The internet’s worst pro-breakfast arguments
“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.”
The false importance bestowed upon breakfast is a testament to the power of marketing. It’s cereal company dogma, pounded into the heads of Gen X kids just trying to watch Super Friends on Saturday morning.
Many people eat breakfast. That’s fine, but it’s not required. And if you practice intermittent fasting, skipping breakfast makes it easier to extend and heighten fasting’s benefits.
The internet carries forth pro-breakfast propaganda unabated. Here are a few of my favorite bad pro-breakfast arguments.
You won’t get enough [insert macro or nutrient] if you don’t eat breakfast
I’m not aware of any nutrient that expires at noon. This sounds like someting written by a PR person for the American Breakfast Association*.
I assure you: protein, vitamins and minerals are all available 24 hours a day.
Eating breakfast makes you healthier
False causation at its finest. Several studies did find people who ate breakfast were, on average, healthier and thinner. But no causative link was ever established.
Breakfast “kick-starts” your metabolism
Your metabolism is a not an all-terrain vehicle. It does not require a kick start. Metabolism runs all the time, unless you're dead.
This claim relates to the thermic effect of digestion. The thermic affect burns about 10% of the calories you ingest. In other words, you’re taking in way more than you burn.
Skipping breakfast messes up your blood sugar
Want to screw up your blood sugar? Wake up and scarf down foods rich in carbs and sugar, like cereal or a donut. That “messes up” (spikes) your blood sugar. Do it long enough, and you can develop insulin resistance.
Skipping breakfast gives you bad breath
If you you don’t stuff food in your mouth at the crack of dawn there’s nothing to block/cover up morning breath.
Toothbrush? Mouthwash? Nah, toss me that danish.
My n=1 breakfast experience
My day starts with black coffee with cinnemon, and water. Then I have a big protein-rich meal sometime between 11-1.
My dogs think my breath is just fine.