Is Breakfast Really The Most Important Meal Of The Day?

“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.”

“Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper.”

At some point in learning about diet and nutrition, you’ve probably heard one, or both of these. The idea that breakfast is the most important meal of the day is well known, and makes it into almost every list of weight loss hints, tips and tricks.

But an “idea” is all it is. The theory behind breakfast being the most important meal of the day seems plausible, but when you look into it, there’s no truth behind it whatsoever. 

Here’s the theory...

When you sleep, you go for several hours without food

Breakfast provides the body with fuel after an overnight fast. Consuming breakfast helps replenish glucose, which is essential for brain function and muscles. This boost in energy can improve physical performance, especially if you're about to engage in demanding physical activities early in the day.

Eating breakfast has been associated with improved concentration, problem-solving skills, memory recall, and mood. Students who eat breakfast regularly tend to perform better academically.

You wake up, and your metabolic rate has plummeted. (Your metabolic rate is the speed at which you burn calories. If it’s low, that means you might not be burning them as efficiently as you could be, which is bad news where fat loss is concerned.) In order to ramp it back up again, your body needs food, hence where the idea of breakfast “kick starting” your metabolism comes from.

This makes sense at first, until you delve a little deeper.

Studies show that your metabolic rate actually increases during a fast, according to nutritionist Lyle McDonald. In fact, it only starts to drop once you’ve been fasting for 72 hours, so that blows the “ramping up your metabolism” idea out of the water.

When you’re hungry, you’re far more likely to make poor food choices. If you’re feeling a little peckish at lunchtime, and faced with the choice of something like a chicken salad and piece of fruit, or some chocolate from the vending machine and a bag of crisps, you’ll probably opt for the former in an attempt to maintain your progress.

Offer the same two choices to someone who’s feeling ravenous, and even the most dedicated dieter would find it tough to resist the junk food.

That’s about as far as it goes in terms of the advantages of breakfast though. That being said, once you’re accustomed to feeling a bit hungry throughout the morning, you’ll probably be just fine to make healthy, informed and rational choices on your food later in the day.

See Also: Top 4 Worst Breakfast Foods And Their Healthy Alternatives

Not only that, but if you’re really up with your diet, you’ll pre-prepare your food for each day, or decide what you’re eating long before hand, meaning that you’ll eat something diet-friendly no matter what. Anecdotally, those who eat breakfast may make better choices, but anecdotal evidence doesn’t always hold true, or apply to real world situations.

So if that’s it in terms of the advantages of eating breakfast, what about the disadvantages? Could skipping what’s supposedly the most important meal of your day really hold any benefits in terms of health and weight loss, and what’s the best way to change from a breakfast eater to a breakfast skipper?

Become A Breakfast Skipper

The increased metabolic rate as a result of fasting as listed above is one of the biggest benefits of skipping breakfast. In reality though, any metabolic change, be it a rise or fall, won’t really have much effect on overall progress for most people.

Look at it this way – your typical breakfast of cereals, milk, toast and juice probably contains around 600 calories. (You could also sub in a bagel with cream cheese, a pastry or two with a fruit salad, or even bacon and eggs on tost and get roughly the same calorific value, depending on quantity though.) Take that out of your day, and you’ve saved yourself 600 calories. That’s enough to drop over a pound in just one week.

You may be a bit hungrier and eat slightly more later in the day to compensate, but the chances that you’ll eat an extra 600 just from skipping breakfast is highly unlikely. And even if you did eat and extra 400, you’d still have a weekly calorie deficit of 1,400.

Going back to our typical breakfast example, we can see problem number two.

What most people have for breakfast – the cereals, juice, and toast combo – is incredibly high in carbs, low in protein and low in healthy fats and fibre. Even what many would consider a healthier breakfast of something like a wholegrain muffin, bowl of muesli or granola, or some fruit, isn’t too dissimilar in terms of macronutrients.

This high intake of fast digesting carbs can spike insulin levels, which may raise your energy and alertness for a little while, but within an hour or two, you’ll experience a crash, as your blood sugars dip again, leading you to reach for the nearest chocolate bar, cookie or sugary coffee.

What about weight loss

Long story short; skipping breakfast could HELP fat loss.

When it comes down to it, whether you eat breakfast or not doesn’t actually matter all that much. The key to getting results is to make sure you hit your total desired calorie intake each day.

See Also: Five Ways To Make A Healthy Breakfast

If you find that skipping breakfast makes you feel light headed, sick, or you get huge cravings, then carry on having your breakfast – just make sure it fits into your plan.

If, on the other hand, you don’t particularly enjoy eating breakfast, or find getting up early to make it a chore, you might want to try skipping it. Give yourself a few weeks to adjust, and see how you get on.

Drink plenty of water throughout the morning to stay hydrated. This can also help curb feelings of hunger. It's essential not to eat excessively at lunch or dinner to "make up" for the skipped meal. This can counteract the caloric deficit created by skipping breakfast.