After 6 months of consistently skipping breakfast, I decided to eat it on my last Saturday in Grenada.
It felt foul. I felt heavy, sleepy, and the opposite of what’s good. I didn’t teach better, think better, or perform my training more efficiently. My day did not go better. I’d argue it started off worse.
The research supports caloric restriction and insulin regulation for increased longevity and disease prevention.
So why, over the course of my life, has breakfast been touted as the most important meal of the day?
I think we need to eat a little something when we feel our stomachs growl. Perhaps we have become so detached from our body signals we don’t even feel them.
Many of us eat breakfast because it’s a habit. But why? Where is the research that supports it will improve our longevity or prevent disease? The research supports the opposite!
I hear this excuse quite often: “Oh, I’m hypoglycemic.”
I tend to want to reply with: “Congratulations! Your insulin efficiency is on point. Now, don’t spend your life messing it up.”
I can tell you I was diagnosed in youth with “hypoglycemia,” but I changed my diet and started exercising. Poof! Blood work was normalized.
I think the prime objective way to find if you really NEED breakfast is to use a blood glucose monitor. It’s cheap. It’s data collection. Test it upon waking. If it is quite low (below 60), eat clean food for breakfast. Protein and a handful of berries ought to do it.
Or you can go old school and just try not eating it for a few weeks, keeping a log of how you feel. I personally went 34 years without properly documenting or researching that breakfast was right for me.
And it wasn’t.
I’m stronger, more focused, and more energetic than I’ve ever been-without it. And you’ve seen me – I’m not exactly wasting away. I’m not fat either, so my metabolism has actually improved, helping me build lean tissue as I slowly decrease body fat.
This food for thought may just substitute food for breakfast.
– Dr. Kathy Dooley