An American epidemiologist shares the composition of her ideal breakfast to avoid blood sugar peaks.
We have often heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. However, faced with pastries, industrial juice or ultra-succured cereals, many find themselves trapped by a rapid contribution in sugars which causes a peak of blood sugar followed by a stroke of fatigue barely an hour later. According to specialists, the whole challenge is to balance your plate to maintain stable energy until lunch.
This is precisely what Elizabeth Platz, Cancer epidemiologist and professor at Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center Cancer Center de Johns Hopkins recalls. In an interview with Today, It explains the importance of composing a breakfast that associates carbohydrates, fibers, proteins and healthy fats, in order to avoid the glycemic roller coaster which, in the long run, can promote risks of prediabetes, even cancer.
The secret of a simple and effective ritual
Elizabeth Platz admits immediately: she varies very little about her breakfast. “I eat the same breakfast almost every day”she says. Its favorite menu? “”Two fine slices of wholemeal bread with peanut butter. ” A personal touch completes the recipe: “With a thin layer of butter between toast and peanut butter. My mother has always done that, and it adds a little something”she says.
To accompany her sandwiches, the researcher systematically adds a seasonal fruit. In summer, they are often peaches or nectarines, gathered on the market by her husband. This wholemeal bread duo + fruit brings complex fibers and carbohydrates, while peanut butter provides insaturated proteins and fats, promoting more progressive release of blood sugar.
“Even if the peanut butter that I eat contains a lot of fats, the increase in blood sugar is slower and the decline is too”, Specifies Platz. Result: an energy that lasts and an appetite controlled until the next meal.
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Blood sugar: why this choice makes the difference
If Elizabeth Platz is particularly vigilant on her plate, it is because her research field sensitizes directly to the links between food, blood sugar and health. It recalls that a chronic excess of blood sugar can be associated with increased risks of metabolic diseases and certain cancers. For her, breakfast is therefore a strategic moment to install a protective routine.
His example illustrates a simple rule: do not banish carbohydrates, but balance them with healthy fibers, proteins and fats. Farmented bread, fresh fruit and oilseeds are excellent allies. And for those who do not like peanut butter, there are equally effective alternatives such as Greek yogurt, grass cottage cheese or avocado on wholemeal bread.
Clearly, finding “sound” ideal breakfast, as Elizabeth Platz did, not only allows you to lunch without a cravings, but also to protect your health in the long term. A simple, accessible, and above all effective ritual.
