Breakfast Buzz
Bzzzzzz... that's how I feel about the whole Breakfast buzz business! I mean - would the bees and birds eat differently if they could read all the 'breakfast research' we get?
Call me sceptical but it seems to me that all the breakfast buzz may have less to do with our bodily needs than to do with the clock, custom and breakfast ‘research’ funded by groups with a vested interest in our breakfasting habits.
Breakfast buzz and our Body clockOur body clock has three eight-hour phases in every 24-hour cycle From an energy-intake point of view, each 8-hour period happen at a particular time, each performs a different function (often preparing the body for the next cycle) and each therefore needs something different.
• The Appropriation phase takes in nutrients and needs food. • The Assimilation phase utilizes those nutrients for cell maintenance and growth.
From about 4am to Noon – our body is in its elimination phase and needs water to help flush out toxins. That’s why we often wake up ‘dying for the cup of coffee’ – our biological clock is more thirsty than hungry in the mornings.
Breakfast buzz myth #1We get told:“You need breakfast to kick-start your metabolism”. I discount the kick-start theory because it implies our metabolism has stopped. This is untrue. Your ‘basal rate’ of metabolism (the energy needed for basic bodily functions such as respiration, digestion and growth) never stops: it continues 24/7. I suspect that the ‘kick-start’ myth originates from the fact that our basal metabolism does slow down when we are inactive for long periods of time (such as when we are sleeping).
And yes, it is true that our metabolism does increase whenever we eat because the body creates heat in order to process the calories we have just eaten.
It’s called thermogenesis (thermo = heat and genesis = creation). But frankly, drinking a glass of cold water has the same effect and even mild dehydration can slow our metabolism by as much as 3%. (By the way it’s estimated that about 75% of American are apparently dehydrated). However while eating or drinking cold water temporarily raise our metabolism, they do nothing to permanently enhance our basal metabolism which is how we would get to utilize more calories in the course of basic bodily functions. It is consistent amounts of exercise which increases your muscle mass, raising your basal metabolism naturally because… the more lean muscle you have the more energy your body uses to stay alive.
Breakfast buzz myth #2We get told:“You won’t be able to concentrate if you don’t eat first thing in the morning.” Really? Plenty of people who don’t eat until they get hungry in the mornings tell me their concentration isn’t impaired at all. Now, in line with our body being in an elimination cycle in the early mornings, research on water intake has reported that we only need a 2% drop in body water to trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page. But research on the importance of breakfast doesn’t ask questions about how much people have had to drink. You see, it doesn’t fit in with their hypothesis. It would go against their research to find that a lack of water and not their breakfast food was what we needed! Maybe in line with our body’s morning elimination cycle needing water, we need to drink water and do some exercise (and um yes dare I mention that morning sex counts!) rather than eat in order to concentrate. And remember that water is H20 – meaning it also provides molecules of oxygen.Deep breathing and oxygen increase mental agility and many Japanese companies only employ staff on condition that they exercise three times a week because they believe that it is physical activity that improves mental performance.
Breakfast Buzz Myth #3We get told:“You won’t have energy if you don’t eat breakfast.”
Again, studies show that a lack of water is the number one trigger of daytime fatigue as is eating a diet that is excessive in refined carbohydrates (as are many breakfast cereals by the way) and doing no physical activity. I can also vouch for the fact that on the days when I don’t get to do exercise I have less energy than on the days when I do and eating low quality carbohydrates is enough to make me really sleepy.
Breakfast buzz myth #4We get told:“You’ll be starving if you don’t eat before you go to work/school.” How do you naturally eat on weekends or vacations? My 'rule' is that I only eat when my body tells me it’s hungry and having now worked with thousands of clients – I can tell you that almost everyone I’ve ever worked with tells me they only get hungry between 10-11am. (Unless I’ve eaten a heavy meal late at night – then I wake up ravenous.) Interestingly enough only getting hungry later in the morning fits in with my body clock – which, as it approaches noon, gets ready to move into its Appropriation cycle.
Breakfast buzz myth #5We get told:“People who don’t eat breakfast struggle to maintain their weight” Here’s what I’ve noticed … if I eat before my body physically asks for food, I still get hungry at about the same- between 10-11am (and I’m not alone in this), so I land up eating twice instead of once. And naturally, if I don’t eat when I get hungry – then by the afternoon my eating is out of control. I grab the first food in sight (often nothing nutritious) and guzzle it down. So those people who don’t eat breakfast before going to work are often at risk for then not eating until lunch by which time they are way too hungry – eat too fast, and eat too much because their hunger is out of control – no wonder they gain weight. To my way of thinking your body knows best. If your body is actually thirsty and not hungry, it simply isn’t time to eat. Problem is that many of us (40% of participants in one study) can’t tell the difference between thirst and hunger.
My final say on the breakfast buzzSo I’m not saying don’t eat breakfast, what I am saying is take another look at the word:Break/fast – it’s about 'breaking the fast' created by sleeping (unless of course you’re a nighttime eater).
• honour your body's wisdom and don’t eat breakfast until you’re physically hungry • and as long as you’re eating quality fuel each and every time you’re hungry, you’ll see your eating patterns will fall into their own pattern that may look a bit different to that required by our culture and custom.
And the other thing I'm saying is: check these theories for yourself: • how much energy do you or don't you have depending on when you eat? Don't accept everything you read just because some or other 'researcher' says it so. Especially when they have a vested interest in having you eat when your body isn't actually asking for food. The Mind over Fatter Program gives you a step-by-step practical roadmap to help you honour your body and lose weight naturally.
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What Other Visitors Have to say about BreakfastClick below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...
This is fascinating
I lost 25 pounds 7 years ago, and have kept it off
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Breakfast make me sluggish
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Agree and Disagree
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Even hungrier at lunch if I force breakfast
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Pancakes and cold pizza
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I dispute this – I’m bursting with energy in the mornings without having consumed anything except a gulp-size water and lemon.
