Hey guys! Last week a friend emailed me this article on Why Eating Breakfast Might Make you Hungrier. I think she expected me to reply back with a couple of lines but it ended up being full-on rant (sorry, Manny 
). As a breakfast lover, Dr. Mercola’s attempt to put breakfast in a negative light, both in terms of health & weight loss, really agitated me. People will believe anything they read on the internet and it worries me that some people would start to forego breakfast as result of this article. Isn’t that what has happened with regards to eating carbs at night…or eating anything at night for that matter?! While it’s a debate that’s likely going to continue, I wanted to share my viewpoint.
As soon as I skimmed the article, my first thought was that it contradicted countless studies and theories based on the idea that eating breakfast “wakes up our metabolism to start burning calories”. As I started to read on, a number of points overtook that.
Firstly I hate the idea that this article portrays hunger as a bad thing in this article. Its opening argument is “Many people feel hungry after eating breakfast, because it coincides with your circadian cortisol peak…” Whether your goal is to aim is to lose, maintain or gain weight, hunger should not be feared or always avoided. If anything, it’s a sign that your metabolism is working and your body needs refueling. Hunger pangs communicate health and life. Let’s examine the people who don’t experience hunger:
- The sick (physically/emotionally)
- Extremely stressed
- The deceased
More than, this article is far too simplistic. Firstly the studies discussed were all done on animal subjects- how can you transfer the results to human beings? That aside, it’s one thing to say that you will only eat for during an 8-hour window but actually following through is a whole different story. You might be able to for one or 2 days but could repeatedly trying to fast be setting yourself up for a binge?
And more than that isn’t it fostering a negative relationship towards food that it should be off-limits for a majority of the day? Elaborating on that point, it also touches on the idea that this is the way our ancestors used to eat. While that might be true, something called evolution has taken place and continues to do so. Over the years, our bodies & lifestyles have changed from 100 years ago. Naturally that means our bodily processes and needs follow suit. Especially in this generation where a number of social outings are based around food, the actual practice of intermittent fasting isn’t as easily feasible as portrayed. Also while our ancestors survived on this style of eating, we are living in a generation where we have the option to go beyond survival. Why merely survive when we can thrive?
The article ends on the beneficial impact of exercising on a fasting state. I blogged about it in depth here, but it’s far too simplistic to say that our body will tap into fat reserves as a result. Weight loss & burning fat ultimately comes down to one thing: burning more calories than you’re taking in. If you fuel yourself pre-workout, your intensity levels during the workout is bound to increase. The more energy you have, the harder you will push yourself and therefore your calorie burn per session will naturally shoot up.
While I’m sure plenty of people have success with intermittent fasting, I don’t think it’s something I’m going to get on board with it anytime soon…nor is it something I promote. If anything, I encourage people to make breakfast a key component of his/her lifestyle. On that note I should probably go & make a batch of overnight oats for breakfast tomorrow 
!
What’s your take- yay or nay for breakfast?
What was breakfast today?
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