We’ve long been told that ‘breakfast is the most important meal of the day’. Eating breakfast is essential, it’s non-negotiable. Breakfast makes you healthy and you’ll get fat and be unhappy if you don’t have it. But is all that really true?
Now I love breakfast. I Always have. As sad as it may sound I often go to sleep thinking about what toppings I can have on my oats the next day and wake up hungry, exited to make my food. Other days I’m not so hungry. When I wake up very early I know I won’t want food straight away so wait a few hours before eating.
So let’s discuss. Is breakfast really the most important meal? Will anything terrible happen if you don’t eat it?
What is breakfast? Time of day and food choices
Disclaimer- Feel free to skip this random bit of rambling. The real discussion starts below.
Not the most reliable of sources but wiki defines breakfast as the first meal of a day. ‘The word in English refers to breaking the fasting period of the previous night’. With that said shouldn’t it reason that everyone has breakfast, just at different times? When’s your first meal? 6am? 8am? 9am? 12pm? Do you class that as your breakfast? Or does that all depend on what you eat?
Pancakes , oats, waffles, cereal, eggs. There’s no rule that these are breakfast foods but we have given them that role. Your first meal could be a sandwich, a burger or a salad but that’s still ‘breaking your fast’ so could technically be considered your breakfast?
All besides the point but welcome to my weird mind. These are the type of things I deeply consider.
The benefits of eating earlier
There are certainly some benefits of eating without a few hours of waking up
- It can curb or control later morning cravings that might lead to a hand or two in the cookie jar. When you eat soon after waking up you’re replenishing your body’s low blood sugar levels.
- It can improve your performance and concentration. If you workout in the morning giving your body fuel to run on can lead to a stronger and more energised gym session. If you’re working or studying, that fuel is also going to your brain to help you feel alert and productive.
- Picking a healthy choice early on can help you make better choices the rest of the day and is an easy place to add some nutrient dense foods.
What it’s not doing?
- Boosting your metabolism. I’m sorry to say it but your metabolism isn’t controlled by when you eat. Metabolism is the process of digesting foods so that your body can use the energy they contain. Sure when we eat the body has to process the food so there is an increase in the amount of energy he body burns. That increase is however so small it’s truly insignificant.
- Skipping breakfast makes you fat. When it comes to weight loss and weight gain calories in vs calories out is what matters. Do not over complicate it. The idea is that eating a healthy breakfast can reduce hunger throughout the day and help you make better food choices at other meals. It might also be that skipping it makes you more hungry so want to eat more later. In the end, any weight gain isn’t because you didn’t eat breakfast it’s because you ate too much once the day was over.
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At the end of the day, breakfast is optional, and it all comes down to personal preference.
If you feel hungry in the morning and you like breakfast, go ahead and eat a healthy, balanced breakfast. Try to include some protein and fibre to keep you full.
If you don’t wake up hungry but know skipping breakfast entirely will likely cause you to snack later on/ or make less than ideal choices make a breakfast to take on the go. Overnight oats is a personal favourite so take a look at my recipe and give it a go.
If you just don’t feel hungry in the morning and can get going and keep going without belly rumbles, bad moods and cravings then don’t force yourself to eat. It’s as simple as that.
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Are you someone who can’t function without fuel first thing in the morning? Or do you not really feel a need or simply prefer to eat later on in the day?
