Breakfast refuels your body’s energy and supplies nutrients after a period of fasting, as the name (1) itself suggests. John Hopkins Institute published a colorful article about the benefits of breakfast with a very inspiring and catchy title, “Wake Up to the benefits of breakfast!” (2). The title itself inspires you to dig deeper in search of all the benefits one might get.
Scientists believe that breakfast helps us to stay alert and improves our brain function ( 3); it is especially important for children during their school hours. Skipping breakfast might not be a good idea for people who are trying to shed off some extra weight, since our hungry brain seeks high calorie fat food later during the day as compensation for what it perceives as dangerous food deprivation (4).
When I was just a child, I often heard a saying similar to, “Eat breakfast like a king, Lunch like a prince, and dinner as a pauper”(5) or similar variations (6) – the emphasis here is on breakfast being the most important meal of the day.
I do not always follow this advice myself, since I love experimenting with food and my own preferences and relationships with it, but I completely agree that breakfast is important from many viewpoints as the first meal of the day.
Technically, if you decide to skip breakfast for whatever reason, your first break-fast meal of the day will be lunch. Everything gets more complicated since it is really hard to tell if this habitual skipping breakfast is a good idea for you personally.
It is called intermittent fasting (7) and has many benefits for many people, including the bonus of extra free time in the morning when you do not have to think about making breakfast. I tried skipping breakfast a few times in my life for long periods of time and it was easy for me and felt great. Some people prefer to skip dinner; it all depends on the individual, but from my experience, skipping breakfast is easier for me.
As with any deviation from the traditional norm, there are some precautions about long periods of fasting for some people. It is especially true about women because of some possible hormonal imbalance (8) and complications with diabetes. If you decide to try intermittent fasting for yourself, tread with caution and find your personal best method.
The relationship between our eating habits and time goes into the realm of chronobiology (9) – the study of our circadian rhythms. It is a transdisciplinary field of research which studies how time affects biological systems (10). You may find a lot of information about chronobiology and weight loss (11), which prove the point that circadian rhythms affect digestion.
Human meal consumption habits and traditions from a historical perspective (12) deserve special attention; you may use some sources mentioned in my overview as a starting point for your own research.
I am in my breakfast eating cycle of life, so I will start with some healthy breakfast ideas and recipes.
My breakfast inspiration depends on many things, as I am sure yours does too. I just want to share my favorite healthy recipes and ideas to add to your chest of breakfast tips and tricks.