TL;DR – Remember how we were told that we won’t do well in school if we skip breakfast?
For years, we have heard the wise old adage that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Skip your breakfast and you risk getting fat. School-going children need breakfast or their learning might be negatively affected.
However, research now shows that there is nothing magical about breakfast. In fact, the theory that breakfast is important is a result of misinterpreted research and poor studies.
The idea of breakfast being the most important meal of the day was pushed by advertising and studies funded by the food industry, in particular breakfast cereals company. In the 1940s, women were entering the workforce because of the war and needed something quick to feed the kids in the morning. Maternal guilt was hence used to market cereal as the best food to give to children, and underline the importance of eating breakfast. Kellogg also funded research that linked breakfast cereal with being thinner.
Sometimes the best breakfast is no breakfast.
Yup.
Especially for those who wish to lose weight. Benefits associated by skipping breakfast (and hence fasting intermittently for 14 to 16 hours since dinner the night before) apparently include weight loss, the prevention of many diseases and increasing life span.
Whatever the case may be, I think it’s easiest to live by this –
Eat if you’re hungry but it’s okay to skip brekkie if you’re not.
