Is a Heavy Breakfast Really Important?

[orca]

Is breakfast really the most important meal of the day? I've read a few articles on the Japanese diet that say it is and i'm not sure why cos I feel really stuffy and lazy in the morning if I eat heavy so would love more info on that, why is it considered important and what benefits does it have on someones body?
I'm not much of a breakfast person and don't even eat breakfast most days which is unhealthy I know cos it has me snacking more later so i'm tryin to change that.
Also I get why the evening meal would be light, but why lunch too?

[Columbine]

Originally Posted by orca

Is breakfast really the most important meal of the day? I've read a few articles on the Japanese diet that say it is and i'm not sure why cos I feel really stuffy and lazy in the morning if I eat heavy so would love more info on that, why is it considered important and what benefits does it have on someones body?
I'm not much of a breakfast person and don't even eat breakfast most days which is unhealthy I know cos it has me snacking more later so i'm tryin to change that.
Also I get why the evening meal would be light, but why lunch too?

I've wondered this sometimes too. There seems to be a lot of conflicting advice going around; eat a light breakfast, eat a heavy lunch, don't eat a light lunch etc etc. From what I can discern, eating any amount at breakfast time is better than eating nothing at all, and the idea of a heavy breakfast or otherwise stodgy repast comes from how people lived way back when.

For example, the traditional 'English Breakfast' is a monster- Bacon, sausage, egg, bread, beans, mushrooms and more besides, but very few people eat this on a regular basis. It's all fat, protein and heavy carbs and it doesn't seem to make much sense as a breakfast option in modern day. However, going back a couple of hundred years, it's a different story. People got up earlier, they had much more physical jobs and, particularly in the case of the laboring classes, would often get up, work a few hours and then have breakfast. So by the time they ate, they'd have already burnt off energy and salts in their sweat and really need something substantial to make up for that. In fact, your body craves animal fats if you live that kind of lifestyle. Our neanderthal ancestors, for example, lived very physical lives and so were predominately carnivores. But I digress.

Having had a stout breakfast, they were then able to keep working hard for as long as it was light enough to do so, and lunch was pretty meagre- bread and dripping maybe, and tea. More "unhealthy" salt, carbs and animal fat. Dinner was probably more varied; a small meal if you were poor, something bigger if you were better off. But it wouldn't be unheard of for that big breakfast to be the main, or only meal, of a person's day.

Another reason was probably climate. Germany and the UK share a reputation for stodgy stick-to-your-ribs type cooking. Lots of carbs again, like potatoes. Basically, when the weather is cold, your body works harder to keep itself up to temperature and that takes energy. Heavy food takes longer to digest, and carby/meaty food more so than things like fruit or vegetables, so you can keep yourself warmer longer. It's like having a more efficient battery. Probably why they stacked all this in first thing in the morning, is that they'd already gone a long period asleep where they obviously weren't topping their reserves up by eating.

The reason why it no longer makes any sense, is that in a modern world, most of us don't work that physically any more.

Anyway, that's my take on the matter. I can't really advise you on what you should be eating or when to eat it, but I hope that this goes a little way to explain why people think (maybe misguidedly) that breakfast needs to be a feast.

[PockyMePink]

I've always heard that it keeps you healthy - I figure it gives your system a boost in the morning. If I go without breakfast, then my stomach cramps, and I feel horrible all day.

I watched a documentary (or some kind of video...they showed it in school a long time ago) and it said that just about anything can be eaten for breakfast, as long as you eat something you'll be fine.

[reihiino]

breakfast is my fave meal...if i don't then i get cranky...sometimes i forget until 11am-ish...it sucks being unemployed...

[Kandierain15]

eh. i think that... i eat breakfast only for the simple fact, i get cranky in school bcuz ill start to get hungry from no food. ><

But for people that aren't in school, ive heard that breakfast is important bcuz it keeps you energized for what your going to do that day until lunch time comes around. haha. dunno if thats tru.

[TalnSG]

Until I was 30 my breakfast was usually one or two cups of tea while getting ready to leave in the morning. It was not a health or wieght issue, just all I was wanting or able to deal with. But when I was married my husband was in the habit of a coke and hostess chocolate cupcakes on the way into the office. I liked both, but the though of them together or for breakfast made me gag. So to wean him away from the convenience store, fat and sugar, I agreed to make us a light breakfast each morning. Tea, toast, yogurt and/or a piece of fruit seem to strike a comfortable balance.

That was 20 years ago and its still my breakfast most days, though in cold weather the yogurt gets replaced with long-cooking oatmeal that I make in weekly batches to nuke in the morning. These days if I skip that start, I am miserable all day and I tend to munch perpetually. The traditional full English breakfast is my treat for Saturday or Sunday morning. It would make me doze at my desk during the week.

The reason dieticians recommend your heaviest meal be breakfast, or at least lunch, is because dinner is usually to close to when you sleep. With the body dealing with a heavy load in the digestive tract, sleep can be disturbed and the chance of reflux while laying prone is increased.

[SceptileMaster]

Originally Posted by Columbine

For example, the traditional 'English Breakfast' is a monster- Bacon, sausage, egg, bread, beans, mushrooms and more besides, but very few people eat this on a regular basis. It's all fat, protein and heavy carbs and it doesn't seem to make much sense as a breakfast option in modern day. However, going back a couple of hundred years, it's a different story. People got up earlier, they had much more physical jobs and, particularly in the case of the laboring classes, would often get up, work a few hours and then have breakfast. So by the time they ate, they'd have already burnt off energy and salts in their sweat and really need something substantial to make up for that. In fact, your body craves animal fats if you live that kind of lifestyle. Our neanderthal ancestors, for example, lived very physical lives and so were predominately carnivores. But I digress.

I love the English breakfast. It's one of the only thing still going in England that I don't hate. A Sausage, bacon and egg bap is a particular favorite of mine. Although true I wouldn't have it all the time because it isn't very healthy (I probably have it too much as it is). Maybe it'll catch up with me eventually, I still don't understand how I'm so thin.

On the subject of breakfast as a whole though, I hate missing it. Breakfast is an essential for me.

[Columbine]

Originally Posted by SceptileMaster

I love the English breakfast. It's one of the only thing still going in England that I don't hate. A Sausage, bacon and egg bap is a particular favorite of mine. Although true I wouldn't have it all the time because it isn't very healthy (I probably have it too much as it is). Maybe it'll catch up with me eventually, I still don't understand how I'm so thin.

On the subject of breakfast as a whole though, I hate missing it. Breakfast is an essential for me.

Oh man, bacon/egg muffins are basically my achilles heel. Lucky I'm too lazy to make them that often. Loads of people I know actually prefer the full english as brunch or lunch. :P

I don't know how old you are but *prods own stomach* i used to be a rake who could eat just about anything in any amounts, and then I hit 20 and since then it's been slowly going downhill as my metabolism slows down. :< I miss my double-lunch days.

[mandalina]

When I think about it this way: I have brakfast at 7:30, lunch about 12:30 and dinner about 6 or 8 (changes as the summer and winter time).

Between the meals there is about 6 hours and between dinner time to breakfast there is a huge gap, like, about 11 hours. If the breakfast is skipped it will do no good for the body. I know as breakfast and lunch have to be heavy and dinner is to be light. I can't say I have a good breakfast. It's only a piece of bread, some cheese and tea for me (the weekend is different of course, a long and heavy breakfast with all members of the family) and I have been skipping lunch breaks (only eating biscuits) and eating a lot at the dinner time. Now I am having healt troubles from this kind of eating habit.

[Yuusuke]

I personally eat breakfast because if I don't I won't be able to concentrate well until lunchtime.

I think breakfast is essential and important for most.
the people who don't eat breakfast usually have a slower metabolism.

a lot of my friends are over weight.
and i asked if they eat breakfast, most of them said no.