Is breakfast 'the most important meal of the day' or is this another myth? page

[jonnyhollis]

Breakfast and its importance. I've had it drummed into me all my life. Apparently it speeds up your metabolism, whatever that means. 'It's the most important meal of the day'. It helps you to stay slim. It gives you the energy you need to think before lunch.

All the above is quoted blindly by virtually everybody without referencing any facts or actual science. It might be true, I really don't know and I wondered if anybody has knowledge on the subject?

I'm also curious about what 'speeding up' or 'kick starting' your metabolism' actually means. Is your metabolism like a big machine that has an on switch and a speed control? It just doesn’t make sense to me. To me, metabolism is to do with your bodies work rate. It speeds up when I run down the road, slows down when I go to bed. It goes at a rate that’s matched by physical activity. If we’re talking about digestion, then that just depends on the food I’ve put in it and the type, surely? Fats, protein or carbs. If it is to do with these things, then needing to have it working doesn’t make any sense. Why is it better to be digesting food, than not? Or having an elevated heart rate, than not? Or, if it’s none of those, what’s the benefit of having a metabolism that’s been kick started or speeded up?

Personally, I eat when I'm hungry and that's never first thing in a morning. That's probably because I generally go to bed on some kind of coconut milk smoothie, with about 20 - 30 gram of fat in it. I do this because it's nice and it prevents me from bingeing on carbs in the hours of darkness. It also means I wake up without hunger.

Maybe I should force down that breakfast, instead of the coffee because it is ‘the most important meal of the day’. But that just sounds like marketing to me. I have Googled this to some extent and I’m just seeing the usual rhetoric with absolutely zero science.

[Annieh]

I also have had it drummed into me that breakfast is the most important meal.

In practice, I have found it to be mainly true in that if I eat a good, hearty but low-carb breakfast (omelette, bacon, veges...) not only does it keep me going till lunch with no need to snack but also I find it easier to eat well (ie primal) the rest of the day.

Usually I do actually feel hungry for breakfast about an hour or so after I wake up and have had a couple of cups of tea. Very occasionally I don't feel hungry and just forget to have it.

On the other hand if I were to start the day with toast and jam or cereal and fruit, I would be hungry again and grabbing yet more carbs within a couple of hours at most. So from that point of view I think yes what you have for breakfast is very important, when you have it possibly less so.

[Knifegill]

No, it's stupid. If you aren't hungry, don't eat. Many of us around here only eat once a day, and it's usually not breakfast.

[Annieh]

but whenever you have that meal it is your breakfast because you are breaking your fast. It would still be important that it be a healthy primal meal.

[jonnyhollis]

Yeah, I'm of the opinion that your body speaks true words and people say what they like. So I'm currently listening to my body. I get hungry, usually about 2 or 3 hours after I've got up and then I eat a mssive omellette that takes care of business.

But I would like to know what people mean when they constantly refer to 'metabolism', especially in the context of breakfast.

[Drumroll]

Let's break up the word.

"Break" and "fast."

Looking at it from that perspective, I'd say breaking the fast is the most important meal, yes. But nobody said you had to do that in the morning.

[jonnyhollis]

Looking at it from that perspective, I'd say breaking the fast is the most important meal, yes. But nobody said you had to do that in the morning.

That's the thing, most people do say that breakfast should be eaten first thing in the morning and they're quite militant about it. I don't agree. Eat when you're hungry. Simple but I am curious to know whether 'most people' are wrong or not and why, and 'most people' includes health professionals and doctors.

[Drumroll]

Hell, yesterday I didn't eat until 11:30 PM. I'm pretty much a one meal a day folk who tries to get in his calories in one meal slowly eaten over two to three hours.

[Tribal Rob]

Eat WHEN When Hunger Ensues Naturally. If that's first thing fine, if not, fine. Personally I like a coffee or two then I'm good for at leat 3 more hours, and I find it easier to get on whith stuff without the hassel of making a meal.

[Damiana]

CW myth. Eat when you're hungry. Hell, don't eat when you're hungry and fast for a bit. It's good for what ails ye. I can't remember the last time I ate breakfast. Probably 6-7 years ago. I'm not kidding