Breakfast is, as they say, the most important meal of the day, provided you eat something healthy.

Unhealthy breakfast, on the other hand, can be far worse than skipping breakfast. An unhealthy breakfast can cause weight gain, make you lazy and sluggish, and increase the risk of heart disease.

Here are the 5 worst breakfast foods you need to stop eating immediately.

5 Breakfast Foods You Need to Stop Eating

1) Pancakes and Waffles

Pancakes and waffles are popular breakfast choices across the world. Although they have higher protein content than some of the other breakfast items, pancakes and waffles are very high in refined flour.

Research indicates that refined flour such as wheat flour causes obesity, inflammation, and insulin resistance.

To make it worse, pancakes and waffles are often paired with pancake syrups which contain high-fructose corn syrup. Research indicates that high fructose corn syrup can be as bad as sugar in terms of negative health effects.

Eating excess amount of high-fructose corn syrup can cause weight gain, type 2 diabetes, and increase risk of heart disease. So avoid these unhealthy breakfast foods at all costs.