Could Skipping Breakfast Actually be a Good thing?

Could Skipping Breakfast Actually be a Good thing?

We have all been told time and time again – ‘breakfast is the most important meal of the day’. Even the new Deadpool movie has a mentioning of never skipping the all important meal by the character Colossus. Most of us would agree with the statement, but this myth is has been long busted, so why are we still confused? 30% of Americans and Europeans regularly skip the almighty brekkie and guess what? It’s not as bad as we thought; in fact, it may even be good for you!

Eating a little amount at regular intervals throughout the day, also known as grazing, is also part of the very same dogma. People believe that grazing with help to avoid spikes in blood sugar and evade overeating. These are nutritional myths and myths alone!

Brainwashing from breakfast cereal companies flattered by a series of poor quality research has led to these extremely biased fables. These poor quality studies often produce results proclaiming that those who skip breakfast were more likely to over-eat during the day and be obese. The issue with such studies and statements is clear, these are observations and do not imply causation!

Skipping Breakfast Does Not Cause Weight Gain

Recent studies including a high-quality controlled trial conducted in late 2014 (by Dhurandhar EJ et al.) concluded that skipping breakfast did not induce weight gain; this was shown by comparing groups of participants with half skipping and half eating their breakfast over a 4 month period. This was supported by 5 other scientific studies over the past 2 years. Research with twins at King’s College London have shown that there is a clear influence from genes as to whether one is a morning or evening person, and it is in fact these body-clock rhythms that ultimately determine the times that we prefer to eat.

We didn’t always eat 3 courses

The Ancient Greeks, Romans, Persians and early Jews all used to eat just one big meal per day (usually in the evening). 2 meals were only introduced in England during the 16th century, the 2 meal a day plan was later a norm up until the 19th century and only recently changed to 3 meals during the Industrial Revolution due to the regularization of working hours.

Breakfast is your choice!

Skipping breakfast does NOT equal weight gain. It’s time to bury the ‘we must eat breakfast’ myth far under the hatchet and leave our bodies to decide whether it wants to eat breakfast or not! It doesn’t really matter whether you do or don’t eat breakfast, what matters is whether or not you eat healthy for the rest of the day. If you are someone who feels hungry in the morning then go ahead and have something to eat (a protein rich breakfast is a great choice) but, if you don’t feel hungry first thing in the morning then don’t eat. It really is as simple as that!

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