Does Breakfast Matter?

“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day”
and
“Don’t skip breakfast”
are ingrained into us, but are they true. Or are these sayings just a bunch of nonsense backed by little if any science? First of all, let’s say that yes, nutrition is important, and that personally I love breakfast and try to have healthy and protein laden foods for breakfast (like eggs with extra egg whites added, instead of sugary cereal or other simple carbs like pancakes – at least most of the time.

Does a Traditional Breakfast Matter?

It turns out that there is very very little research showing breakfast is important, at least a traditional breakfast.  In “Man 2.0 Engineering the Alpha: A Real World Guide to an Unreal Life: Build More Muscle. Burn More Fat. Have More Sex,” a book I highly recommend, well known and respected authors John Romaniello  and Adam Bornstein review the research and find there is very little available.

Breakfast Doesn’t Matter

At least not a traditional breakfast like your mother told you.

Breakfast means “break” “fast” as in you are breaking a fast, a long period of not eating. Morning is a traditional time to “break fast” as we haven’t eaten during our sleep and usually are ready to go off to work or somewhere and fuel up.
It turns out that what is important is the “fast” part, NOT the time we are “breaking” it by eating. If going 12 hours without eating makes breakfast good, maybe going 16 hours without eating is better, and makes our “break fast” at perhaps noontime even more effective?

Well, there is plenty of research that shows that. Your first meal of the day is important, but delaying it to later in the day can make it even better as the “fast” part as longer and the body is ready and excited to receive the nutrients. There is even research that shows that intermittent fasting can have significant benefits (and I mean to body builders here, not far out spiritual dudes!).

Now obviously if you are a hardgainer, an ectomorph this may not make much sense. You need all the calories you can possibly get, and your body goes into a catabolic state easily.

Most of us are not ectomorphs, and most of us have at least as much of an issue with body fat as with muscle. Personally, I have lots of muscle, but my body likes to store fat and does so easily.

I’ve been experimenting with delaying breakfast for a few hours, and then having a healthy and nutritious meal, whether you want to call it breakfast, brunch, lunch or whatever. The results have so far been positive, although it is tough at first when your mind and body have been trained to want food so early in the day.

All our bodies are different, but perhaps a “delayed breakfast” can help you reach your goals