“I discovered a meal between breakfast and brunch.”
~ Homer
In its truest form, breakfast actually means “to break from a fast”. A fast is going a minimum of 8-12 hours without food. Since we generally sleep about 8 hours over night, our first meal of the day is breaking our fast. As for a specific time for breakfast, the common consensus is that we break our fast upon (or close to) rising in the morning. We’ve often heard the notion that without a hearty breakfast, we will not have the energy required to tackle the demands of the day. Furthermore, missing or skipping breakfast is an unhealthy choice because it’s the most important meal of the day. Is this true though?
No, I do not believe breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Every meal you consume in a day is equally important. I understand that by having a healthy breakfast, you set up good momentum to follow for the rest of the day. You will be more likely to make better choices later in the day, if your initial choices are good ones. But the question still remains, is skipping breakfast a good choice?
You cannot skip breakfast because it literally means the first meal of the day. However, should you have it upon rising or should you wait a few hours until lunch time to have it? In my opinion, both options can be healthy or unhealthy. It really depends on your vitality level, goals, lifestyle, blood sugar regulation, mindset, preference and food choices to name a few. If your goal is to lose excess body then you can adjust your diet in a number of ways. Some dietary programs recommend eating several small meals per day to stabilize blood sugar. If you were on one of these dietary programs and you skipped breakfast, you could possibly throw off your blood sugar as your body is accustomed to functioning with regular meals. In this case, skipping breakfast would not be a good idea.
If you were on an ‘Intermittent Fasting’ ‘Low-Carb and Ketogenic Diet’ then prolonging your breakfast/first meal until the afternoon would not have any negative consequences. Actually, it would only help you to lose body fat. These are two completely diverse approaches to losing body fat. Which one you choose to adopt really depends on your will-power, preference and lifestyle. When I work with clients, I work with them to create a healthy diet that they enjoy and helps them reach their goals (yes, this is possible). Eating should be something you enjoy and look forward to doing for each and every meal. The reason I design fitness, nutrition and lifestyle programs that clients enjoy is because it increases compliance. What’s the point of giving someone the “best” program if they are not going to follow it? Is the “best” program really the best for them if they are not going to follow through with it?
Will having only one or two meals per day be good or bad for you? This is something everyone needs to discover for themselves. If your goal is to gain weight then skipping meals for no good reason (such as being too busy to eat) is not a good idea. If you are struggling with an eating disorder and you’re skipping meals for the wrong reasons (such as body-image shaming) then again, not a good idea. We have to be careful when we hear certain ideas such as ‘breakfast is the most important meal of the day’. Even though it is true for many people, it is also not true for many others too. Once you realize this truth, you can breathe a sigh of relief. Just as the saying goes; “one man’s food is another man’s poison”, well in a similar sense; one person’s plan to glory is another person’s road to ruin. Are you not sure what the best plan is for you? I can help you find out. Take the ‘Free V10 Health Questionnaire’ and get started down the right path today.
Your V10 Coach,
Sal Crispo
P.S. If you are interested, I also make a coaching video for each of these posts on YouTube. You can subscribe to my YouTube channel so you do not miss out on any of the valuable content I share. Here is the link for this post: