I'm writing a speech on breakfast and I want to get some input. I know studies correlate good health with people who eat breakfast regularly and that people who don't eat breakfast are more likely to be obese. I also know people think breakfast is important for keeping the metabolism up.
What other ideas do people commonly hold about the importantance of eating breakfast especially in the context of losing or maintaining weight.
'Supposedly' you eat less later in the day if you eat breakfast.
I'm not sure that's true in my case though.
The easiest way that I ever lost weight was following the Fast-5 approach in which I did not eat breakfast. As soon as I lost the weight that I wanted to, I slipped back in to eating breakfast and I've gained back half of the weight. That's just my experience though.
I snack mid morning if I skip breakfast. I've gotten into the habit of having something in the morning. I keep plain unflavored oatmeal in my desk at work and have 1 packet of it on the mornings that I'm here. Otherwise, I'm gnawing on my arm and snapping at people.
I have a light breakfast #1 to fuel my morning workouts. It gives me more energy to do my best in class...to be sharp...to go just a little harder. When I oversleep and run out the door for class, I am so much less engaged in the movements and activity. I am fighting to make it to the end. I hate that. I will get up at 4 am to have BF #1 before a 5:30 class so I don't have to fight the fog and fatigue.
When I return from the gym (mid morning), I have light breakfast #2 to help with muscle recovery.
In my uninformed younger days, I would think that skipping breakfast gave me a one-up on my diet because I didn't consume the calories so I could have them later for dinner. Or that having breakfast just made me more hungry during the day. It was the type of food (fruit juice, sugary cereal and skim milk) I was consuming that made me hungry.
I know studies correlate good health with people who eat breakfast regularly and that people who don't eat breakfast are more likely to be obese.
is it because the people who eat breakfast regularly are the same people who've heard that "breakfast is the most important meal of the day" and are therefore health-conscious to begin with?
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I also know people think breakfast is important for keeping the metabolism up.
the idea is that your body needs something to "jolt" it after several hours of sleep, but as far as metabolism goes i don't think it makes that much difference.
I eat a big 300-400 calorie breakfast every day. If I don't, I feel light-headed and sick before lunch. It makes me feel more full all day and gives me the energy to increase my physical activity during the day. I have also read that eating breakfast jump starts your metabolism for the day.
I know it makes me fee better and from what I've read, it's helpful for weightloss, so I don't see any reason not to.
I was a latch key kid who wanted to sleep as long as possible before the final moment of having to get up and get ready for the day which meant skiping breakfast on school days (I still managed to get a' & b's)...have continued the trend until recently...on the weekends we have always ate breakfast but it's more at "brunch" time and a cup of coffee was breakfast...the last few weeks I have made a shake in the blender...I have more energy, am more focused and more awake faster and I am not starving and craving a snack before lunch
As far as I know, it helps stabilize blood sugars and prevents the body from breaking down muscle to use as energy. Perhaps that's why it's good for metabolism?
DisgruntledOne was correct. Studies do show that children who have breakfasts perform better during testing. Something about the brain needing the carbs and fats to function...
Thank you for the input. To be clear - I'm not looking for actual reasons to eat breakfast just commonly held beliefs about why breakfast is important.
I myself haven't eaten "breakfast" in over a year. My first meal typcially happens around 1-2 PM.
Coffee is always my breakfast. I can't help it. Unless I wake up hungry, I just can't stand to eat. Technically, I could say I have milk for breakfast.
I think we have more reasons "why" in this day and age b/c it's been researched but it was just good sense in yesteryear. In yesteryear people worked harder and needed more substantial meals. According to my Gpa, they took biscuits to school for lunch so I am sure breakfast would be the most important meal of the day as the next really substantial meal would be dinner. If you didn't get a good breakfast in, it was going to be a really long day.
I believe breakfast is important because on the National Weight Control Registry, 3/4 of long term maintainers in the study participant group ate breakfast daily. That sort of empirical evidence about what people who successfully maintain weight do guides a lot of my maintenance choices (daily weighing, eating breakfast, daily exercise). I don't worry much about *why* that's the case, just that this group of successful weight losers/maintainers undertake a particular behavior. It's not necessarily causative, but since eating breakfast causes me no harm, I'm fine with making that decision based on correlation only.
Last edited by mandalinn82; 03-04-2011 at 01:03 PM.
Breakfast is important because of it's namesake. It "breaks" your "fast" from the 8-12 hours of food you didn't eat while you were winding down and sleeping.
The sooner you eat your breakfast the sooner your body and mind start running at full capacity
Why is breakfast important?
Or that having breakfast just made me more hungry during the day. It was the type of food (fruit juice, sugary cereal and skim milk) I was consuming that made me hungry. 
