Why I Never Eat Breakfast
I know, I know: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day... So, I've duly spent years of my life worrying about what type of breakfast to eat. What had enough protein to get me through the morning, but not too many calories to throw off the rest of the day. What could I buy and not get sick of eating, and what wouldn't be too sugar-y or too carb-y or too cholesterol-y or whatever the current buzzword may be. I read all the articles about studies showing that people who ate a healthy breakfast lost weight faster and avoided overeating later in the day, dutifully followed those recommendations... and continued to put on a few more pounds each year.
Breakfast is NOT the most important meal of my day!
You know what? I'm not actually hungry in the morning.
When I started the whole avoiding refined sugar thing at the beginning of this year, I also started trying to listen to what my body was telling me. Here's what it's saying:
- I'm not hungry when I get up, especially on school days when I get up too early with the kids.
- I don't eat any less later on days when I eat breakfast, and in fact it seems that I often eat more.
- I just want coffee when I get up. Black coffee, and plenty of it.
And no, it doesn't seem to matter if I eat Greek yogurt or eggs or a bowl of cereal: I don't really want it at the time, and I'm just as hungry during the day. Sooo.... how is it beneficial to add in an extra meal that I don't really seem to want?
So here's the plan now
Since I work from home I can make my own schedule, and I usually eat lunch around 11-11:30. Sometimes this is brunch-y (avocado toast & eggs for the win! Usually not so much bacon in there, but it's such a pretty photo, lol...). Sometimes, it's lunch-y. Sometimes, it's snack-y. But that's when I get hungry, so that's when I eat. An early lunch puts me in position to have a protein-filled snack around 3 hours later when Mr. 10 gets home from school, and then to eat dinner 3-4 hours after that.
Now that I've started skipping breakfast and avoiding refined sugar, I'm also not as hungry at night -- where I used to snack every single evening after dinner, I'm now only having something like a sliced apple with cinnamon or a clementine a couple of times a week when I feel like something sweet.
Newer research is more divided
More recent articles talk about a split of opinion in the scientific community, with some now saying that it's fine to skip breakfast. Some proponents of intermittent fasting talk about the idea of getting all your meals in during an 8 hour period -- say between something like noon and 8PM, which is very close to what I have (completely accidentally!) been doing here.
I'm going to read more about this because I just ran across the concept recently. I just put The 8 Hour Diet on hold at the library, for starters, and if the book's any good, watch for a future review. 😉
What works for you?
So I'm curious: What works for you that seems to be contrary to established opinion? We're all different, and I find this all so fascinating.
I think you've got a really good point. Everyone is different, so, we should try to listen to our body. I am always hungry, but the least hungry in the AM. I also force myself to eat some breakfast about 2 hrs. after I get up, but, it seems to start a trend where I'm starving every 2 hrs. or so. What I eat doesn't seem to make a difference either. I've tried almost every diet out there and I'm still always hungry. Now that I've been terrorized by my gallbladder, at least I'm very careful about the amount I eat, but, I would just like to not be hungry.
Most of the time, I have to eat breakfast or I feel lousy--cranky and sluggish. My husband is more like you, though. He says when he eats breakfast, he feels hungrier later in the day than he does when he skips breakfast. I think listening to what your own body is telling you is the way to go!
Listen to your body.
Learn when you are truly hungry.
When you are, eat good food.
Avoid fatty/junky/overprocessed/sugary crap.
Interesting...
I think you have to listen to your body. Not all research pertains to all types of people, and clearly you've found that eating a bit later in the morning works for you to curb your appetite towards the end of the day (I WFH, and typically eat a solid breakfast around 11:30, too, after I've been up for several hours... and had a LOT of coffee). 🙂
That's so funny. I was thinking about your "no added sugar" eating, just last night, and all of the sudden was wondering what you have for breakfast every day---and here is the answer! I like protein with every meal, and breakfast is hard for me. I like eggs but not every day, and sometimes I would rather have an egg in my tuna salad, or even potato salad. So I do eat breakfast, and I am hungry. Actually, I feel like drinking coffee in the morning makes me especially hungry. But I'm not hungry until sometime between 9:30 and 10:30. I could eat lunch around 1:30, and dinner around 7:00, or I could probably skip lunch (if I had a late, hardy breakfast) and then eat an earlier dinner. I've heard about the book you referenced and am looking forward to your review!
Well here's the other thing -- why does breakfast have to be typical breakfast foods? People eat very different things for breakfast around the world, and I think what we view as a typical breakfast is just conditioning more than anything else.
This is true. I think part of it, for me, is that I want my meals to taste different from each other. Like, I don't want tuna salad for breakfast, because I would like that for lunch. Sometimes I switch lunch and dinner options (like tuna salad for dinner), but I usually want breakfast to be something "breakfast-y." Some other protein options for me are yogurt with fresh fruit and nuts; cooked amaranth or oatmeal with apple and cinnamon; and almond butter on whole grain toast with banana or orange slices.
My body needs substantial breakfast and lunch. Otherwise I can't drive to work as I would be afraid of passing out behind the wheel. And I need my big lunch, or I won't get through the school day. I am truly hungry for every meal, but my dinner is not huge.
I really do think everyone's different. Mr. 10 is like a hummmingbird -- he never stops moving and if he doesn't eat every couple of hours he gets cranky and famished, but I think he burns it all off, lol.
About two years ago I was at the heaviest weight I had ever been. I was feeling reasonably balanced, compared to some craziness, haven been completely menopausal for two years and I decided to make a change. I too had been reading about intermittent fasting. So coupled with exercising twice a day and limiting my calories, I lost 20 pounds in 5 month. I found that I craved sugar in the morning, so not eating until 11 o'clock was a great way for me to avoid the temptation.
So that was two years ago. Only 4 pounds have found their way back, and I still adhere to the intermittent fasting. It keeps me from snacking irresponsibility in the evening and helps me to stay on track with my health. Now I am looking at the saturated fat in my diet. Getting older changes a lot of things, and despite my leaner self, and reasonable good eating, I found that my total cholesterol is high. The good news is that my good cholesterol, puts me in a good range, but I would still like to see my overall number go down. So I am working on limiting my fat intake and I am going to retest in a few months.
Let me know your thoughts on intermittent fasting. I would be interested to see what you think!
I got the book from the library today so will see what they say in there -- and congrats on keeping up with it for two years, that's fantastic.
I have always hated breakfast. I am not hungry and when forced to eat it early I always end up feeling nauseous.
Buuuuut. I also hate waking up early too. I am a solid, let me sleep til 9 and I'll brunch by myself at 10:30. Anything earlier than that and I just feel miserable and sick.
Yeah, that's how I like to roll... but I take 16-32 oz of water first thing before eating... 🙂
If only I could sleep til 9 -- but these darn kids. 😉
I'm completely the opposite hunger-wise but agree completely with "listen to your body". I LOVE breakfast and eat a hearty protein based meal before 8 daily. By 11 I'm thinking lunch and hold off for another 30-60 minutes. I get home at 4:30 with the kids, and we generally eat a very early dinner - by 5. Mr. Dad gets leftovers when he gets home. But I'm done eating after my early dinner. No urge to snack. I used to feel obligated to eat with hubby, even though I had already eaten with the kids. Now, I sit with him at dinner but don't eat anything. Eating two dinners was not so good for the waistline!
Too big of a dinner last night... been fasting all day! Probably will be hungry in a few hours... 😛