Saskia stopped eating breakfast over a year ago after reading a story about intermittent fasting. Does she miss her breakfast and how healthy does she feel?
'Never skip breakfast', 'breakfast is the best start for a new day', 'not having breakfast will make you fat'.
I have always been told that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and that you should never skip it. I always followed that advice obediently, without ever questioning it. As a child I was not allowed to leave the house without breakfast by my mother. And when I started living on my own, I kept it up well. Every day I ate a healthy breakfast:a bowl of oatmeal with nuts, fruit and linseed, an omelette, bread with spread or banana pancakes. Slow carbohydrates that I could enjoy for a few hours and that gave my body a boost in the early morning, according to all the advice.
About a year and a half ago I changed course and stopped eating breakfast. Why? Because I noticed that after my breakfast at eight, I was usually hungry again after an hour. And again an hour later. And at 11 o'clock I was already looking forward to lunch, because my stomach started to growl again. In short:I was busy eating all morning. Felt constantly hungry and the focus on my work was hard to find. Despite the recommended nutritious breakfast and healthy snacks such as fruit, nuts and cottage cheese.
Clear head
On a blog I read an article about Intermittent Fasting. In the variant I read about, it means that you adjust your diet in such a way that the number of hours in which you eat becomes shorter (for example, eating between 12:00 and 8:00 pm) and your body ends up in a fasting state for a longer period (fasting of 20:00 to 12:00 the following day). Read more about the different forms of intermittent fasting.
The idea behind this is that during the fasting period your body has more time for other bodily processes and does not have to spend energy on your digestion all day because you are constantly eating. By the way, you still eat the same number of calories in a day, so it is not a diet. In addition to some health benefits – according to a number of studies, Intermittent Fasting ensures, among other things, a higher fat burning and more stable blood sugar levels – this eating pattern also has the advantage that you improve your focus. So a clearer head. Other studies show disadvantages, but my interest was aroused!
Less appetite
I decided to try this way of eating, not because I was looking for the health benefits, but because I wanted to spend less time with food. I was hoping this would "solve" my constant morning cravings. That took some getting used to. Suddenly I started my day without breakfast and snacks and the first meal of the day was my lunch. The first time in the morning I still had the idea that I had to eat, I was clearly missing an activity. I drank water, coffee and tea, but I didn't eat anything. And at noon I was eager to get my lunch ready.
But I persisted. And the longer I held on, the easier it got. My body adapted and slowly but surely I started missing my food in the morning less and less. I became less and less hungry and noticed that at the end of the morning I often thought 'oh, it's almost 12 o'clock, let me eat something later'. I also noticed that I could focus much better on my work in the morning. I performed more and better, so I became more and more enthusiastic about this new diet.
A bit weird?
A lot of people around me thought it was a bit strange, not having breakfast of mine. I often got the comment that it is very unhealthy not to have breakfast. Where does this conviction come from and why are opinions so divided?
Previously it was always stated that people who do not eat breakfast would be fatter on average and have more health problems. For example, skipping breakfast could lead to weight gain and various cardiovascular diseases, according to a 2013 study from Harvard University in the United States that followed nearly 27,000 men for about 16 years. A possible cause could be that those who skip breakfast eat more, larger and unhealthier meals later in the day. Breakfast would provide a stable diet and a daily routine that many people need. Gijs Goossens, Associate Professor and researcher in the field of obesity and metabolism of the Department of Human Biology at Maastricht University explains this. “In general, not eating breakfast is indeed often related to a generally unhealthy lifestyle. People who do not eat breakfast often have a less healthy diet, exercise less and smoke and drink more. Not having breakfast is often the result of lack of time. Part of this group of people often goes to bed late, sleeps irregularly, gets up late and then has no time for breakfast.
Blood sugar level
Besides the possible influence of this on body weight, there is another possible consequence, according to Goossens. “It is important not only to look at the outside of the body, such as body weight, but also what is happening inside the body. It may not always be visible, but not eating breakfast can cause a disturbance in the sugar metabolism, as well as a less well-functioning cardiovascular system. There is some evidence that skipping breakfast is related to depression symptoms.”
Margriet Westerterp-Plantenga, Professor of Food Intake Regulation in Humans, is also not enthusiastic about skipping breakfast. “People often don't have much appetite in the morning, even though they haven't eaten all night. This seems to be a reason not to have to eat. But breakfast raises and stabilizes blood sugar and increases concentration, because more energy is available for the brain. Eating breakfast prevents you from overeating during the morning or during lunch, when you're hungry again (and if you don't have breakfast you might be extra hungry), in an effort to satisfy that hunger. Not eating breakfast could therefore put you at risk of weight gain.”
Biological clock
The Nutrition Center has also recommended for years not to skip breakfast. ‘Breakfast provides new energy after the night. You often have not eaten anything for more than 10 hours when you get up in the morning. It is therefore important that your digestion gets going again,' according to the Nutrition Center on its website. This is also important for your biological clock. Westerterp-Plantenga:“All bodily processes are linked to this clock. Diet, sleep and physical activities can support or disrupt this clock. The best is complete synchronicity between your behavior and your biological clock. That is why regularity is important, also with regard to nutrition:breakfast, lunch and dinner at fixed times. This promotes optimal utilization of the nutrients. Not eating breakfast and Intermittent Fasting disrupt your biological clock and increase the risks of negative health effects such as obesity, high blood pressure, bad cholesterol levels and disturbed blood sugar levels.” Goossens supports this argument. “Studies show that the feeling of satiety decreases with not eating breakfast. Breakfast is a benchmark for your body:the day starts again. The biological clock also plays an important role in this, especially the biological clock in the various organs that play a role in metabolism. These have a rhythm. So breakfast also sends a signal to your organs. It seems important not to disrupt this biological clock.”
Healthy lifestyle
In recent years, however, there has also been a dissenting voice and there have also been studies showing, for example, that skipping breakfast does not necessarily lead to obesity. For example, researchers at the British University of Bath state in a 2014 study (Bath Breakfast Project) that it makes little difference whether or not you eat breakfast if you want to lose weight. At the end of the study period, there was no weight difference between the subjects who did and did not eat breakfast. Some scientists think that many research results are clouded by the fact that breakfasters are often healthier because they generally follow a healthier diet and are more conscious about nutrition, in contrast to the non-breakfasts. According to these conclusions, the assumption that it is healthy to have breakfast seems to have little connection with whether you eat breakfast and what time you eat breakfast, but especially with your overall lifestyle. Whether someone needs a good breakfast may depend much more on your occupation (sedentary or active), your blood sugar level, your needs (are you hungry in the morning or do you not get a bite down your throat) and whether you skip your breakfast later compensates for unhealthy.
Burning calories
Ingeborg Brouwer, professor of Nutrition for Healthy Living at the VU University Amsterdam, agrees. “People who do eat breakfast often have a better lifestyle. But in the end it is more important what and how much you ingest than when and how often in a day. It also depends on what you do in the morning. People who do heavy work will be much more hungry because they burn much more calories in the morning and therefore need breakfast much more. But if you sit behind the computer all morning, you burn much less and it is not surprising that you can function well without breakfast.” Tim Spector, a professor of genetic epidemiology at King's College London, agrees, saying you should "let your body determine whether or not you eat breakfast." Some people need it, others don't. How often you eat per day does not seem to affect your weight, blood pressure and heart condition," Spector said in his book The Diet Myth:The Real Science Behind What We Eat .
Personalized
Nutrition professor Martijn Katan also states in his book What is healthy? Food myths &facts that breakfast is not necessarily necessary. "How bad skipping breakfast is also depends on what you eat later in the day instead of your breakfast. Eating sandwiches at seven in the morning is healthier than filled cakes at ten thirty, but if you're not hungry so early, you don't have to stuff yourself against your will.' Brouwer agrees. “Not having breakfast is not necessarily good or bad. If you feel good about it and you eat healthy and get enough calories and nutrients, there is not necessarily something wrong with it. Many people need breakfast as a stepping stone for their rhythm and regularity in their diet. And many people also need it to function, don't feel good if they skip breakfast or do indeed snack later in the day, then it is of course not so healthy. There are many snags to the studies that have been done and it is therefore difficult to give general advice, it is just very personal.”
Food hype
Goossens does have a comment:“If it was a conscious choice to stop eating breakfast, you were probably already more conscious about your diet and health in general. And subconsciously you may have become even more aware of your nutrition than you were before through this step, so it will indeed not make you fat. But there is still a chance that you will disrupt your sugar metabolism or your cardiovascular system. In general, I wouldn't advise people to skip breakfast, even though studies are inconclusive. The results of these studies are not always easy to interpret, because there are many factors involved. Well-controlled studies in large groups of people, both men and women, are needed. And there are so many food hypes these days. Studies often take years, so there is no easy answer from science to these trends and that makes it a difficult discussion. As a result, it is sometimes difficult for many people to determine what they are doing right now.”
Delicious lunch
And I? Have I started to feel unhealthier or healthier since I stopped eating breakfast? Will I notice any of the so-called health benefits? No, not the latter per se. But it sure feels good to me, no matter how divided opinions are on this. I personally think that it doesn't matter when you eat in a day, as long as you eventually get all the nutrients and a responsible amount of calories and I'll take care of that. I sleep fifteen minutes longer (wonderful!). I'm super focused on my work all morning (my client also likes it!). I am sometimes a bit hungry, especially if I had a bad night's sleep, but after a cup of tea or coffee that disappears again (and if I'm really hungry I just eat, after all you have to listen to your body). I am no longer busy with food in my head all morning (saves stress!). And I can easily keep it up until about 12 noon. Then I prepare a delicious lunch for myself (or just a late 'breakfast', if I still feel like oatmeal) and enjoy it extra. Halfway through the afternoon I eat cottage cheese with some fruit or another snack, and in the evening I just eat my dinner. That traditional early breakfast? That 'kickstart of the day'? I really don't miss that one. And I feel great about it.
This article previously appeared in Santé.
