[Political Interest]

We have been told by experts that eating breakfast is essential and that it is the "most important meal of the day". There also seems to be the insinuation that skipping breakfast is some sort of major health risk.

Is there any truth to these ideas? When I eat breakfast I feel uncomfortable and bloated. In the early hours of the morning eating is the last thing I feel like doing. Yet I see commuters on the train eating their breakfasts on the train. Many of them also look slightly overweight.

Many overweight people I have met always ate three meals a day, including breakfast.

Is breakfast truly essential and why do people say it is more important than lunch or dinner?

[Heisenberg]

No, there's not really any truth to it. Recent studies have shown there's nothing especially important about breakfast.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/05/13/477794736/breakfast-blowback-maybe-skipping-the-morning-meal-isnt-so-bad

[quetzalcoatl]

It's better (for metabolic reasons) to spread your day's calories over a number of smaller meals, rather than concentrating them in one or two meals + snacks. Avoid a large insulin dump - stick mostly to complex carbs, protein, and healthy fats. Avoid big meals in favor of more smaller ones.

Breakfast is good, but make it eggs and oatmeal instead of toast or sweets.

NIH study shows how insulin stimulates fat cells to take in glucose

There is growing evidence that repeated large insulin dumps over time plays as role in developing insulin resistance, and a host of other related health issues.

[ThirdTerm]

A lot of poor schoolchildren cannot afford to have breakfast and they cannot focus in school, thus getting bad grades. Eating breakfast gives you the energy to take on hard tasks in the morning. But if you're an obese adult, skipping breakfast would do no harm to your health.

[LV-GUCCI-PRADA-FLEX]

@quetzalcoatl

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educati ... alance.htm

Energy in > energy out = weight gain

Energy in = energy out = weight maintenance

Energy in < energy out = weight loss

Live by these rules and whatever of those three goals you have should be a piece of cake. No, breakfast is not important at all. I rarely eat breakfast and I am fine. I get a lot of comments about it that say about what you said but I just don't see that there has ever been any evidence for that. The first law of thermodynamics has always sufficed for me.

[The Sabbaticus]

When you don't eat breakfast your body goes into starvation mode, which disrupts your metabolism and increases the absorption rates of nutrients, which are more readily transformed into fat. You will also feel less sated by your next meal, making you consume more. At least that was the theory.

[LV-GUCCI-PRADA-FLEX]

Yeah but that is no longer being accepted by nutritionists or the nutrition conscious community at large. The only problem would come if your diet is not balanced and you need to take supplements in order to make up for the balance. EG: you are a vegan and need to take a b12 supplement, you should take that with a small portion of food so that it can be absorbed properly. If you are an omnivore that eats plenty of vegetables (you should be doing this anyway) and some occasional fruit you should have the proper balance anyway. If you're unsure, consult a physician, because the only way to know if you have a deficiency is a blood test.

As far as the metabolism reduction thing, as far as I can tell that is nit correct. The only way to gain weight is calories in being greater than calories out. The people that seem to have "great" metabolisms tend to overstate how much they eat and confuse eating junk foods for high calorie intakes. Many of them tend to be on the taller side as well, which means that they will have a much larger caloric need in the first place. A physically active tall person could eat 2500+ calories in a day and lose weight, even.

[quetzalcoatl]

@quetzalcoatl

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educati ... alance.htm

Energy in > energy out = weight gain

Energy in = energy out = weight maintenance

Energy in < energy out = weight loss

Live by these rules and whatever of those three goals you have should be a piece of cake. No, breakfast is not important at all. I rarely eat breakfast and I am fine. I get a lot of comments about it that say about what you said but I just don't see that there has ever been any evidence for that. The first law of thermodynamics has always sufficed for me.

Indeed, thermodynamics will be the bottom line. Your energy out term will depend on two factors: your basal metabolism and your daily activity level. And there is indeed evidence that punctuated high insulin dumps are dangerous over time. Not just for weight gain, but for other associated problems as well.

There is also good evidence that long-term dieting down-regulates metabolism, and that this down-regulation is long lasting. This requires an almost superhuman effort of will to maintain a constant weight for these unfortunate individuals (which is why people who lose weight nearly always gain it back). Can this be combatted? Yes, but it is very difficult, and is very far from being as simple as a naive interpretation of your thermodynamic terms would suggest.

[LV-GUCCI-PRADA-FLEX]

I completely disagree. I had been using intermittent fasting for the better part of two years now. I switched back to a more balanced diet because I achieved my weight loss goals. Still at the 2000 calorie limit recommended for people my size who are moderately active and want to maintain weight.

Though I am not one to disagree with science so I would like to see whatever evidence you are referring to.

[quetzalcoatl]

I completely disagree. I had been using intermittent fasting for the better part of two years now. I switched back to a more balanced diet because I achieved my weight loss goals. Still at the 2000 calorie limit recommended for people my size who are moderately active and want to maintain weight.

Though I am not one to disagree with science so I would like to see whatever evidence you are referring to.

First, I'd like to distinguish between IF (which is an an effective tool) and long-term episodic dieting. The latter is pandemic in the West and has long-term negative consequences. According to this study by the NIH, metabolic changes persisted for years after weight loss, and tended to persist until weight returned to its initial starting point.

[jaydedjen110]

I try to eat breakfast every morning, but there's times when I'm either not in the mood to eat or actually forget to eat. I have depression so there are days where I just don't want to do anything but sleep, and eating breakfast gets pushed aside. I've had to force myself to get up and make myself a sandwich because my blood sugar was getting low and I needed to take my medication and my insulin.