Skipping Breakfast: Is It Bad For You?

We have all grown up listening that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, you should not skip your breakfast, breakfast like a king..blah blah blah. But is breakfast really the most important meal of the day.

I wouldn't have given this a second thought until the whole “Intermittent Fasting” buzz started. For those who are not aware, intermittent fasting is the new fad in the diet and weight loss industry. Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern which includes periods of eating and fasting, these periods of fasting may vary giving rise to different types of intermittent fasting.

Now, why this skipping or not skipping breakfast debate is gaining popularity is because most people who practice intermittent fasting skip breakfast to maintain 12 or 16 hours fast (count the hours from dinner yesterday).

This is just the opposite of what we have grown up learning and what science has been saying. There are various doctors and nutritionists who claim that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Breakfast has been linked to improving your cardiovascular as well as overall health and a better cognitive ability.

But the fact is intermittent fasting or skipping breakfast is making people actually lose weight and in fact, improving their health as well. There is considerable proof of that!!! Various studies have come up stating the benefits of skipping breakfast.

So, whom should we believe? I want to believe my mother who has been after me my entire life, literally forcing me to eat my breakfast but I doubt even she knows why or why not breakfast is important?

History Of Breakfast

In Medieval Europe, breakfast was not considered a necessary and important meal. In fact, there was no concept of Breakfast only two meals were eaten in a day— lunch and dinner.

Catholics criticised breakfast and anyone other than children, sick, elderly or labourer would not even talk about eating early in the morning. Breakfast, which is now almost mandatory in every home was once considered a symbol of poverty or low status.

Breakfast gained popularity in the 16th century as a side-effect of the concept of employment. As more and more people started working under an employer, they lost control of time and had to work for long and uninterrupted hours. A heavy breakfast thus ensured that they had the energy to sustain through the long working hours.

Also Read: 17 Foods To Reduce Bloating

What Do The Studies say About Breakfast?

During my “ quest for the truth ”, surprisingly I did not come across many studies that say breakfast is the most important meal of the day or it kick-starts our metabolism that most of us believe undoubtedly.

I did come across many studies which indicated that people who do not skip breakfast are generally healthier than people who do. One such study was conducted by The University of Bath.

The study was conducted over a period of three years and had people aged 21 to 60 years. The study shows that people who eat breakfast tend to use more energy during daily physical activities. However contrary to popular belief skipping breakfast does not result in larger portion sizes or more snacking during the day. In fact, skipping breakfast resulted in 20% less energy consumption and there was no effect of skipping breakfast on our cardiovascular health.

Dr. James Bett, the Principal Investigator of the study says that “The belief that breakfast is ‘the most important meal of the day’ is so widespread that many people are surprised to learn that there is a lack of scientific evidence showing whether or how breakfast may directly cause changes in our health. It is certainly true that people who regularly eat breakfast tend to be slimmer and healthier but these individuals also typically follow most other recommendations for a healthy lifestyle, so have more balanced diets and take more physical exercise. Our randomised controlled trial allowed us to find out whether breakfast is a cause, an effect or simply a marker of good health.”

Another 2014 study, also states that skipping breakfast results in a reduction in overall energy consumption. The study claims that daily energy and fat intakes were reduced by 400 kcal by skipping breakfast compared to those eating breakfast. Skipping breakfast also did not affect the resting metabolic level.

Why skipping breakfast works is because one of the effects of intermittent fasting is intermittent ketosis which suppresses hunger and reduces overall calorie consumed. Thus, skipping breakfast may be more beneficial than the conventional calorie restricting diet.

The study also says that skipping breakfast could be as beneficial as excluding late night eating, and overnight fasting is important.

Maybe it does not matter whether you skip the first or the last meal as long as the interval between two meals is long enough to allow ketosis to take place. (1)

Also Read: How To Eat Healthy Even At Parties

Breakfast Is Still In

The people at The University Of Bath are really pro-breakfast. Now, they have come up with one more study in 2018 claiming that eating breakfast burns more carbs during exercise and accelerates our metabolism for the next meal.

The study says that eating breakfast prepares you to burn more carbs during exercise and increases the rate of digestion as well as metabolises food even after exercising. Eating breakfast primes our body to store more nutrition during the day.

What Is My Take: Skip Or Eat Breakfast

Many pieces of research say that eating breakfast is dangerous it disrupts your circadian rhythm as in the morning your cortisol levels are already high, you may become insulin resistant and even develop type-2 diabetes. Then there are researches that claim just the opposite that not eating breakfast is absolutely disastrous.

One study even claims that breakfast plays no role at all. The study on 52 obese women who took part in a 12-week weight loss programme, had the same number of calories throughout the day, but half of them had breakfast, while the other half did not.

The study found it wasn’t breakfast but a change in their normal routine that made them lose weight. The women who usually ate breakfast lost 8.9kg when they stopped having breakfast, compared to 6.2kg in the breakfast group. Meanwhile, those who usually skipped breakfast lost 7.7kg when they started eating it – and 6kg when they continued to skip it.

By this point, It is still not clear whether we need to eat or not in the morning. The fact is no one is sure, giving results based on a few people or even rodents and then generalising it for the entire population just does not seem so convincing.

Also Read: Top 12 Benefits Of Cooking Your Meals At Home

My Approach

Although there is no conclusion about whether to skip or eat breakfast. What I suggest is you should understand your body yourself and not through some study based on some random people.

If you eat late at night you might not feel like eating till late in the morning and if that works for you, go ahead. Although it’s better to switch to eating breakfast because even though the breakfast controversy is yet to be solved, there is absolutely no doubt that eating late is linked to high obesity and poor health. (2)

If you eat early at night or you are accustomed to eating breakfast and can't start your day without it don't skip it. For those who are on intermittent fasting and it is getting difficult for them to skip breakfast just change your eating and fasting window. You can eat your breakfast and skip eating in the night or evening go for an 8 am to 4 am or 9 am to 5 am a window. Finally, do what suits your body.

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