I ate breakfast this morning. I did it because I was hungry, and when I’m hungry, I eat.
Conversely, when I’m not hungry, I do not eat. And, generally, I am not hungry around breakfast time.
But, but … isn’t breakfast the most important meal of the day?
Well, we’ve already discussed which meal is most important, but, suffice to say, I don’t think it’s breakfast.
But, but … doesn’t your body need to replenish itself from not having eaten for so long?
I’m guessing “no”, because if my body needed to replenish itself, wouldn’t it create a hunger sensation? I don’t usually feel hungry in the morning, so ….
Look, all I’m asking is this: If I’m not hungry, why should I force myself to eat?
Sure, I’ve read a books about nutrient timing, have seen folks I respect advocating lots of small meals throughout the day, others telling me I should never skip breakfast. I get it, and, quite honestly, I think much of it makes sense.
But the gains to be had by adhering to such rigid restrictions are small. Much — if not all — of the research on nutrient timing is conducted on athletes, bodybuilders, powerlifters. I’m just a regular guy.
There has been a lot of research into the hazards of skipping breakfast, and there are all kinds of hypotheses out there. My favorite is that my body goes into starvation mode until I eat breakfast. Wow, my body is putting itself on deathwatch after not having eaten in 12 hours? Really? And here I am not even feeling hungry.
Other breakfast advocates claim that if I don’t eat breakfast, I’ll be more inclined to grab a snack at 10am. What’s wrong with that? Or maybe skipping breakfast will cause me to eat more at lunch. Well, I did skip breakfast, so if I grab a few extra calories at lunch….
Then there are the ideas that breakfast jumpstarts your metabolism, helps you think better, gives you energy. All those may be true, but only marginally.
It’s like when Cheerios claimed that it could “lower your cholesterol 4% in 6 weeks.” First of all: Sure it can, if it helps you lose weight by reducing your caloric intake. So can any food, properly consumed. But, more importantly: So what? 4%? Really? So that will take your high cholesterol from 350 to 336. Marginal improvement at best. If you were to do a round of Insanity or the first 6 weeks of P90X while switching to a high protein diet, you’d do much better than that after 6 weeks, I will guarantee you that.
So, here’s the deal, why breakfast usually doesn’t work for me:
1) I’m just not hungry in the morning
2) I usually work out in the morning, and I don’t like to have to wait for my food to settle
3) I have other things to do in the morning besides eat breakfast
4) I have a rule of thumb for life: If everyone believes that something debatable is true, then it’s probably not true, or, at the very least, it deserves a high amount of scrutiny.
Bottom line is that I’m not going to force myself to eat breakfast if I’m not hungry at breakfast time and it doesn’t fit into my schedule. Anyway, I wonder how many of those breakfast studies are funded by Quaker, Kellogg, and General Mills?
I’m not saying you shouldn’t eat breakfast. If you’re hungry, eat away! Just don’t try to force that food down my throat.