose weight, since they burned more calories on those days. Yet she says that the elevated levels of inflammation noted after lunch “could be a problem,” and adds that the finding warrants further research.
You should eat within the first hour of waking to get your body primed for a successful day. Between 6 and 10 a.m. would be the ideal time to take this first meal, mainly so that you set yourself up for a second meal a few hours later. What you eat at breakfast has a large impact on the rest of the day.
Ideally, the recommendation is to put some food in your belly within two hours of getting up for the day. Finding that time to eat, however, seems to be an issue for some. Many of the 25% of Americans who skip breakfast say they just can't fit the meal into their morning schedule.
Ideally the gap between breakfast and dinner should be 12 hours. Therefore, even if you are waking up at 6 am in the morning, make sure the breakfast is taken only after you complete 12 hours of fasting from last night's dinner.
"Across all peer-reviewed research and health practices, three meals a day is a general recommendation to encourage consistent, adequate energy intake," Miluk said.
For most people, leaving three to five hours between meals will give your gut enough time to reset, which can help with digestion. Eating plenty of protein, fiber, and fat at each meal will go a long way in making your food more satisfying so you aren't constantly on the search for a snack.
"For weight management, it is important to keep the metabolism in equilibrium. Eating every 2-3 hours maintains body processes and metabolism remains intact," she says. This kind of eating pattern, she says, can also be beneficial for people on a weight loss plan or those with diabetes.
In most cases, eating breakfast is better than not eating it. If you're at a healthy weight, have steady energy levels, and don't currently eat breakfast, it may not be essential that you start.
Try to include proteins from foods like yogurts (look for varieties with less sugar added), eggs, nuts and seeds or legumes. Also try to include complex carbohydrates such as whole fruits and vegetables, and whole grains (i.e. oatmeal) that provide fiber and will help you feel full longer.
For those of you who don't know what the 5 AM Club is, it's a concept popularised by Robin Sharma where you get up at 5 am in the morning to complete a set of 20/20/20s – 20 minutes in intense exercise, 20 minutes reflecting on your goals and 20 minutes learning a new skill.
If you wake up early feeling alert, should you just get up? It depends how early it is. If it is 3am, you should do your best to get back to sleep because if you don't, you're likely to feel tired and irritable later.