Photo courtesy of www. flickr.com/photos/coastranger/371063317/
At the turn of the 20th century, Edward Bernay, Sigmund Freud's nephew, a public-relations pioneer, used his uncle's theories of people's unconscious, psychological motivations and applied them to the newly developed field of public relations. 

At the time, a new food product was introduced to the American public; bacon.  At the turn of the 20th century, most people ate a light breakfast of coffee, juice and toast or a roll of some sort.  The introduction of bacon coupled with eggs as advertised as the new breakfast food did not go over well with the public.  A long history of eating light in the morning held strong. The Beech-Nuttagum Packing Company saw great financial losses due to bacon not selling well.  They needed help! What to do?  Who could they hire to save them?

Enter Edward Bernay.  Using his uncles ideas, he went out and asked a medical doctor some questions about food and energy.  The questions were simple and looked a bit like this:

1. Does the human body expend energy in the night during sleep?
2. Does the human body need energy during the day to complete day-to-day tasks, labor, etc.?
2. Would it make sense to eat a hearty breakfast as opposed to a light breakfast in order to provide the body with energy?

These simple sounding questions made it seem that a heartier breakfast would benefit the American public more than a light one.  Edward Bernay asked that doctor if he would be willing to write to 5,000 doctors asking if they agreed with his opinions.  4,500 doctors agreed.  This information went out to the public via the newspapers, that 4,500 doctors agreed a hearty breakfast would provide the energy needed to sustain activity.  In the article it was mentioned that bacon and eggs be a part of that hearty breakfast.  Bacon sales went up, saving the Beech-Nuttagum Packing Company from it's financial woes due to the poorly introduced product; bacon. 

Very interesting.  Although food can provide energy, it also takes energy to digest food.  So the question of when to eat a large meal is a good one!

Many advocates of a light breakfast find that allowing the body to remain in the "fasting" stage from the nights rest  well into the late morning or lunch-time allows the mind to use more energy for thought processes rather than bodily processes such as digestion.  For myself, I find this to be very true.  When I eat a cooked breakfast, for example steel-cut oats with dates and pecans, tea, and juice, I feel tired and a bit bloated after eating. 

The combination of the oats, fruit, nuts and fruit juice fills my belly with conflicting enzymatic needs for digestion.  Acidic enzymes and alkaline enzymes come into play and slow each other down as they are both present in the gut.  This diluted concoction in my belly slows down so much the the fruit begins to ferment in the belly and creating a slower elimination time.  All the fermenting brings about gasses that cause me to feel bloated and uncomfortable. (So this also brings into the picture the idea of food combining.  We'll go into that a little later.  Do not fear, it is easy-peasy :)

On the other hand, when I wake up, hydrate with water and lemon juice, then wait until I actually begin to feel hungry, then have a green smoothie or other smoothie. I can go all morning with high energy and stable mood. The blending in the high speed blender breaks down the fruit and green, leafy veggies on a cellular level even BEFORE entering my mouth; My body has an extrememly easy job of taking out the necessary nutrients to fuel my bodily functions while using the left over energy for other things! (like yoga, office work, higher math!!! :)

Try it out in the next few days.  Eat a large breakfast one day and see how you function and feel until lunch. Then on the next day, eat a blended green smoothie and see what happens until lunch.  Guaronteed you will be more action-oriented and stable in mood.

In Peace (and in drinking your greens),
Kirsten

photo courtesy of www.queenofkaos.com