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Sorry, There's Nothing Magical About Breakfast (nytimes.com)
Is breakfast the most important meal of the day? Plenty of people certainly believe that, but according to a new report, that notion is based on "misinterpreted research and biased studies." The New York Times has run a piece authored by Aaron E. Carroll, a professor of pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine, who looked into numerous studies -- and found flaws in them -- to conclude that breakfast isn't as important after all. (Could be paywalled; alternate source) He writes: The [reports] improperly used causal language to describe their results. They misleadingly cited others' results. And they also improperly used causal language in citing others' results. People believe, and want you to believe, that skipping breakfast is bad. Carroll also points out a conflict in many of such studies: most of them have been funded by the food industry. He concludes: The bottom line is that the evidence for the importance of breakfast is something of a mess. If you're hungry, eat it. But don't feel bad if you'd rather skip it, and don't listen to those who lecture you. Breakfast has no mystical powers.
I wonder if the debunkers have provided evidence that supports their position that breakfast is unimportant and can be skipped? Just because the "proof" for a hypothesis is debunked, does not automatically mean the opposite of the hypothesis is true.
Yes it does. It led Kellogg and General Mills to a bottomless pot of gold.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
I've been working out on an empty stomach in the mornings for years, only to be criticized by armchair specialists about how bad or impossible this is... There's plenty of reserve energy floating around the human body and there's nothing miraculous about physical activity on an empty stomach.
You think our ancestors woke up to a fully stocked refrigerator every morning?
Mostly random stuff.
I personally never eat breakfast -- during the work week.
I'll eat a minimal lunch (always left overs = free mortgage payment per year :). Oh, wait, I don't have a mortgage anymore because I did that...
On the rare weekend days that I do eat breakfast I'll skip lunch altogether. I'm not hungry.
Dinner, for me, IS the most important meal -- and in many cases the ONLY meal I'll eat for the day.
No, I don't snack either. The funny thing is per US BMI fatso rules I am considered over-weight too boot. Of course they have always said that about me since grade school. I've always ignored it all. Even my doctor looked me up and down and said, "No -- you're just fine. Keep doing what you're doing."
Any magic things you hear about food are usually false:
- Sodium isn't bad for you (unless you have a special condition).
- High fructose corn syrup isn't significantly different than regular sugar.
- Aspertame has no significant health effects.
- Fat isn't bad for you.
- You don't have old undigested meat in your gut.
- You don't need 8 glasses of water per day.
- [Food item XYZ] isn't "brain food"
- Caffeine doesn't cause heart problems
- You don't need X servings of Y food per day
- Health food isn't much better for you than regular food
- Eggs don't give you a heart attack
- Organic doesn't mean healthy. Neither does natural.
- Chemicals are not bad for you.
If you are going to work your balls off, you'd better eat breakfast. If you are going to sit on ass all day, you can probably skip it, unless you're hungry. You can now skip this article, and every other article like it. Tada!
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
My own observation is that obese people tend to skip or have a very light breakfast. They then make up for it by having a big lunch, dinner and then snacks right up until bedtime. I've always felt that you should be a little hungry when you go to bed, then have a good size breakfast in the morning. Improves sleep, and sets you up for the day, with only a light lunch and dinner required. I also find that it prevents you from feeling tired in the afternoon.
My observation is that obese people eat snacks. Blaming it on breakfast or no breakfast is a diversion.
There's nothing magical. It's not when you eat. It's calories in versus calories out.
.
Want to lose weight?
Find out your BSR (what you need just to survive)
Count calories.
Try to eat well (within the range of calories)
If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
Bacon is served at breakfast more so than other meals. Magic.
I'm sorry, but your opinion seems to be wrong.
Some do, others eat healthy foods, but their bodies have betrayed them. For some of us it's easy to stay fit, so we can easily make the mistake of thinking obese people are gluttons. Some are, and alcohol abuse often plays a role in this, but others exercise and eat healthy food, but can't lose weight. There are even obese vegetarians.
So, you spend pretty much 5 hours (2.5 hours each way) a day just traveling back and forth to work?!?!?
Nope. I get up at 4:30AM, I'm at the bus stop at 5:45AM, I'm at the cafeteria at 6:45AM, and I'm at my desk at 7:00AM. Going home can take 60 to 90 minutes to get home, depending on traffic conditions. I'm usually home by 5PM at the latest.
That's a LOT of life you're giving up there man.
I'm paying an extra $70 per month for the express bus to have someone else drive me through hell and back on the freeways. Meanwhile, I'm reading The Wall Street Journal in the morning and an ebook in the afternoon.
To get up that early...what time do you crash at? 8pm?
I usually fall asleep between 8:30PM and 10:30PM to get eight to six hours of sleep.
Many of the above postings are indirectly saying that metabolism is individual, and while some "collective" rules may make sense (get some exercise, don't overeat), not everything generalizes. I suspect breakfast is one of those non-generalizable things.
We all have to find out what works best for us. I find that a small breakfast prevents me from being overly hungry at lunch and then eating more than I should. A large breakfast might have me skipping lunch and being overly hungry at dinner. I'm in the multiple small meals category, but I don't pretend this applies to everyone.
Some do, others eat healthy foods, but their bodies have betrayed them.
The New York Times had an article on a scientific study of the 2009 Biggest Loser contestants who regain their weight because their metabolism slowed down while dieting (expected) but their metabolism never recovered (unexpected). If they ate the normal calories for their height and weight, they would be eating an extra 400 to 800 calories that their body wants to regain the lost weight.
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/05/02/health/biggest-loser-weight-loss.html
4chan containment failure detected.
~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
Anyone else here old enough to remember the Four basic food groups, one of which was entirely taken up by Dairy, which a lot of humans flat out can't digest properly at all? After a while (and a lot of embarrassing gastrointestinal distress), they decided that was BS and created the Food Pyramid. The basic idea of that one was that you should be eating a metric shitload of breads. Today we call those "carbs", and these same types of people will tell you to avoid them like the plague.
Point being that nutrition "experts" have a long proud history of being completely full of shit. They'll even admit it. But that was before. They're right this time.
Breakfast thing being case in point. Young people should probably be fed if they are hungry, but if they aren't its usually downright stupid to force food on them. For older people this goes triple. I found with advancing age that my metabolism has slowed down to the point where if I try to force even 2 meals a day on myself, I gain weight. That's bad. Much, much worse than just eating only the 1 or 2 times a day I'm actually hungry.
My grandfather told me to watch out for those so called, "free cholesterol test". He said, "That test cost me my bacon!"
Side note, he lived to be 91 years old. ~ 30 years after the test.
I only look human.
My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling
The only solution is to say "sod it" and eat a bit of everything. Or say "sod it completely" and eat a lot of everything.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Ah yes, congress, the wise men and women of the scientific world.