Breakfast jumps starts your metabolism? Explain that please.

Those 3 hours are on top of the 8-10 hours that you should be sleeping each night. This is a much more accurate statement:

"Eating early in the day keeps us from "starvation eating" later on. But it also jump-starts your metabolism, says Elisabetta Politi, RD, MPH, nutrition manager for the Duke Diet & Fitness Center at Duke University Medical School. "When you don't eat breakfast, you're actually fasting for 15 to 20 hours, so you're not producing the enzymes needed to metabolize fat to lose weight."

I see what you are saying, and - without - doing an extensive googling to verify, my personal view, given what I know about my own body - is that no eating at different times does not change my metabolism.

BUT if I do eat a good and sensible breakfast I avoid binging later in the day. I often 'forget' to eat and later when I get hungry, then real hungry, I tend to eat too fast and too much. There are studies that has shown that overweight people on average eat faster than people of normal or under weight people.

You just reminded me I have not had breakfast yet.

I used to eat *at least* one breakfast per day when I was heavier. LOL Now, usually I eat breakfast just b/c I want to, but sometimes I skip it if I'm having a hectic day. I don't suddenly gain weight if I have to skip breakfast several days in a row, b/c regardless I stay aware of what I'm consuming throughout my entire day. Eating breakfast does not mean you'll be skinny. Skipping breakfast does not mean you'll be fat. Not being aware of HOW MUCH you are eating, regardless of how you time it, and not burning off those calories through the course of your day, is what makes you fat. You can eat your meals whenever it works for you, and as long as you pay attention to how it adds up you will be just fine.

If you skip breakfast and wait until later in the day, your body goes into starvation mode. This means that when you do eat after skipping breakfast, your body registers that it hasn't had food for a while, and being fearful that it won't get food again for a while, it goes into "starvation mode' and stores, instead of utilizes, the calories you consume. If you are exercising frequently, then this shouldn't be a big deal as your body will burn calories through exercise. It is helpful to eat breakfast though.

Um, not even close to being true. It takes 3 days of complete fasting before your body even thinks about slowing down your metabolism. Waiting an extra 3 hours and eating breakfast at lunch time instead of first thing in the morning will not suddenly put you in starvation mode. Do you think humans 100,000 years ago ate 6 meals a day? They were lucky to eat one meal every 3 or 4 days.

I have to agree with this.^^^^^ People have gotten way to scared of, and use the term "starvation mode" way to frequently, when in reality there are few people that ever come close to any sort of starvation mode that will cause the body to store fat as this "mode" suggests. It would take a couple of days of very little nutrients being consumed to send your body into this type of fat storing phase. Unless you didn't eat anything the couple of days before you are not going to wake up one morning in "starvation mode." You may be hungry but you ain't starving!!!!!

"If you skip breakfast and wait until later in the day, your body goes into starvation mode."

Why do you say this?

If you would be so kind, could you explain, in layman's terms since I'm a history major, why this happens?

Thanks.

It doesn't. It takes approximately 72 hours of fasting to go into "starvation mode". Skipping breakfast does not put you there.