If supporting your metabolism is your ultimate goal, it’s important to not only eat a well-balanced diet, drink lots of water and exercise regularly, but also to know what foods to limit (and ultimately avoid) for healthier digestion and preventing weight gain. With that said, many of us reach for breakfast pastries first thing in the morning to start our day out with a convenient treat. While this might be okay once and a while, health experts we spoke with warn that denying yourself a healthier breakfast can lead to an energy crash later on, among other negative effects. Read on for tips from David Brendan, registered dietitian and nutritionist, Alisha Temples, licensed nutritionist, and Dr. Virginia Blackwell, health and nutrition expert.
Why It’s Best To Skip Donuts In The Morning For a Faster Metabolism
While your metabolism can’t be *sped up* instantly, you can still take steps to promote healthy digestion, and one of those could include refraining from donuts for breakfast (however tempting and delicious they may be).
Donuts, Blackwell says, often contain high amounts of sugar, fats, and calories which are the major risk factors for gaining weight. “Fats advocate the brain reward system, stimulating a craving for an immoderate amount of calories, which then determines weight gain,” she explains. “The high amounts of sugar contained in donuts may make your body pump out loads of insulin to try to accommodate.”
“An immense blood sugar spike may lead to an even bigger sugar crash,” she continues. This up and down may leave you hungry faster after your breakfast, therefore you'll crave more refined carbs, she notes. Additionally, Blackwell adds, “if you take excess calories contained in donuts, they may be stored as fats in your body and this may lead to being overweight, especially in those who are physically inactive.”
Carbohydrates (found in donuts) are the worst offenders for spiking insulin, Brendan says, and spiking insulin too early in the morning (while cortisol is high) leads to fat storage. “One donut has around 250 calories. That is 1/8 of the calories consumed each day by a rather sedentary woman and 1/10 of the calories consumed by a rather sedentary man,” he says.
Ultimately, It is best to limit donuts when trying to lose weight, prevent gaining weight, or to best support a healthy metabolism, as Temples says. “They are very calorie-dense, stemming from the combination of white flour, sugar and shortening in the dough and oil used for deep frying.” Rather than eating them for breakfast, Temples concludes, “they are best reserved for an occasional treat.”
