While most people begin their day with something nutritious and filling, the holiday season can make you want to devour a piece of cake or even an apple pie first thing in the morning. This is probably why Malaika Arora was recently in a dilemma — whether (or not) to indulge in apple pie for breakfast. In an Instagram Stories post, the 49-year-old shared a picture of the delicious dessert that she captioned, “apple pie for brekkie?”
We are not sure if she gave into the decadent indulgence, but here’s a guide to help you out this holiday season when you are most likely to be surrounded by all things delectable, sweet and nice, making it impossible to stay away, especially if you have a sweet tooth.
Malaika Arora posted a picture of apple pie (Source: Malaika Arora/Instagram Stories)
Experts urge that while one should not skip breakfast, “empty calories in the morning” should also not be consumed. Rashi Chahal, dietitian, Rosewalk Hospital said that one should pick proteins that will help keep you satiated for a longer time. “It helps to burn fat faster, which gives you more energy during the lean period of the day when you have cravings,” Chahal told indianexpress.com.
As such, if you have an apple pie, it will most likely leave you feeling hungry later as sugar leads to a surge at the very beginning which eventually dips. “Empty calories like maida, that are high on carbs, will end up making you feel hungry every now and then, throughout the day. Since the gut is reset in the morning, too much dopamine at that moment can impact your hormones. This leads to too many cravings. The concentration level also starts dipping,” explained Chahal.
Notably, apple pies don’t have a protein-rich ingredient unless made healthily. Made out of apples, cinnamon, lots of butter, and maida, all of which are “high in carbs”, these may not be the best option to start your day with, Chahal said. “While you may be able to get micronutrients out of apples and raisins, you may not be getting any quality proteins. Not the best thing to start your day with,” she noted.
While according to Ayurveda researchers, your meal should include something sweet in the beginning (sweet food stimulates quicker secretion of saliva as the taste buds can immediately sense it and gives a good flow to the digestive juices), registered dietitian Garima Goyal said sweet, as per Ayurveda, is naturally sweet foods like dates, or honey. “But if something is made with refined sugars, it won’t give any advantage whether eaten pre-or post meals. It is just a source of empty calories or lot of calories with minimum nutritional advantage. Body stores all the calories as fat, thereby causing weight gain. So if you are craving something sweet, either have it as a meal itself or consume before your workout and burn it all,” Goyal told indianexpress.com.
So, are desserts an absolute no when it comes to breakfast?
Eating a dessert in the morning means having lots of carbohydrates in the form of sugar and fat. “Fat is processed in the liver. Some of it is immediately used as fuel and rest is stored in muscles and fat cells throughout the body. This causes weight gain, particularly abdominal obesity. Also, any dessert contains lot of carbohydrates usually in the form of sugar, milk sugar or maida etc. The enzymatic digestion of carbohydrates begins from the saliva and ends in the intestine. Body needs sugars as glucose, but too much is toxic,” Goyal said.
She noted that the rise in blood sugar levels caused by carbohydrates is balanced by insulin secreted by the pancreas. The extra carbohydrates gets converted to fats in the liver. “So the main disadvantage of having a dessert in the morning is not just extra calories, but loading your liver and pancreas way more than they can handle. The spikes in insulin levels earlier in the day makes a body crave more for carbohydrate-rich comfort foods,” Goyal added.
So, to answer the question, it is not a good suggestion to have dessert in the morning as it disturbs the body’s balance of hormones, digestion and metabolism.
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