The Latest On Breakfast

Before we get into this, let’s clarify one thing — if intermittent fasting works for you, then great! Keep at it. As long as you feel yourself moving in the right direction and you feel that what you are doing is sustainable, that is all that matters. Why fix something that isn’t broken?  

That said, a couple of recent studies ( this one and this one ) suggest that breakfast might be critical for effective weight management.

More specifically, individuals who consume a larger portion of their daily calories during the morning hours may have a heightened ability to lose weight compared to those who ingest their most substantial meal later in the day.

A comprehensive review of nine separate studies supported this theory. Participants who consumed a majority of their daily caloric intake in the morning experienced more substantial weight loss and demonstrated marked improvements in cholesterol and blood sugar levels. This was in contrast to individuals who concentrated their calorie consumption in the evening hours.

We still don’t know why this is the case, but some experts suspect it could be due to the effect on ghrelin, the hormone that regulates hunger, and leptin, which signals satiety. An evening concentration of calories tends to increase ghrelin and decrease leptin, a combination that can increase overall caloric intake. 

Another reason might be that we all have less impulse control at the end of the day, so if we are hungry because we didn’t eat enough at breakfast, we are more likely to overeat or choose calorically dense, processed foods. 

We’ve all been there. We skip breakfast, have a small lunch, and then come dinnertime, we end up raiding the pantry and having way more snacks than we should. 

It’s a recipe for disaster that could be easily avoided.