breakfast...the most unhealthiest meal of the day..

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  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    Not eating breakfast completely screws up my day and always has done.
    The thing is, when you eat something crap for breakfast then yes, it's not going to aid with dieting.
    But if you eat something like a low fat cereal, a slice of toast, fruit, etc. then it's a perfectly healthy addition to your food that day.
    To be honest I would say you SHOULD eat breakfast if you can make good food choices and if you can't help but have pancakes or some other kind of ridiculous breakfast, then skip it.

    Also,
    2/3's of americans are obese

    This is because the food in America is awful and everyone cooks with far too much butter/oils.
    Over here in Europe we eat breakfasts... in some countries we eat huge breakfasts and we don't have the same obesity problems.
    It's down to food choices, not what time you eat or what you call that meal.

    well our cooks may be awful..but at least our woman shave their armpits and all of use deodorant ....

    Dude, I am from England. We all use deodorant and shave all our body hair... much the same as the rest of European women.
    I think the reason people are calling you names is because you are behaving as such.
    Don't ask for opinions on things to then start insulting everyone and being so narrow minded. I can't believe you are that uneducated you would make an assumption about an entire continent like that.

    hmmm interesting because you said that EVERYONE in america cooks with too much butter/oils...You did the exact same thing that I did, yet you criticize me????? you also said all the food in america is awful? So you just made two assumption about an entire country...

    For the record I do not cook with butters/oils....and I pretty much eat clean everyday...

    and I have been to Paris and Italy and they definitely need to man up on the deodorant.

    Yes but I didn't go and slam an entire continent with a stereotype!
    And you said 2/3 of americans are obese so I'd say that means a pretty large percent of you guys are doing something wrong.
    What I was doing is called generalising. What you were doing is called discrimination against an entire continent.
    Was what I said insulting to individuals in America? No. Was what you said insulting to individuals in Europe? Yes.
    There is a vast difference between our two statements.

    Oh wow, Italy AND Paris? I guess that makes you knowledgeable on the entire of Europe, ****. Sorry about that.

    you can slice it anyway that you want. you said that all americans cook with butters/oils and eat unhealthy...you did the same thing that i did..

    Except I was making a JOKE....get a sense of humor and grab some big girl panties geez...

    Yes, a hilarious and prejudice joke. Well done on your skills of wit, that you have to be insulting in order to be funny is very impressive.

    hmm and it was not prejudice when you said that all Americans cook and eat unhealthy???? Hmmmm interesting logic that you have...
  • michelle7673
    michelle7673 Posts: 370 Member
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    How did I miss all of this?? Oh yeah, I was at the gym :)
    My answer is (1) it depends and (2) it's partly psychological.
    I am not usually hungry for more than coffee in the AM UNLESS I was particularly low on calories the day before, or just trained particularly hard. Now, I do usually eat a late breakfast on weekends. We make flaxmeal waffles or something like that. But in that case, we typically do a bigger lunch/dinner hybrid, with maybe a light snack later. So it's really just shifting things around.
    Having breakfast on weekdays usually leaves me at dinner wishing I had more calories left.
    I also liken this to the "eat 5-6 small meals a day" rule. I tried and tried it, and it does NOT work for me. I found that I was never satisfied, and I ended up preoccupied with food. There may be some science behind it, but the psychological element overwhelmed it in my case.
  • khall86790
    khall86790 Posts: 1,100 Member
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    Not eating breakfast completely screws up my day and always has done.
    The thing is, when you eat something crap for breakfast then yes, it's not going to aid with dieting.
    But if you eat something like a low fat cereal, a slice of toast, fruit, etc. then it's a perfectly healthy addition to your food that day.
    To be honest I would say you SHOULD eat breakfast if you can make good food choices and if you can't help but have pancakes or some other kind of ridiculous breakfast, then skip it.

    Also,
    2/3's of americans are obese

    This is because the food in America is awful and everyone cooks with far too much butter/oils.
    Over here in Europe we eat breakfasts... in some countries we eat huge breakfasts and we don't have the same obesity problems.
    It's down to food choices, not what time you eat or what you call that meal.

    well our cooks may be awful..but at least our woman shave their armpits and all of use deodorant ....

    Dude, I am from England. We all use deodorant and shave all our body hair... much the same as the rest of European women.
    I think the reason people are calling you names is because you are behaving as such.
    Don't ask for opinions on things to then start insulting everyone and being so narrow minded. I can't believe you are that uneducated you would make an assumption about an entire continent like that.

    hmmm interesting because you said that EVERYONE in america cooks with too much butter/oils...You did the exact same thing that I did, yet you criticize me????? you also said all the food in america is awful? So you just made two assumption about an entire country...

    For the record I do not cook with butters/oils....and I pretty much eat clean everyday...

    and I have been to Paris and Italy and they definitely need to man up on the deodorant.

    Yes but I didn't go and slam an entire continent with a stereotype!
    And you said 2/3 of americans are obese so I'd say that means a pretty large percent of you guys are doing something wrong.
    What I was doing is called generalising. What you were doing is called discrimination against an entire continent.
    Was what I said insulting to individuals in America? No. Was what you said insulting to individuals in Europe? Yes.
    There is a vast difference between our two statements.

    Oh wow, Italy AND Paris? I guess that makes you knowledgeable on the entire of Europe, ****. Sorry about that.

    you can slice it anyway that you want. you said that all americans cook with butters/oils and eat unhealthy...you did the same thing that i did..

    Except I was making a JOKE....get a sense of humor and grab some big girl panties geez...

    Yes, a hilarious and prejudice joke. Well done on your skills of wit, that you have to be insulting in order to be funny is very impressive.

    hmm and it was not prejudice when you said that all Americans cook and eat unhealthy???? Hmmmm interesting logic that you have...

    Hmmm, not what I actually said but alright. Interesting logic you have that eating breakfast links to obesity. But hey, we can't all have looks AND common sense can we?
    Anyway, I will let you go and insult some other people now. Enjoy.
  • fit4life1985
    fit4life1985 Posts: 23 Member
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    ndj1979 I am on your side on this debate.

    You should check out this article below.

    http://articles.elitefts.com/nutrition/logic-does-not-apply-part-2-breakfast/
  • LiftAllThePizzas
    LiftAllThePizzas Posts: 17,857 Member
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    Hmmm, not what I actually said but alright. Interesting logic you have that eating breakfast links to obesity. But hey, we can't all have looks AND common sense can we?
    Anyway, I will let you go and insult some other people now. Enjoy.
    Dude...
    This is because the food in America is awful and everyone cooks with far too much butter/oils.
    Your exact words.

    You got trolled. The whole thread is a joke. Everyone is laughing except for you. Just FYI.
  • Sunka1
    Sunka1 Posts: 217 Member
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    I dont think obesity and eating breakfast are directly linked - as in stop eating breakfast and you wont be fat - obviously eating 5 burgers for breakfast is not a good idea - but something sensible like 2 pieces of wholemeal toast with low fat topping or fruit and yogurt or bowl of non sugared cereal is fine.

    Not eating breakfast does lead to concentration lags during the morning and for some people mid morning binges.

    People like diabetics on medication must eat breakfast to avoid hypos.



    I dont think your theory is very sound.

    I agree. Blood sugar issues are rampant these days. Many people don't eat breakfast for any number of reasons and at some point in the mid-morning they are soooo hungry and it's too late because their blood sugar has dropped and begun a cascade of undetected biochemical reactions in their body. Most of the time that is when people reach for: coffee, cigarette or simple carbs. It is more difficult to feel satiated once you have reached this point.

    On the other hand. I tried a eating schedule once that included a 16hour fasting period from last meal of one day to first meal of next day. I kinda felt good on that. Who knows! Sorry I babbled.
  • SteveJWatson
    SteveJWatson Posts: 1,225 Member
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    Dude, I am from England. We all use deodorant and shave all our body hair... much the same as the rest of European women.
    I think the reason people are calling you names is because you are behaving as such.
    Don't ask for opinions on things to then start insulting everyone and being so narrow minded. I can't believe you are that uneducated you would make an assumption about an entire continent like that.

    I am also from England and would like to dispel the myth that we all shave all our body hair. That would be weird.

    Also, few of us say 'dude'.

    Anyway, re:breakfast, whilst skipping it may work for some, I challenge a non breakfast eater to get up and do a mornings manual work on no breakfast without wanting to chew their own arm off come 10AM.....
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    Below is quoted from the article cited at bottom..you can find links to studies in the article...

    The Reality

    The only reasonable conclusion the facts support is that breakfast sucks.

    It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of breakfast. When working with a new client in a physique or strength sport or the average person trying to lose a few pounds, more often than not, the first thing I say is, “stop eating breakfast.” Brian Carroll loves the excuse to skip breakfast as do a large number of people I work with. Like I once thought, they believe that breakfast is critical to mental and physical performance and they force themselves to eat it whether they want to or not.

    Here’s a brief synopsis of hormonal-happenings around 7 AM for the average person. Cortisol levels elevate naturally through the night1-9 and peak2, 9-14. Uh oh, cortisol is catabolic and without food, the body’s going to start eating all that hard-earned muscle, right? Wrong. Catabolic only describes the process of something being broken down for energy. Cortisol, when acting without elevated insulin levels and in a natural manner — so without being constantly elevated like during chronic stress — triggers the breakdown of triglycerides into free-fatty acids (FFAs) for metabolization and triggers lipolysis1, 2, 14-28. Cortisol, in the morning, accelerates fat burning.

    Ghrelin, the main hunger-control hormone32, is released in a pulsatile manner through the night with a peak occurring upon waking29-31, which incites hunger. Ghrelin not only causes hunger, but also potently stimulates growth hormone release33-44. As growth hormone levels raise the body releases more fat to be burned as fuel45-49 and decreases the destruction of protein for use as fuel50. Growth hormone levels peak roughly two hours after waking without breakfast51.

    Every day the body starts as a fat-burning furnace. Even during exercise, without eating breakfast, the body burns far higher levels of fat than normal52, 53 and causes up regulation of the enzymes necessary to burn fat, allowing fat to be metabolized faster54.

    Now contrast with what happens as soon as you eat breakfast, one that contains around 30 grams or more of carbs. As is well known, insulin levels raise with the rise in blood sugar, kick-starting a downward spiral: the early-morning release of insulin reduces fat burning for the entire rest of the day55; while cortisol levels remain high, the insulin release causes new empty fat cells to be created56-64; and the insulin lowers levels of ghrelin and growth hormone29-31, 51.

    From the facts above—this is not what I think happens, this is what happens — one would come to the conclusion that maybe we should hold breakfast off for a bit when we get up, at least until cortisol levels return to normal and growth hormone levels fall naturally, which takes a few hours. Skipping breakfast looks like a way to lose body fat faster, or at least to keep it off.

    At this point, you may think, “well, you’ve hobbled together a lot of research to explain your theory, but where are the results?” I’m not so obtuse as to think that a thorough understanding of anything means prediction is possible…a famous mathematician showed that you can know everything about how a system works and still not predict how the damn thing might act. Luckily for me and my hobbled together studies, researchers did test the idea that maybe breakfast isn’t so great.

    If what I assume from the facts is true, then skipping breakfast and eating more food at the end of the day rather than the beginning should lead to more fat loss when trying to lose weight, especially if eating breakfast impairs fat burning for the entire day.

    So what happened when researchers studied two groups, one that ate most of their calories in the beginning of the day, to simulate the no-eating-after-seven routine, and the other that skipped breakfast and ate most of their meals in the latter half of the day? Damn if I shouldn’t be embarrassed: the group that ate most of their calories early in the day, including a big breakfast, lost more weight than the other group65.

    Hold on: there’s more to this story. The researchers also looked at body composition before and after. The morning group lost more weight but lost a lot more muscle and a lot less fat. The night group lost almost exclusively fat and preserved muscle65-69. Who knew, maybe there is something to this science stuff after all?



    No matter what I say about fat loss, someone will say that skipping breakfast turns people into mental sloths. Does it really? You think so? I disagree and when I do in a public forum, someone always says — which I actually don’t believe — “Well, I design tests for grade schools and the kids that eat breakfast always perform the best; I have the studies but I don’t have the time to show you.” Even if they have them, they’re observation studies. They’re not experiments. Do experiments prove that breakfast improves cognitive abilities? Yes, if the person is malnourished70-73.

    What about healthy kids? I know, it doesn’t seem right to take food away from kids in the morning, but some mean group of *kitten* did just that — and several more *kitten* did the same thing. They withheld breakfast from one group of kids, letting them eat at lunch, and the other group had a balanced breakfast. When kids skip breakfast they pay attention, behave, and perform better throughout the entire school day72-83. That’s the difference between observation and experiment. There must be some other factor relating eating breakfast to academic performance: both vary in the same way with socio-economic status84.

    I can imagine the comments now saying I ignore the importance of breakfast because of this observational study or that observational study or some other justification that has no relevance to this discussion. The only point here is that breakfast is definitely not the most important meal of the day and can be detrimental. There are many reasons and ways to incorporate breakfast effectively. Carb Back-Loading™ is one example and Carb Nite® is another. When using either of these strategies for fat loss, I still tend to delay my first meal of the day until 11am or noon

    Someone in a forum also referenced an article stating that skipping breakfast primes the body to get fat and slows fat burning, which is the opposite of the truth, but the article goes on to say that all of this can be avoided by adding some branched-chain amino acids in lieu of breakfast and suggests leucine, isoleucine and valine. This is probably a bad idea, as the amino acid leucine stimulates insulin release without the presence of glucose85-86 and may cause the same reactions as a carby breakfast.

    As far as strength is concerned, there is little effect as long as glycogen stores remain adequate87-88, hence the application of Carb Back-Loading™ to strength, power and physique athletes.

    Eating breakfast impairs fat burning, can aid in fat storage, lowers growth hormone levels and doesn’t offer cognitive benefits. What else can I say? Stop eating breakfast. You’ll thank me in the morning.

    http://articles.elitefts.com/nutrition/logic-does-not-apply-part-2-breakfast/
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    ndj1979 I am on your side on this debate.

    You should check out this article below.

    http://articles.elitefts.com/nutrition/logic-does-not-apply-part-2-breakfast/

    thanks Bro - I reposted this for all the nay sayers out there...
  • SteveJWatson
    SteveJWatson Posts: 1,225 Member
    Options
    Below is quoted from the article cited at bottom..you can find links to studies in the article...

    The Reality

    The only reasonable conclusion the facts support is that breakfast sucks.

    It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of breakfast. When working with a new client in a physique or strength sport or the average person trying to lose a few pounds, more often than not, the first thing I say is, “stop eating breakfast.” Brian Carroll loves the excuse to skip breakfast as do a large number of people I work with. Like I once thought, they believe that breakfast is critical to mental and physical performance and they force themselves to eat it whether they want to or not.

    Here’s a brief synopsis of hormonal-happenings around 7 AM for the average person. Cortisol levels elevate naturally through the night1-9 and peak2, 9-14. Uh oh, cortisol is catabolic and without food, the body’s going to start eating all that hard-earned muscle, right? Wrong. Catabolic only describes the process of something being broken down for energy. Cortisol, when acting without elevated insulin levels and in a natural manner — so without being constantly elevated like during chronic stress — triggers the breakdown of triglycerides into free-fatty acids (FFAs) for metabolization and triggers lipolysis1, 2, 14-28. Cortisol, in the morning, accelerates fat burning.

    Ghrelin, the main hunger-control hormone32, is released in a pulsatile manner through the night with a peak occurring upon waking29-31, which incites hunger. Ghrelin not only causes hunger, but also potently stimulates growth hormone release33-44. As growth hormone levels raise the body releases more fat to be burned as fuel45-49 and decreases the destruction of protein for use as fuel50. Growth hormone levels peak roughly two hours after waking without breakfast51.

    Every day the body starts as a fat-burning furnace. Even during exercise, without eating breakfast, the body burns far higher levels of fat than normal52, 53 and causes up regulation of the enzymes necessary to burn fat, allowing fat to be metabolized faster54.

    Now contrast with what happens as soon as you eat breakfast, one that contains around 30 grams or more of carbs. As is well known, insulin levels raise with the rise in blood sugar, kick-starting a downward spiral: the early-morning release of insulin reduces fat burning for the entire rest of the day55; while cortisol levels remain high, the insulin release causes new empty fat cells to be created56-64; and the insulin lowers levels of ghrelin and growth hormone29-31, 51.

    From the facts above—this is not what I think happens, this is what happens — one would come to the conclusion that maybe we should hold breakfast off for a bit when we get up, at least until cortisol levels return to normal and growth hormone levels fall naturally, which takes a few hours. Skipping breakfast looks like a way to lose body fat faster, or at least to keep it off.

    At this point, you may think, “well, you’ve hobbled together a lot of research to explain your theory, but where are the results?” I’m not so obtuse as to think that a thorough understanding of anything means prediction is possible…a famous mathematician showed that you can know everything about how a system works and still not predict how the damn thing might act. Luckily for me and my hobbled together studies, researchers did test the idea that maybe breakfast isn’t so great.

    If what I assume from the facts is true, then skipping breakfast and eating more food at the end of the day rather than the beginning should lead to more fat loss when trying to lose weight, especially if eating breakfast impairs fat burning for the entire day.

    So what happened when researchers studied two groups, one that ate most of their calories in the beginning of the day, to simulate the no-eating-after-seven routine, and the other that skipped breakfast and ate most of their meals in the latter half of the day? Damn if I shouldn’t be embarrassed: the group that ate most of their calories early in the day, including a big breakfast, lost more weight than the other group65.

    Hold on: there’s more to this story. The researchers also looked at body composition before and after. The morning group lost more weight but lost a lot more muscle and a lot less fat. The night group lost almost exclusively fat and preserved muscle65-69. Who knew, maybe there is something to this science stuff after all?



    No matter what I say about fat loss, someone will say that skipping breakfast turns people into mental sloths. Does it really? You think so? I disagree and when I do in a public forum, someone always says — which I actually don’t believe — “Well, I design tests for grade schools and the kids that eat breakfast always perform the best; I have the studies but I don’t have the time to show you.” Even if they have them, they’re observation studies. They’re not experiments. Do experiments prove that breakfast improves cognitive abilities? Yes, if the person is malnourished70-73.

    What about healthy kids? I know, it doesn’t seem right to take food away from kids in the morning, but some mean group of *kitten* did just that — and several more *kitten* did the same thing. They withheld breakfast from one group of kids, letting them eat at lunch, and the other group had a balanced breakfast. When kids skip breakfast they pay attention, behave, and perform better throughout the entire school day72-83. That’s the difference between observation and experiment. There must be some other factor relating eating breakfast to academic performance: both vary in the same way with socio-economic status84.

    I can imagine the comments now saying I ignore the importance of breakfast because of this observational study or that observational study or some other justification that has no relevance to this discussion. The only point here is that breakfast is definitely not the most important meal of the day and can be detrimental. There are many reasons and ways to incorporate breakfast effectively. Carb Back-Loading™ is one example and Carb Nite® is another. When using either of these strategies for fat loss, I still tend to delay my first meal of the day until 11am or noon

    Someone in a forum also referenced an article stating that skipping breakfast primes the body to get fat and slows fat burning, which is the opposite of the truth, but the article goes on to say that all of this can be avoided by adding some branched-chain amino acids in lieu of breakfast and suggests leucine, isoleucine and valine. This is probably a bad idea, as the amino acid leucine stimulates insulin release without the presence of glucose85-86 and may cause the same reactions as a carby breakfast.

    As far as strength is concerned, there is little effect as long as glycogen stores remain adequate87-88, hence the application of Carb Back-Loading™ to strength, power and physique athletes.

    Eating breakfast impairs fat burning, can aid in fat storage, lowers growth hormone levels and doesn’t offer cognitive benefits. What else can I say? Stop eating breakfast. You’ll thank me in the morning.

    http://articles.elitefts.com/nutrition/logic-does-not-apply-part-2-breakfast/

    I got fat just reading that article. Aint nobody got time for that.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
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    hmm so far I have been called stupid, arrogant, ignorant, etc...you breakfast defenders sure are serious people...Do some of you work for Kellogg's perhaps?

    Kelloggs disrespected Michael Phelps. That's the real reason that your friend Brian quit working 6 months ago. He has been staging a sit-in at their corporate HQ all this time. I didn't want to tell you before...

    Phelps is just a propagandist that the conformist breakfast borg shovels down our throats to to try and make us eat more of their crap....

    Jealous much? :laugh:
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
    Options
    Here is the proof! Ever since breakfast was invented in 1970 people have kept getting fatter. Just look at the chart. You can't argue with a sciency chart.
    breakfastchart.png
    I did not realize they did not have breakfast or overweight people before 1950 did you?

    the chart does not lie!
    it is a historical fact that there was no breakfast or obese people prior to 1950. It is in all the history books...

    tumblr_ma1u5jQmgQ1r83eiuo1_500.gif
  • jendraka
    jendraka Posts: 117 Member
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    When it comes to blood sugar issues, the issues aren't just diabetics, some people are sitting on the hypoglycemic side to begin with. I had strange issues back in high school and I didn't quite know what was with me until I was in boot camp. It wasn't until then that it was discovered that I had low blood sugar issues. If I don't eat at least something on a regular basis, especially if I am very active or in training, I'm going to suffer greatly. It's not fun to go through or watch. So yeah, I eat breakfast, especially if I plan on exercising in the morning, if I don't, it's not a pretty outcome.

    Advising people to just skip breakfast and touting how it is better for them when you know nothing of their medical issues is asinine to say the least. You might as well advise me to go into shock. :huh:
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
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    ndj1979 I am on your side on this debate.

    You should check out this article below.

    http://articles.elitefts.com/nutrition/logic-does-not-apply-part-2-breakfast/

    thanks Bro - I reposted this for all the nay sayers out there...

    Most excellent! So much for the "jump starts the metabolism" myth.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    Options
    When it comes to blood sugar issues, the issues aren't just diabetics, some people are sitting on the hypoglycemic side to begin with. I had strange issues back in high school and I didn't quite know what was with me until I was in boot camp. It wasn't until then that it was discovered that I had low blood sugar issues. If I don't eat at least something on a regular basis, especially if I am very active or in training, I'm going to suffer greatly. It's not fun to go through or watch. So yeah, I eat breakfast, especially if I plan on exercising in the morning, if I don't, it's not a pretty outcome.

    Advising people to just skip breakfast and touting how it is better for them when you know nothing of their medical issues is asinine to say the least. You might as well advise me to go into shock. :huh:

    It's always funny to me when someone with a defined health issue jumps in to these discussions and acts all butthurt. You have a medical condition! You are an exception! Duh!! It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you have a medical condition that you need to do what your doctor tells you to do to manage your condition and not take advice from internet forums!!!???
  • HaleyxErin
    HaleyxErin Posts: 94 Member
    Options
    I think it is very healthy, if you aren't eating the crap that is basically candy and dessert. If you eat fruits, lean protein and HEALTHY food then it is very good for you especially if you are like me and wake up ready to eat a horse. But it is just as healthy or as unhealthy as you make it, just like any other meal of the day.
  • Flyersteve18
    Flyersteve18 Posts: 53 Member
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    Eat under TDEE everyday and you will lose weight, regardless if you eat breakfast or not.
  • girllimberlost
    Options
    correlation =/= causation

    ^^^^ this

    Unless those stats are linked in the same study, one does not have anything to do with the other.
  • jenillawafer
    jenillawafer Posts: 426 Member
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    Hey, my breakfast wasn't unhealthy! Besides, if I don't have nommies shortly after waking up, I'm cranky. :laugh:
  • Ramberta
    Ramberta Posts: 1,312 Member
    Options
    Below is quoted from the article cited at bottom..you can find links to studies in the article...

    The Reality

    The only reasonable conclusion the facts support is that breakfast sucks.

    It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of breakfast. When working with a new client in a physique or strength sport or the average person trying to lose a few pounds, more often than not, the first thing I say is, “stop eating breakfast.” Brian Carroll loves the excuse to skip breakfast as do a large number of people I work with. Like I once thought, they believe that breakfast is critical to mental and physical performance and they force themselves to eat it whether they want to or not.

    Here’s a brief synopsis of hormonal-happenings around 7 AM for the average person. Cortisol levels elevate naturally through the night1-9 and peak2, 9-14. Uh oh, cortisol is catabolic and without food, the body’s going to start eating all that hard-earned muscle, right? Wrong. Catabolic only describes the process of something being broken down for energy. Cortisol, when acting without elevated insulin levels and in a natural manner — so without being constantly elevated like during chronic stress — triggers the breakdown of triglycerides into free-fatty acids (FFAs) for metabolization and triggers lipolysis1, 2, 14-28. Cortisol, in the morning, accelerates fat burning.

    Ghrelin, the main hunger-control hormone32, is released in a pulsatile manner through the night with a peak occurring upon waking29-31, which incites hunger. Ghrelin not only causes hunger, but also potently stimulates growth hormone release33-44. As growth hormone levels raise the body releases more fat to be burned as fuel45-49 and decreases the destruction of protein for use as fuel50. Growth hormone levels peak roughly two hours after waking without breakfast51.

    Every day the body starts as a fat-burning furnace. Even during exercise, without eating breakfast, the body burns far higher levels of fat than normal52, 53 and causes up regulation of the enzymes necessary to burn fat, allowing fat to be metabolized faster54.

    Now contrast with what happens as soon as you eat breakfast, one that contains around 30 grams or more of carbs. As is well known, insulin levels raise with the rise in blood sugar, kick-starting a downward spiral: the early-morning release of insulin reduces fat burning for the entire rest of the day55; while cortisol levels remain high, the insulin release causes new empty fat cells to be created56-64; and the insulin lowers levels of ghrelin and growth hormone29-31, 51.

    From the facts above—this is not what I think happens, this is what happens — one would come to the conclusion that maybe we should hold breakfast off for a bit when we get up, at least until cortisol levels return to normal and growth hormone levels fall naturally, which takes a few hours. Skipping breakfast looks like a way to lose body fat faster, or at least to keep it off.

    At this point, you may think, “well, you’ve hobbled together a lot of research to explain your theory, but where are the results?” I’m not so obtuse as to think that a thorough understanding of anything means prediction is possible…a famous mathematician showed that you can know everything about how a system works and still not predict how the damn thing might act. Luckily for me and my hobbled together studies, researchers did test the idea that maybe breakfast isn’t so great.

    If what I assume from the facts is true, then skipping breakfast and eating more food at the end of the day rather than the beginning should lead to more fat loss when trying to lose weight, especially if eating breakfast impairs fat burning for the entire day.

    So what happened when researchers studied two groups, one that ate most of their calories in the beginning of the day, to simulate the no-eating-after-seven routine, and the other that skipped breakfast and ate most of their meals in the latter half of the day? Damn if I shouldn’t be embarrassed: the group that ate most of their calories early in the day, including a big breakfast, lost more weight than the other group65.

    Hold on: there’s more to this story. The researchers also looked at body composition before and after. The morning group lost more weight but lost a lot more muscle and a lot less fat. The night group lost almost exclusively fat and preserved muscle65-69. Who knew, maybe there is something to this science stuff after all?



    No matter what I say about fat loss, someone will say that skipping breakfast turns people into mental sloths. Does it really? You think so? I disagree and when I do in a public forum, someone always says — which I actually don’t believe — “Well, I design tests for grade schools and the kids that eat breakfast always perform the best; I have the studies but I don’t have the time to show you.” Even if they have them, they’re observation studies. They’re not experiments. Do experiments prove that breakfast improves cognitive abilities? Yes, if the person is malnourished70-73.

    What about healthy kids? I know, it doesn’t seem right to take food away from kids in the morning, but some mean group of *kitten* did just that — and several more *kitten* did the same thing. They withheld breakfast from one group of kids, letting them eat at lunch, and the other group had a balanced breakfast. When kids skip breakfast they pay attention, behave, and perform better throughout the entire school day72-83. That’s the difference between observation and experiment. There must be some other factor relating eating breakfast to academic performance: both vary in the same way with socio-economic status84.

    I can imagine the comments now saying I ignore the importance of breakfast because of this observational study or that observational study or some other justification that has no relevance to this discussion. The only point here is that breakfast is definitely not the most important meal of the day and can be detrimental. There are many reasons and ways to incorporate breakfast effectively. Carb Back-Loading™ is one example and Carb Nite® is another. When using either of these strategies for fat loss, I still tend to delay my first meal of the day until 11am or noon

    Someone in a forum also referenced an article stating that skipping breakfast primes the body to get fat and slows fat burning, which is the opposite of the truth, but the article goes on to say that all of this can be avoided by adding some branched-chain amino acids in lieu of breakfast and suggests leucine, isoleucine and valine. This is probably a bad idea, as the amino acid leucine stimulates insulin release without the presence of glucose85-86 and may cause the same reactions as a carby breakfast.

    As far as strength is concerned, there is little effect as long as glycogen stores remain adequate87-88, hence the application of Carb Back-Loading™ to strength, power and physique athletes.

    Eating breakfast impairs fat burning, can aid in fat storage, lowers growth hormone levels and doesn’t offer cognitive benefits. What else can I say? Stop eating breakfast. You’ll thank me in the morning.

    http://articles.elitefts.com/nutrition/logic-does-not-apply-part-2-breakfast/

    I got fat just reading that article. Aint nobody got time for that.

    ^