In this article I am going to outline 9 reasons why you should not eat breakfast.
Following my last article debunking some of the common myths around skipping breakfast, I thought of a few very good reasons why it might be highly convenient to not eat breakfast at all.
1. Breakfast takes time.
Preparing breakfast in the morning does take a little bit of time. If you’re wolfing down cereal with milk, it might take about 5-10 minutes in a rush, longer if you read the newspaper or check your Facebook news feed while eating.
If you prefer to cook something healthy like eggs and vegetables then the whole process may take up to 20-30 minutes, longer if you’re cooking for a family.
2. Skipping breakfast may help you lose weight.
Despite what you may have heard, skipping breakfast may actually help you lose weight. Short-term fasting lowers blood sugar, insulin and increases growth hormone (a fat burning hormone, among other things).
However, lunch and dinner must be healthy meals. If you reach for a burger and a soda at lunch, and then a pizza for dinner, this obviously won’t work.
3. Breakfast makes eating healthy more complicated.
If you have ever tried to follow the 5-6 meals per day plan touted by many so-called “experts”, then you have probably noticed how hard it can be to come up with something healthy and interesting to eat, all the time.
Well, if you take breakfast out of the equation, it is one less healthy meal to worry about.
4. Breakfast doesn’t increase your metabolism.
In contrast to conventional wisdom, eating breakfast (or frequent eating in general) does not increase metabolism. This is an assumption that was never based on any sound science, and has been disproven.
5. Eating fewer meals may help prevent colon cancer.
Three studies I found have discovered an association between frequent eating and colon cancer. These studies don’t really “prove” anything, but until the controlled trials are performed I’d like to err on the side of caution.
If those studies are correct, eating one less meal per day by skipping breakfast might reduce your risk of colon cancer (the third most common cancer in the world).
6. Our ancestors probably did not eat breakfast.
Honestly, it doesn’t make a lot of evolutionary sense that our ancestors ate breakfast. I’m no anthropologist, but I think it’s much more likely that they fasted during the day while hunting, and then ate big meals at night.
7. Eating breakfast will not improve your energy levels.
Myself, and a lot of people, report having increased energy levels when skipping breakfast. When I don’t eat anything in the morning, I find that my performance in the gym is increased and I have more energy for the rest of the day as well.
This does take some getting used to though.
8. Breakfast contains calories.
Breakfast contains calories. Assuming that everything else stays the same, eliminating one daily meal will lead to a lower total amount of calories consumed. However, most people will partially compensate for those calories during lunch and dinner.
9. Skipping breakfast is easier than you may think.
Before I read about intermittent fasting, I was always ravenously hungry in the morning and couldn’t possibly imagine not eating breakfast.
However, I got used to it very quickly. A glass of water and a cup of coffee in the morning, and my hunger vanishes. Used correctly, skipping breakfast can be an easy way to cut back on calories.
Anything else?
If you find it tedious to prepare breakfast every morning, or that you simple don’t have an appetite until lunch, then there’s no need to feel guilty. Breakfast is not essential.
Every individual should figure out a lifestyle that works well for them and is sustainable in the long run. For some people, breakfast may be part of that. For others, breakfast is inconvenient and unnecessary.
I am with you on the idea of skipping breakfast under the premise of intermitten fasting…but I am too much a fan of a big breakfast. Maybe it is the saying I grew up with, Eat like a king for breakfast, lunch like a prince, and supper like a pauper.
Great points though!
-Richard
I completely agree with all of your points, Kris…I’ve been doing LeanGains and never felt better! @Richard, I love breakfast too…now I just call it “blunch!” I find that eating twice day (with a small snack in between sometimes) works really well to keep my weight down and keep cravings at bay.
Yep; great idea to miss breakfast. Saves time and helps the body to cleanse, detoxify and heal itself more effectively. You can still have three meals per day starting at noon if you want, or just have two. In fact some people do well on just one extended meal per day (as per the Warrior Diet).
yah, none of that was even close to correct. actually, when you skip breakfast your body switches to starvation mode and slows the metabolism in preparation for what it assumes to be a day without any food. it then turns the food one does consume that day into fat much more quickly than it would had it been prepared. skipping breakfast is actually a good way to keep the weight on. any reputable weight loss system will advise eating breakfast, and in fact many involve as many as 6 small meals throughout the day, as they are better for digestion and help keep a high metabolism. hope i helped or at least lead you away from that horribly misinformed advice.
There has never been any scientific evidence for the importance of eating breakfast or regular small meals throughout the day, and the body doesn’t enter “starvation mode” by skipping a meal every now and then.
You should do some research on intermittent fasting, which actually does have evidence behind it.
The only ones who gain from people eating frequent meals are the cereal and supplement companies.
Lol; yes I agree Kris. You don’t go into starvation mode just by missing the odd meal. It takes a lot more than that. And it doesn’t really matter if you eat 6 meals per day or 3, or even 2; it’s the total calories that’s much more important. But if anything less meals is healthier, and better for your digestion, as it gets a rest, which is really important. You’ll potentially live longer if you eat less meals too, as the body has more chance to repair and heal itself. Short fasts are great for this.
For the goal of weight loss, a healthy breakfast should be the first thing on your mind when you wake in the morning. This important meal will jump start your metabolism and provide the energy you need to start your day.
When you routinely skip breakfast, you are telling your body that “no food is available at this time of day”, and your body will respond by storing calories (in the form of fat) from the day before to compensate. The signal you want to send to your body is that food is readily available at all times of the day-in small quantities.
Eating smaller meals frequently throughout the day provides your body with just enough energy and nutrients to make to the next meal without having to stockpile calories for “a rainy day”. To lose weight, ideally, you should be eating 5-6 small meals or snacks during your waking hours and a healthy breakfast is the best way to start. u are the dumbest kid quit school dude lol im a gym trainer u are fact wrong by the way did u know when u sleep u burn cals when u wake up your need food to start the day keep me happy maybe u should quit eating meat i did im a gym trainer for 22 states in the world so i think u are the dumbest person on here and Nothing could be further from the truth. Too many people skip breakfast and then spend the rest of the day overeating. Fuel your body right in the morning and you will have sustained energy all day long
You clearly have no idea of how the human body works. I dare you to provide evidence for what you have just said.
http://eslbee.com/why_students_should_eat_breakfast_every_day.htm
The last reason to have breakfast every day is because you can avoid diseases if you eat some breakfast in the morning. If you don’t eat, you are going to get sick, and these diseases will have a stronger effect on you because you’re going to get sick easier than people who have breakfast every day. been studying this over 65 year since 1953 we had test on people who skip breakfast and who had breakfast.. the ones that had it eat 15%less food in later that day that ones that eat nothing for breakfast eat 44%more later that day we did this test for about 31 years that all we need to know how the body works go back to school.
http://www.menshealth.com/jumpstartyourday/3-reasons-you-need-breakfast.php
Seventy-five percent of the guys in our Belly Off! Club eat breakfast every day—and they’ve lost 50, 70, and sometimes more than 100 pounds.
Eating in the morning makes you less likely to overeat during the day since your blood sugar will remain steady—as long as you don’t overdose on carbohydrates. Another reason to favor protein and fat: You’ll boost your metabolism and feel fuller longer—meaning you’ll stay away from the snack machine.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/491863-what-happens-if-you-skip-breakfast-every-day/
Weight Gain
Eat your Wheaties and improve weight control. Breakfast eaters exercise more, lose more weight and keep weight off, according to Colorado State University. Eat breakfast cereal and you decrease your overall fat intake. If you skip breakfast, you are likely to overeat at other meals or snack to keep energy levels up and hunger pains down. A daily pass on breakfast can sabotage your diet and create conditions that lead to weight gain.
Your Hunger Increases
One of the reasons why those who eat breakfast are better able to maintain their weight is because they stave off hunger by eating a healthy breakfast. When you skip breakfast, your stomach sends signals to your brain that it is empty, and you begin to experience hunger pangs. The longer you wait, the more your hunger grows. If you’ve skipped breakfast, you are more likely to reach for unhealthy snack options, such as convenience foods high in fat and sugar — like a candy bar from a vending machine, a doughnut or a large bagel. Over time, this can contribute to weight gain.
You have made a lot of claims, but not proven a single thing. Menshealth and Livestrong are NOT reputable sources, and their articles are usually not based on science.
I’m pretty sure you can’t find a scientific study that backs up your claims. Take a look at this article here: http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debunked.html
This one is backed by scientific evidence and cites scientific journals to support its points, instead of just random bro-science kept alive by so-called expert trainers who think they know everything because they’ve heard the same conventional wisdom nonsense repeated so many times.
As long as people eat healthy for the rest of the day, there is NO reason to eat breakfast.
Nick,
You must be switching back and forth between your own sentence composition and cutting & pasting from websites.
Your own entries negate any credibility you might have had because you obviously cannot even construct a decent sentence, much less a correctly formed one. The use of texting lingo is NOT acceptable anywhere except texts and Twitter.
Secondly, you resort to name calling and personal defamation, which totally eliminates any credibility you might have had, even if you COULD construct a sentence properly.
You tell Kristjan to “quit school”: I tell you that you need to go BACK to school and learn how to use the English language properly, as well as how to present your point of view without personal attacks—a good course in Logic will help you to do the latter.
I hope you understand that this is NOT a personal attack against YOU: I am simply pointing out some facts. I CANNOT give any credence to *what* you have said because of *how* you have said it.
I sincerely hope this helps.
Hi Kris, I would rather have breakfast and skip lunch. What are your thoughts on that.
You could do that Carol. It’s perfectly valid, but skipping breakfast is better because you continue your overnight fast, so blood glucose and insulin remain low for effective fat burning, and growth hormone stays high, which gives numerous health benefits. The idea is to go without food for a relatively extended time period – say 14 – 16 hours each day.
Kris,I am finding what you say to be contradictive to what dieticians are telling us when where diabetics.. Also its a well known factor that children that go to school without breakfast lose concentration. As my husband is a diabetic i have had to do a lot of research on how to keep his suger levels low. Believe it is not dropping carbs. We all have different bodies . Your telling people not to eat wheat why! in its natural form is very healthy. Everything in moderation.Yes we dont eat junk food ,i cook every day , My husband and i are 70. We have never gone without breakfast,we are fitter than most young people . We have breads grains fruits potatoes all the things that are healthy in the right amount. We even have suger in small doses . Obesety is brought on by people telling people to skip this and that.All people have to do is start cooking and stop buying junk food . NO packageing. .
Hello Margaret, I agree with a lot of what you said. Eliminating the junk food is the real key here.
But you seem to have been very misinformed by dietitians, who (unfortunately) are clueless as to how to treat diabetes. Diabetes can often be literally cured and prevented by carb restriction, and this is actually based on a ton of science.
I have literally zero respect for most registered dietitians, and the American Diabetes Association is something that horrifies me, and I believe their bad advice and selective ignorance may be responsible for thousands of people dying and suffering.
You should check out this website here: http://www.diabetes-warrior.net/
This guy has completely reversed his diabetes by following a very low-carbohydrate real food based diet. He is not only non-diabetic, but he is literally extremely healthy and fit, and would make many health nuts out there jealous.
Here are some scientific studies (your average dietitian will not have heard about these) to get you started if you want to know more about treating diabetes with very low carb/ketogenic diets:
http://www.nutritionandmetabolism.com/content/2/1/34
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2633336/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17447017
http://www.ajcn.org/content/86/2/276.full
hi kris, I understand what your saying about no carbs and your diabeties will be controlled.
I have down my own research and i came across a man that was a diabetic He is called the engineer,he has a web sight, who did what you have said and he is now not taking his medication . I also did this with my husband as he was on 4 tablets a day. He sugar did go down and we took him of 1 tablet we continued to be strict and he went down 1 more tablet. He is now on 2. The trouble is my husband started to lose all his energy. When i added some carbs to his food he then was the fit guy i knew . His suger stayed exactly the same ..
I know that the dietians have got it wrong because they class all people in the same catorgory. We are the ones that need to control our foods and see what makes sugar levels escalate. I have a book on my husband i write everything he eats and drinks and what his sugar is 2 hours later. I dont believe that you have 6 meals a day like the dietican has told my husband because when you have high sugar it doesnt get time to come down. when you are a full diabetic it takes more than 2 hours for your sugar to be normal. About the doctors they dont tell you that you have to watch what your eating.The doctor sees that your sugar is up then they give a pill, the person becomes lazy because they think the pill is going to cure them 2 years down the track another pill and so on.
I just think that people have to be told that it is important to watch what your eating and make sure that you are writing it all down to keep check of where your own health is.
My husband who i told you is 70 walks 10 kl a day
Your husband is lucky to have you, and it’s glad that you did your own research because even the “experts” seem to have gotten a lot of things wrong when it comes to managing diabetes :)
The guy who said skipping breakfast puts your body in starvation mode is totally wrong. Waiting til noon to eat will help you lose weight that is a fact especially if you are a late night snacker. If the body had a starvation mode it would also happen while we sleep at night. “Experts” are so proclaimed by themselves. It reminds me of the drink 8, 8 ounce glasses of water a day myth. Doctors even pass on this information which has never been validated in any study. Why 8 glasses? Why 8oz.? Its a wives tale. Thanks for your article.
I can say that for me it worked when i wasn’t eating my breakfast.. I was a student and rarely eat my breakfast but never had a lack of concentration or energy or any other problems. I think this doesn’t really matter in gaining ir losing weight.. The important is to eat natural food, no junk, reduce sodium and carbs; but not avoid them just be moderate in everything, drink water, and be actif!
And another rule that really work: to not eat until you’re hungry and then don’t eat until you’re full.. This work for me I don’t know if it will for others but that means that getting hungry for awhile doesn’t really put the body in starvation mode, maybe not eating for more that 24h will, which could mean “danger”!
Great post. I agree about the benefits of intermittent fasting. Skipping breakfast is in fact a type of intermittent fasting.
u are wrong on so many levels
Your Hunger Increases
One of the reasons why those who eat breakfast are better able to maintain their weight is because they stave off hunger by eating a healthy breakfast. When you skip breakfast, your stomach sends signals to your brain that it is empty, and you begin to experience hunger pangs. The longer you wait, the more your hunger grows. If you’ve skipped breakfast, you are more likely to reach for unhealthy snack options, such as convenience foods high in fat and sugar — like a candy bar from a vending machine, a doughnut or a large bagel. Over time, this can contribute to weight gain.
Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/443601-what-happens-to-your-body-when-you-skip-breakfast/#ixzz1jqBSgicD
As long as people eat healthy for the rest of the day, skipping breakfast is just fine.
You should open up a biochem textbook and read up on a few cellular processes that the body turns to when it hasn’t eaten in a while, such as lipolysis, gluconeogenesis and ketogenesis.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipolysis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluconeogenesis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketogenesis
P.S. today, 18. January, you won’t be able to view wikipedia due to the SOPA blackout but these articles should be available tomorrow.
It doesn’t make ANY evolutionary sense that breakfast should be some sort of necessity. The reason breakfast eating has been associated with improved health in the past is simply because health conscious people eat breakfast because they think it’s good for them.
The only ones gaining from people obsessing over breakfast or eating 5-6 meals per day are cereal and supplement companies. You’re a trainer, perhaps you make part of your living by selling supplements?
Again, you should read this article here: http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debunked.html
It is written by a guy who actually has a clue about how metabolism works.
Hi.
I actually did a bit of research and pretty much every research I found said that skipping breakfast had negative effects, and so I don’t understand why you say that there is no evidence on it:
Here is a research done on 14.000 boys which has very clear results: http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/v27/n10/abs/0802402a.html
Here is research done on 35.000 13-16 year olds which seems to be very clear: http://www.nature.com/ejcn/journal/v63/n3/abs/1602950a.html
Here is another research done on 11,778 participants, which also has very clear results: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11725527
Here is also another one: http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09637480310001622369
And another one: http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/v35/n7/full/ijo201158a.html?WT.ec_id=IJO-201107
And another one:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0091743510005189
And another one:
http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/v34/n4/full/ijo2009285a.html
And mind you that these are not handpicked, they are pretty much just the first articles that pop up when you search on scholar.google.com
That being said, I would say that research absolutely disagrees with you :)
Like I’ve said multiple times, if you skip breakfast and eat unhealthy for the rest of the day, that is bad.
Let’s not confuse correlation with causation here. The reason breakfast skipping is associated with weight gain in the population is probably because health conscious people are more likely to eat breakfast, and the stereotypical “breakfast skipper” is more likely to have haphazard eating patterns and not care about nutrition.
If you can find me a well performed study that controls for energy intake and the types of foods consumed, then I will change my mind. The fact that breakfast eaters have better health habits overall is a massive confounder that absolutely needs to be controlled for if you want to explore the merit of breakfast itself.
You should check out the website http://www.leangains.com/ maintained by a nutritional consultant and trainer called Martin Berkhan.
He uses breakfast skipping as a part of an intermittent fasting protocol and a rigorously controlled diet. He gets incredible results with himself and his clients.
Skipping breakfast without any change in dietary habits may not be a good thing, but doing it as a part of a controlled diet with healthy foods should be absolutely fine, and no study that I know of has addressed that.
For those who are hungry in the morning, breakfast is fine. But there is absolutely no need to force it down if you don’t have an appetite and that is really what I’m trying to convey here.
You can also find a ton of studies, not merely associations, about intermittent fasting and various health outcomes: http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=intermittent+fasting
I definitely agree with not eating breakfast. I’m 17 and in high school. I’ve gone in a new diet and I have recently lost 20 pounds in 3 weeks. Averaging about 600-1000 calories a day. Reading your articles kris I think I’m going to switch to consuming about the same calories but watching my carbs instead. But anyways breakfast. I haven’t eaten breakfast in the last three weeks and it has been a huge benefit for me. Also not eating supper has been a huge benefit because after lunch I work out. I know it’s probably not healthy but it makes me feel as if I’m back tracking if I eat after working out. You should blog about the advantages and disadvantages of eating after you work out.
Oh, thank god. I recently started to change my diet, and one of the things people kept telling me was that I had to eat breakfast…and that just doesn’t suit well with me because I never feel hungry after I wake up (and I only wake up ~30 minutes before I have to go out somewhere.)
I sooo do not agree!!
Hi Kris,
I just discovered your blog and I love it! Finally someone who knows what they are talking about. My uncle is an MD and put me on a low-carb diet and I lost 25 pounds. He also recommends intermittent fasting. He also has told me that dietitians do not know what they are talking about! I have always been interested in nutrition and would love to become an RD, but I’m worried they are going to teach me the wrong stuff in school. Anyway, just wanted to say I really appreciate the accurate information you have on your website. Thanks!
I cannot agree at all … For many years I neglected my body and almost always skipped breakfast, replacing this with coffee (and sugar).. .well, I am 47 now and 6 months ago ended up at 101kg with a huge tummy and many other “old-man” problems, wrinkles etc. at this early age. I decided to change my habits, especially my diet and started an exercise program 4 times a week at the local gym. I eat like a king in the morning, make good time for a healthy lunch and limit food at night to fruit, fruit juices and nuts… I lost 15kg, added 3kg muscle mass, my tummy is almost gone and I have so much energy I sleep 4 hours per night and work an extremely busy day as a senior manager, spending at least 10 solid hours in the office daily ! ooohh and all the “old man” problems are gone, almost no wrinkles left and I feel like a KING ! Breakfast and lunch is essential – dinner a waste of time and money !
Congratulations on turning your life around like that. That’s awesome. But I think you are missing the point. It’s not the eating of breakfast that has done this for you. You could just have coffee in the morning (but definitely no sugar as this will raise insulin) and you would have still got the same benefits. Breakfast is ok if you want it, but it should be just a protein and veggies meal (no carbs), but is not essential. Lunch should likewise be small. The body is designed to run better on a low food intake during the day. Dinner in the evening is by far the most important meal and should be your largest meal.
This is all false. Eat breakfast please. Fasting through the night lowers sugar levels along with everything else. Why put off breakfast after a 10hour nap.
Hi I am having a hard time with this article. Because if I try not eating and go to the gym I get really sick. Also I miss a meal I feel sick why. I would like to ask you a few other questions.
Hi Kris,
Ever since i came across your article about “How to Lose Weight Fast in 2012 – The Ultimate Guide”, i haven’t stop checking the rest of your articles, link by link as provided right after (below) every article. I was excited to try on the Low-Carb Diet that you’ve been taling about the whole time and i guess this is the real diet plan that i have been looking for and one which might work for me. This was even heightened when i found out that a co-worker who already lost 30lbs in a small period of time (not really that fast, coz it didn’t just take weeks but also months, and i guess this is how a “real” and not a “magical” diet really works.) have been following the same concept of your “Low-Carb Diet” in almost every aspect except that it was termed differently, as “Cohen Diet” as is administered by a Doctor and was designed by designing a meal appropriate to you according to your blood type. And take note, this cost way high! Nevertheless, i was stil eager to start off your Low Carb and hopefully make it to a 100lb from my current 140lb for my wedding in December.
However, the very reason i am writing you right now is the fact that not until i came across this article, i never doubted you, your idea, nor your credibility but rather was even amazed. I have never been confused and decided to believe in what you say in your articles and throw out all the other information even if it was what was this world (and me of course) have been believing all along.
My confusion was lead by the idea of you telling us to SKIP BREAKFAST in this article which i find contradictory to your “How to Lose Weight Fast in 2012 – The Ultimate Guide” article, the very first article of yours that lead me up to this point. You have described there a typical day for you which includes a Breakfast and even gave out a sample meal that you normally have. Moreover, you
Please do not get mistaken me of arguing with you or your beliefs and thoughts. I just want to have some clearance of which is which. I want to be guided correctly and so all the thoughts that i have here are objectively-driven. Please also take note that every word that a person like you whom people rely on for something says is GIVEN IMPORTANCE and so is TAKEN NOTE OF no matter how simple they may seem to you.
I hope you can help me clear this confusion i’m having right now! And moreso get a reply from you though i have observed that you haven’t replied on this article anymore. Thanks so much for the time spent reading this and caring to reply!
There’s gonna be 1 confused soul who’ll make it to a clear sky! =) *wink
Hello Marjorie. Thanks for all the kind words.
I do not think there is anything bad about eating breakfast, but I also do not think there is any reason to have breakfast if you don’t feel hungry in the morning.
I guess the point of this article was to refute the idea touted by many health gurus that there is something “magical” about eating breakfast. It is just another meal and there are no special features about breakfast that make it more important than other meals.
For those who don’t feel hungry in the morning, I don’t think there is any need to eat breakfast. For those that are hungry in the morning then breakfast is a good idea.
Myself, if I have school in the morning then I will eat breakfast before I go to school because when I wake up early I tend to get hungry around 10-11ish and having something in my stomach helps me concentrate.
When I don’t have school and sleep a little longer then I tend to skip breakfast and just eat whenever I feel hungry. Depending on when I wake up, that may not happen until after lunch.
So basically, if you prefer eating breakfast or that it helps you concentrate or make you feel better in the morning, then by all means eat breakfast.
If you’re one of those who doesn’t get hungry until lunch then there’s no need to force feed yourself. As long as you have a healthy lunch and eat healthy for the rest of the day, then there’s no physiological reason to stuff yourself with food when you don’t feel like it.
Hope that clears things up. Let me know if you have any more questions :)