Posted on by

Are You a Breakfast Eater or a Breakfast Skipper?

9 Replies
Hearty Breakfast

photo: The Feel Good Lifestyle

Breakfast may be the most important meal of the day, or not. While most parents want to send their kids off to school with a full stomach and the required energy to learn, many adults make it all the way to lunchtime having consumed nothing more than a cup of coffee.

A new study now claims that people who break their fast at midday are likely to consume higher calorie choices than those who would have eaten in the am hours. A brainscan of 21 volunteers showed

Scans were conducted both when the participants had not eaten anything that morning and after they had a 750-calorie breakfast. After all of the scans, the participants were served lunch.

“Through both the participants’ MRI results and observations of how much they ate at lunch, we found ample evidence that fasting made people hungrier, and increased the appeal of high-calorie foods and the amount people ate,” Dr. Tony Goldstone, at the MRC Clinical Science Centre at London’s Imperial College, said in a society news release.

The study revealed that the people who skipped breakfast had a variation in the pattern of activity in their orbitofrontal cortex, an area of the brain linked to the reward value and pleasantness of food.Read more from HealthDay…

This study has a point, but it also has some issues. 700 calories for breakfast is on the high end. If you have lunch just 4 hours later, of course you’ll crave less of any food compared to someone who had their last morsel the night before.

In any case, we can all agree that if you come into a meal too hungry, there’s a good chance you will eat rapidly and eat too much. As usual in life, there is no one right answer. You need to find a solution that works for you.

Are you a breakfast eater or a skipper? Please share your strategies below…

Get Fooducated

Download APP

Subscribe

Follow

  • http://www.facebook.com/bill.back Bill Back

    I used to eat breakfast all the time, but have recently been skipping it (I prefer to use the faddish term “intermittent fasting”). Although I do eat more at the later meals, the total I eat during the day is less and I’m losing weight again. And I would add that I’m losing weight while getting stronger in the weight room. My clothes are also getting looser. My only main concern is that I used to get 2-3 servings of fruits and vegetables at breakfast that I no longer get.

  • http://twitter.com/stacyspensley Stacy Spensley CHHC

    I drink my water in the morning (we all wake up dehydrated), then have some fruit or a green smoothie so that I have some fuel, but not so many calories that lunchtime arrives before I’m hungry again.

  • Kelly

    I wait until about 11 AM and then I have a morning snack. I’ve tried to get in the breakfast habit in the past because I’ve read so many things saying how important it is, but I’m just not hungry first thing in the morning and I figured I should just stop forcing myself to eat when I didn’t actually desire food.

    But 750 cals? Holy cow, that is half of what I eat in an entire day. Of COURSE you’ll eat less lunch after that! I think the thing to focus on is not how much you eat in one meal (like whether you skip breakfast and how big your lunch is), but how much you eat overall.

  • http://profiles.google.com/jilliancutter3 Jillian Cutter

    750 calories is half of my daily caloric intake so I know I wouldn’t be eating much at lunch time if I consumed that much for a breakfast! Since I prefer to do my workout in the morning and on an empty stomach, I don’t eat until after 10:00am which is usually just a piece of fruit, a cup of coffee and water, water, water.

  • http://davesverse.blogspot.com/ Dave

    I skip breakfast aside from a cup of coffee. I’m just not hungry until around lunch time. I don’t even eat a big lunch. I take in most of my calories at dinner. But even then I snack a lot at night.

  • Ben

    Often a fast until noontime works just fine for me. Some mornings i will eat a nutrient-dense meal if i am feeling the craving. Especially if the previous night’s meal was a bit on the heavy side, a short fast can help you feel like you have reset your system. I agree with the post in that it really is a personal preference and it really is based on how you feel each morning. One really does have to be aware when biting into that first meal, especially if it is in the late morning or early afternoon, not to overindulge and eat in a very aware state, chewing slowly and purposefully.

  • Peter Ivady

    I’m on intermittent fasting as well for two years now – skipping breakfast and lunch and having only one (or two) big meal at night. It works perfectly for me.

  • http://gigieatscelebrities.com/ GiGi Eats Celebrities

    I used to be a dedicated breakfast eater but then I started noticing that I would get really tired almost immediately after I ate… But I would always go to the gym right afterwards… And try and digest while working out. Now I skip breakfast and sort of eat “brunch” and I feel far better than I used to! So… I am sticking to brunch these days!

  • Stephanie

    I eat breakfast every day. I can’t function if I don’t have food in me. I usually eat an egg and drink a protein shake with a banana in it. I am slightly underweight so I need the calories.