While intermittent fasting has been lauded for its health benefits, including promoting cellular maintenance and protecting against aging and neurodegenerative diseases, popular wisdom maintains that skipping breakfast is bad for you. Often labeled as the most important meal of the day, breakfast is said to “boost metabolism” and reduce hunger. But is this really true? Mounting evidence suggests that eating three meals a day may not be important for weight loss.
David Allison, director of the UAB Nutrition Obesity Research Center and senior investigator on a recent long-term study, commented:
The field of obesity and weight loss is full of commonly held beliefs that have not been subjected to rigorous testing; we have now found that one such belief does not seem to hold up when tested. This should be a wake-up call for all of us to always ask for evidence about the recommendations we hear so widely offered. (1)
In this article, we’ll explore the evidence for and against eating breakfast with all its nuances, including an ancestral approach, the problems with association studies, a review of the biochemistry of intermittent fasting, and relevant results from randomized controlled trials.
Did Our Ancestors Eat Breakfast?
For those of you who have been following my blog for a while, you know that I like to look at health questions through an ancestral or evolutionary lens in addition to looking at the latest scientific research. So, did early human anthropoids eat breakfast?
The truth is, it’s hard to know for sure, but it’s thought that most hunter–gatherers ate intermittently depending upon food availability. (2, 3) Loren Cordain, founder of the Paleo diet, writes:
The most consistent daily eating pattern that is beginning to emerge from the ethnographic literature in hunter–gatherers is that of a large single meal which was consumed in the late afternoon or evening. A midday meal or lunch was rarely or never consumed and a small breakfast (consisting of the remainders of the previous evening meal) was sometimes eaten. Some snacking may have occurred during daily gathering, however the bulk of the daily calories were taken in the late afternoon or evening. (4)
It appears that the three-meals-a-day paradigm was not adopted until the Agricultural Revolution around 10,000 years ago. Frankly, the fact that we eat three times a day is somewhat arbitrary and seems to be based on when it was most convenient to eat during farm work and harvest. (5)
The Trouble with Association Studies
Most studies regarding breakfast consumption and obesity are association studies. And while there is undeniably an association between a lean body type and breakfast consumption, correlation does not imply causation, and many of these association studies have been inappropriately used to shape recommendations for weight loss.
I have talked before about the healthy user bias on my blog in the context of red meat. Because “eat breakfast” is such popular health advice, people who are committed to their health are more likely to eat breakfast. They are also likely to avoid smoking, manage stress, and eat more fruits and vegetables, all things associated with a healthier weight. Breakfast eaters tend to be leaner, but this doesn’t mean that they are lean because they eat breakfast.
Can you lose weight faster if you skip breakfast?
While the healthy user bias is difficult to avoid when designing a research study, there are also more intentional breaches of good science mixed up in this question. A recent meta-analysis looked at the proposed effect of breakfast on obesity (PEBO) and found that the PEBO was subject to two common practices used to distort scientific evidence. (6) The first was biased research reporting. Authors of breakfast studies were guilty of biased interpretation of their own results, misleadingly citing others’ results, and improper use of causal language. This is similar to confirmation bias or the “a priori” effect. When you presume something to be true, like “eating breakfast causes weight loss,” all of your research and interpretation flow from that belief.
The second was what they called “research lacking probative value” (RLPV). This is where experiments either continue to be performed about questions that have already been sufficiently answered or are designed in such a way that they simply cannot advance scientific knowledge about the question. As the authors put it:
… at some point, additional similar observational analyses will only trivially add to our knowledge regarding the PEBO. […] The association, but not the causal relation, between breakfast and obesity has been more than sufficiently established. (6)
Other scientific reviews came to similar conclusions: it’s abundantly clear that there is an association between leanness and breakfast intake. But to really determine if the breakfast–weight connection is causative, we need long-term, randomized trials. (7, 8, 9)
Breakfast vs. No Breakfast: Evidence from RCTs
Luckily, in the last few years, several research groups have sought to use randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to answer the question “does eating breakfast cause weight loss?” Let’s take a closer look at the studies and what they found.
In one of the first RCTs in 1992, researchers separated 52 moderately obese adult women based on their normal breakfast habit (whether they ate or skipped breakfast regularly) and then randomly assigned half of each category to a breakfast group and half to a no-breakfast group. In their results, they reported a trend suggesting that women who had to make the most substantial changes to their initial eating habits achieved more weight loss. Essentially, habitual breakfast skippers tended to do a bit better when they had to eat breakfast, and habitual breakfast eaters tended to do better when they had to skip breakfast. (10) Unfortunately, when this result was cited by other studies and the media, it was widely misconstrued. First, the researchers only observed a trend for this interaction effect, meaning that it did not reach the level of statistical significance (p < 0.06, for those familiar with statistics). Second, the study was widely reported in the scientific literature as having shown that eating breakfast led to weight loss, even though the authors never concluded anything of the sort. Unfortunately, poor reporting of this study shaped scientific and popular opinion for several decades.
The belief that breakfast is important for weight loss prevailed, despite a few smaller studies that found that skipping breakfast had no effect or even a potential beneficial effect on weight loss. In 2013, Cornell researchers performed a randomized crossover study in 24 undergraduate students and found that skipping a meal did not result in energy compensation at later meals and that it might even be an effective means to reduce energy intake in some people. (11) In 2015, researchers in the UK performed a similar study with a week-long intervention in 37 participants and concluded that “there is little evidence from this study for a metabolic-based mechanism to explain lower BMIs in breakfast eaters.” (12) However, these studies were both relatively short-term compared to the 1992 study and didn’t receive as much attention.
In 2014, as part of the Bath Breakfast Project in the UK, 33 obese adults were randomly assigned to a breakfast group or no-breakfast group for six weeks. (13) The breakfast group ate slightly more calories but was also a bit more physically active. The no-breakfast group ate fewer calories over the entire day but was also slightly less active and had slightly more variable glucose levels in the afternoon and evening at the end of the trial. Body mass and fat mass did not differ between the two treatments, and neither did indexes of cardiovascular health. Contrary to the popular notion that breakfast “boosts metabolism,” resting metabolic rate did not differ between the groups. Breakfast also did not provide any significant suppression of energy intake later in the day. It seemed like the evidence was mounting against popular belief.
Finally, in the largest long-term, multisite clinical trial to date, researchers attempted to settle the debate once and for all. They randomized 309 obese adult participants to a breakfast group or no-breakfast group for 16 weeks. They reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition:
A recommendation to eat or skip breakfast for weight loss was effective at changing self-reported breakfast eating habits, but contrary to widely espoused views this had no discernable effect on weight loss in free-living adults who were attempting to lose weight. (14)
Over 92 percent of subjects complied with the recommendation they were given, but it had no impact on weight loss. They also separated individuals based on their baseline breakfast habit and found no interaction between initial breakfast habit and success of the intervention. This is directly contrary to the near-significant interaction found by Schlundt and colleagues in 1992 and was a much larger study.
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What Type of Breakfast Were They Eating?
But wait, does a bowl of cereal and toast with jam have the same effect as an egg omelette, greens, and a sweet potato? Food quality matters more than food quantity, right? Yep. When “breakfast” is lumped into one big category, there’s not conclusive evidence for or against it, (15) as we saw in the previous section. But researchers have looked at different types of breakfast and weight loss as well, with some intriguing results.
In 2015, a study in China found that obese teenagers ate less at lunchtime if they had an egg breakfast compared to a bread breakfast. The egg breakfast was reported to increase levels of satiety hormones, keeping them full for longer. The egg breakfast group also had significantly more weight loss. (16) Sounds pretty good to me! Unfortunately, there wasn’t a “no-breakfast” group in this study, so it’s hard to know how the egg breakfast would have compared to intermittent fasting.
Researchers in Missouri performed a randomized trial in 2015 with three different groups. They randomly assigned 57 breakfast-skipping teens to a cereal-based breakfast (13g protein), an “egg-and-beef rich” breakfast (35g protein), or to continue skipping breakfast. They found that the egg-and-beef breakfast led to voluntary reductions in daily food intake and reduced reported daily hunger. It also prevented fat mass gains over the 12-week study. (17)
The truth is, most of the studies above (that found no effect of breakfast) were likely based on a typical high-carbohydrate breakfast, a la the Standard American Diet. It would be very interesting to see the metabolic response to breakfast omission in a group of healthy individuals eating a nutrient-dense, evolutionarily appropriate diet.
Skipping Breakfast and Exercise
What about fasting in relation to exercise for weight loss? In the fed and fasted states, we preferentially oxidize (“burn”) different substrates to produce energy. Could exercising in one state or the other provide benefits for weight loss? In 2012, researchers in London performed a crossover study, monitoring food intake and energy expenditure in 49 participants during one week with breakfast and one week skipping breakfast. They found that total energy intake, energy expenditure, and activity levels did not differ between conditions. (18)
A study in Japan in 2014 used a randomized crossover design with eight male subjects, all of whom were habitual breakfast eaters. The subjects were instructed to eat or skip breakfast, and the researchers measured their energy expenditure during the day. Interestingly, they found that breakfast skipping did not affect energy expenditure, fat oxidation, or the thermic effect of food if you looked at the entire 24-hour period (similar to the previous study), but it did change the rhythm over the course of the day. When people skipped breakfast, energy expenditure was lower during the morning but higher during the evening and sleep than those who ate breakfast. Breakfast skipping increased fat oxidation and reduced carbohydrate oxidation in the morning relative to breakfast eating and increased carbohydrate oxidation during the evening. (19)
Following up on this study, a crossover study in Korea in 2015 tracked 10 obese male college students. For one week, they ate before their morning workout. The second week, they ate breakfast after their morning workout. Their results? The fasted workout caused the men to burn more body fat, but it also increased levels of the stress hormone cortisol after exercise relative to the fed workout. (20) While burning body fat is beneficial to weight loss, large rises in cortisol are not. It should be noted that these participants were not adapted to fasted exercise and that “fat-adapted” people might have a smaller cortisol response to fasting. I’ll explore this idea more in the next section, when we dive into the biochemistry.
What do these studies tell us? Well first, the thermic effect of food in the morning, a common argument for why we should eat breakfast and “boost our metabolism,” is a myth. Over the total course of a day, total energy expenditure does not change. They also suggest that morning fasting might be a great time for a fat-burning workout, as long as it’s not too stressful on your body.
Fat-Adapted vs. Carb-Adapted: Fasting Biochemistry
When you eat, the hormone insulin is released from your pancreas to the bloodstream and shuttles glucose (carbohydrate) into muscles and other tissues, where it is used for energy production. Excess glucose is converted to fat and stored in the adipose tissue. When you fast, the hormones glucagon and cortisol stimulate the release of these fatty acids from adipose tissue into the bloodstream. The fatty acids are taken up by the muscles and other tissues and broken down (oxidized) to produce cellular energy. In this concerted manner, the body switches from utilizing carbohydrates to fats as its primary fuel and ensures a constant source of energy to the body.
This is all good and rosy, as long as the body can actually make this metabolic switch. In the scientific literature, this is called “metabolic flexibility,” (21) though you may be familiar with it as “fat-adapted.” People who are “fat-adapted” are more accurately “metabolically flexible,” meaning that they can easily switch from oxidizing carbohydrates in the fed state to oxidizing fat in the fasted state, and vice versa. On the other hand, people who are said to be “carb-adapted” are “metabolically inflexible,” meaning that they are constantly burning carbohydrates and have trouble switching to fat oxidation. These people still release fatty acids from adipose tissue to the bloodstream but have lost the capacity to oxidize fatty acids in the muscle and other tissues. The accumulation of lipids due to reduced fatty acid oxidation has been hypothesized to cause insulin resistance, (21) and a low ratio of fat to carbohydrate oxidation has been identified to be a good predictor of weight gain. (22)
The phenomenon of metabolic inflexibility may explain some of the results of breakfast studies. Most of the participants in these studies were individuals eating an evolutionarily inappropriate Standard American Diet with large amounts of refined carbohydrates three times a day. If, all of a sudden, you instruct these “carb-adapted” people to skip breakfast, you’re asking for a blood glucose crash and insatiable hunger by lunchtime. In reality, most people who want to try intermittent fasting transition do so gradually by slowly increasing the time between meals, allowing the body to adapt and restore metabolic flexibility.
This may explain why prior breakfast habits have an effect in some studies. Researchers at the University of Colorado studying 18 overweight women found that the adverse effects of skipping breakfast were restricted to habitual breakfast eaters. While habitual breakfast eaters who skipped breakfast had increased blood lipids, insulin, and free fatty acid responses at lunchtime, habitual breakfast skippers who skipped breakfast had none of these effects. The authors concluded that meal skipping may have enhanced effects in habitual breakfast eaters due to entrainment of metabolic regulatory systems. (23)
So, skipping breakfast might not cause weight loss in the short term, but if over the long term it allows your body to “reset” and restore metabolic flexibility and insulin sensitivity, you may ultimately see some weight loss benefit. This is especially true if you’re also improving the overall quality of your diet. A low-fat diet reduces your body’s ability to release fatty acids from adipose tissue and oxidize them in the muscle, (24) while a high-fat diet increases the ability to use fat for energy in muscle and thus improves metabolic flexibility. (25, 26)
Summing It Up: Should You Fast, or Break-Fast?
If you’re overwhelmed by this quantity of research, you’re not alone. Researchers have been struggling to find consensus on this topic for decades. If you glazed over some of it, here are the major takeaways from this article:
- Hunter–gatherers probably only ate one large meal later in the day.
- You cannot trust association studies. Correlation does not equal causation!
- When all breakfast is lumped together, skipping or eating breakfast has no apparent effect on weight loss.
- If you separate out different types of breakfasts, a protein-rich, fiber-rich breakfast seems to confer the most benefits.
- Eat before or after exercising depending on your health status and goals. Skipping breakfast will optimize fat metabolism during your morning workout, but it may also spike your cortisol levels.
- Most of the individuals in these studies were “carb-adapted” individuals eating a Standard American Diet. It would be interesting to see how the results might differ in “fat-adapted,” metabolically flexible individuals eating a nutrient-dense Paleo diet.
And that’s it! If anything is clear from this consortium of research, it is the need for individualized nutrition. I’ve written several articles and spoken on my podcast previously about why intermittent fasting (IF) may not work for everyone. If IF works for some people (they lose weight) and is detrimental to others (they gain weight), and these people are all lumped together, we’ll see a net zero change in weight.
So how do you know if intermittent fasting is right for you? Try an n=1 experiment: eat or skip breakfast for a period of time, and notice how it affects your weight, mood, productivity, gut function, and other factors. Transition slowly if necessary, by eating your first meal of the day later and later each morning. There are some predictors of success with fasting, but only you can really know if IF works well for you.
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If a person can learn to eat only when hungry, at least for me it is very much like intermittent fasting as my meals are fewer and further apart….I eat two meals a day right now…..tend to be late morning 9:30 to 11:30, lots of protein, fat, minimal portion of green leafy veg……same for my second meal, around 5/6…..heavy on protein, healthy fats…minimal carb..I do watch portions, its not a free for all….
I’m not sure why this hypothesis needs to have Intermittent Fasting (IF) and Breakfast as mutually exclusive. Why can’t someone eat their final meal at approximately 6:00pm (as long as there isn’t adrenal fatigue), and then the first meal of the day at 10:00am (8:00am if they are dysglycemic)? That allows for the benefits of IF, and the benefits of starting the day with adequate nutrients for the days needs. Additionally, allowing more time between the last meal and sleep will improve sleep quality. It doesn’t need to be either breakfast or IF in my opinion.
I wonder if some who say they skip breakfast are having coffee of some type. I myself, used to always (most of my life) skip breakfast just because I didn’t really (and still don’t) get hungry till sometime around lunch. And I’m not a coffee drinker. (just don’t like the taste of it). I really would like to go back to skipping breakfast because I’ve gained weight since I started forcing myself to eat bf due to my adrenal fatigue. So, complicated…
I think age has a lot to do with it also. I am a Primal/Paleo eater 70-80% of the time, female, 55, Crossfitter for 7 yrs. I would love to eat more but I know I cannot without gaining weight. I put off eating as long ad I can and almost always skip breakfast. I find eating late lunch/early dinner works best to naintain my desired weight.
I have warm water with lemon, apple cider vinegar, ground ginger and cinnamon in the mornings. Does this break my fast and eliminate the benefits of skipping breakfast?
Even lemon has a little protein in it, and protein breaks the fast. This is what I got from Paul Jaminet’s book and website comments. Try to lookup the protein content of those foods and then you can draw a conclusion.
I have read over a dozen books on fasting and will undergo a fourteen-day fast next month at a fasting clinic. Drinking anything other than water is simply not a fast, it is a restricted diet. So, there is no such thing as a juice fast, a lemon fast, etc. I am not saying that there are no benefits to such restricted diets, just that they are not true fasts.
From what I read (mainly Jaminet’s book) a little coconut oil or mct will not throw you out of fasting, instead they promote ketosis which is good.
From what I read in the Amazon reviews, he promotes short 16-hour overnight fasts — so there is a need to quickly promote ketosis. During a long fast, your body naturally depletes all your stored carbohydrates and it naturally shifts to burning fat (which is a much cleaner fuel). This takes about two days for women and three days for men. So, ketosis is just a natural part of the process in a long-term fasting.
Hunter-gatherers were also out hunting and foraging for foods all day, and their whole physiology was actually tuned towards fat storage – it was a necessity for survival. Modern humans with access to highly palatable and high-calorie foods should probably not emulate everything of what our ancestors did, unless they also have a lifestyle similar to what they had.
Time-restricted feeding probably works as damage control for strategies such as breakfast-skipping, so if you at the same time confine your meals into a 8-10hr window your physiology will most likely stay very healthy. Still, the body will handle carbs and fats better early in the day. See “dawn phenomenon” wrt insulin resistance in the literature, where a lot of calories later in the day is more easily stored as fats, which – again – makes a lot of evolutionary sense.
Also, the fact that breakfast eaters tend to stay more active during the day should be a major clue.
I would think that a time-restricted feeding window where breakfast within a couple of hours of getting up in the morning, combined with plenty of activity and sunlight outdoors, and a final meal no later than, say, 6-8PM, would be far better than an eating window from 2-10PM or so.
“See “dawn phenomenon” wrt insulin resistance in the literature, where a lot of calories later in the day is more easily stored as fats”
Unless of course, you exercise after work which can minimize fat storage later in the day.
I find that I feel better and loose weight when I eat protein breakfasts and eat small snacks if necessary while drinking a lot of water all day. Sounds paleo human now that I think about it.
I have found that fasted workouts, combined with an mixture of adaptagenic herbs to dampen the cortisol spike (Ionix Supreem), shred the fat.
I would tend to agree with you though the dosages are so low in products like Isagenix’s Ionix Supreme that they likely confer little to no effect.
Something that never came up is that people who *say* they skip breakfast also have coffee with cream and sugar in the morning (sometimes multiple cups). Coffee with cream and stevia isn’t so bad, but the sugar is definitely breaking the fast.
I wonder if some who say they skip breakfast are having coffee of some type. I myself, used to always (most of my life) skip breakfast just because I didn’t really (and still don’t) get hungry till sometime around lunch. And I’m not a coffee drinker. (just don’t like the taste of it). I really would like to go back to skipping breakfast because I’ve gained weight since I started forcing myself to eat bf due to my adrenal fatigue. So, complicated…
What are the implications for circadian rythym?
When you’re hungry ghrelin makes you roam around and look for food. After eating a large meal, satiety hormones kick in and make you want to sleep.
I definitely fluctuate with the seasons (in Chicago) and eat later in the day during the winter, but earlier during the summer (I think the sunshine changes my cellular clocks). Two meals is usually what my body asks for, sometimes a small snack somewhere in there.
I wondered, Chris, if you ever considered starting a sort of non-profit “ancestral studies” group where you could get willing real-food eaters to participate in studies done the right way. You certainly have the following to do so!
When I first started reading The Healthy Skeptic, Mark’s Daily Apple and others I switched from cereal or sometimes a breakfast pastry to 2 fried eggs and sausage (no bread or juice). While the quantity seemed small, I found it satisfying. After a while I noticed that if lunch was delayed I didn’t really notice.
Eventually I realized that I was fully “metabolically flexible” and didn’t get ever hungry in the traditional sense anymore. Since I no longer was hungry in the morning I have since stopped eating breakfast altogether and feel perfectly alert until whenever I choose to break my fast.
In fact, eating breakfast helps you feel fuller for a longer time, that’s what happens to me personally
Chris, I appreciate your sensible, scientific input. You are a breath of fresh air. I can always count on you to give me solid information, not based on the latest fad, and not a repeat of what everyone else is spouting as “fact.” Thank you!
fwiw, I drink a cup of coffee (with heavy whipping cream) at 6am and don’t eat (oatmeal with apple, or egg and toasted homemade bread, or toast with peanut butter and raisins) until 9am or 10am. Sometimes I walk a mile before or after eating. I feel much better that way. Thanks again.
I eat 4 times a day, at 8 in morning and at 12 again at 5 and 8 in the night, and have lost 3 Kgs. in a month. I eat very healthy. I eat maximum raw vegetables and fruits in a small quantity.
Good and Informative Article Chris Kresser. Prior to reading this article I was little bit confused does skipping breakfast or eating will help in weight lose, Now I got a clarity on it, that it works differently for different individuals. Thank You Chris Kresser.
I am definitely metabolically inflexible so I need some breakfast, but usually around 10. I am sad that I can’t eat eggs right now as I’m doing an AIP elimination diet, because when I start my day with eggs, broccoli, and sweet potato (and bacon!), I don’t get hungry again for hours.
Actually, when it came to changing my diet, starting with breakfast was the easiest and it really sets up how I feel the whole day, so that might be an argument for eating breakfast when making the change to paleo.
I eat 2 meals a day, at 10 and 5, and have lost 10 lbs. in a month. I eat very healthy, lower carb. I no longer have cravings. I started this, though, after I got my HPA axis balanced with supplements.
How did you know your HPA axis needed balanced, and which supplements did you take? Thanks so much!
I did the DUTCH test and took Adrenomend. Also rested and relaxed more.
I’ve been a breakfast skipper all my life till I developed adrenal fatigue and was told to eat protein first thing in the morning. As soon as I started doing that I gained weight. I went up about 15 pounds altogether then stopped there. The problem is that I was already very overweight and eating in the morning didn’t make me feel any better. In fact, when I didn’t eat breakfast, there were (50%) days when I felt a lot better than I ever do eating the breakfasts! Still eating for my adrenals but so discouraged!!!
Have you figured out why you have adrenal issues… stress, diet, sleep, toxins, etc. There’s so much to consider but you’ve got to figure it out to reclaim your strength.
Wife had adrenal issues too. In her case, turns out that her carb intake was too low (less than 50g / day) for too long (years). This put her in high sympathetic tone, disrupted her sleep and raised her blood sugar (via hepatic glucose output)… also messed with her thyroid.
After slowly increasing her carbs, she started feeling better… she started sleeping better… blood sugar normalized… she made a full recovery.
I know many people that have suffered from adrenal fatigue that see great improvement by incorporating grass fed beef liver into their diets. I’ve posted my favorite beef liver recipe on here before… it’s: 3oz raw liver, frozen cherries, raw honey, spring water, blend, swallow… wipe 🙂
Whatever you do, keep trying to figure things out… experiment with nutrition… grounding / earthing… uvex safety glasses before bed… cold exposures… I wish you the best.
Thanks so much for your reply. I’ve had this going on for many years and been on a healing journey for years as well. Took a while, but took care of all the baseline stuff (sleep, stress, diet, toxins, food sensitivities). Been to numerous doctors and had tons of tests all negative except food sensitivities, hashimotos, sibo, some minor lower intestine imbalance, adrenal and now adult onset asthma. I’m getting treatment for all those, but no help after some years. Now, my blood glucose is at the very highest of normal and my red blood cell count is slightly higher than normal…? Doctors say it’s ok… I’m all organic, soy, dairy, egg, msg, gluten, processed sugar free. (as well as avoiding those foods that make me feel not so good afterwards and avoiding metals that I show sensitivity to…) Switched from protein to the Adrenal Reset powder about three months ago now for breakfast… still struggling and gaining weight!!! Carbs is my downfall, so probably getting too much of those, but grains and carbs are the last hold out for me… : / Thanks so much for posting your recipe. I’ve had trouble getting organ meats at whole foods…: / (and haven’t been too enthusiastic about pushing the issue! lol… But you’ve inspired me so may just do it…. hummmm. Have’t tried: grounding / earthing… uvex safety glasses before bed… cold exposures.. But will do some research. Thanks again, Brian!
Janet:
You and I have stories that are so similar that we could be twins. I have also been a breakfast skipper for most of my life, until I developed a thyroid problem and adrenal fatigue. A board certified nutritionist urged me to eat protein and organic vegetables first thing in the morning. While I did not gain weight, about half the time I became very fatigued after eating breakfast. After a year or so, during which I improved my diet, learned to meditate to reduce stress, and eliminated toxins from my house, I went back to skipping breakfast — because I just felt better.
The big difference that I see between our two cases is that I eliminated all gluten and grains (except a very occasional side of whole grain rice) very early on. After eliminating gluten, grains, and dairy I lost 15 pounds in 45 days and eventually 40 pounds in six months. I eventually gained back 10 pounds, where I have stabilized.
I also FELT much better after eliminating all gluten and grains. The second thing that made me feel much better was performing a candida cleanse using Lauricidin. Within ten days of using the product, I had a Herxheimer reaction and continued taking it for six months total. If you ever ate a great deal of refined foods, and especially if you EVER took antibiotics, you may have a candida overgrowth.
Many times, I still feel fatigued after eating lunch so I am researching how to improve my digestion. The body expends a great deal of extra energy to digest food if the digestive system is not working properly. Good luck on your quest for better health.
Hi Michael,
Thanks so much for taking the time to share your similar story with me. Hummm.. grains eh? Boy I tell you, they have been my last hold out. Gonna have to wait for some quiet life time to make that leap. But I have suspected for a long time that it would be a huge shift in my body function if / when I can.
And I had gotten the Lauricidin from Dr. Meyers but at that same time got a bad case of hives from some chinese herbs I bought and then I was afraid to add anything else to my system (then it got put away)
Maybe I’ll pull it out again and give it a try. Thanks for the encouragement : )
It so helps to have support from others who really understand.
All the best to you and your healing journey as well!
For years, I’ve had 1 to 2 meals a day. Meal number 1 is usually around 11ish, after a workout. Meal number 2 is usually around 6ish, with wife and boys. Never get hungry.
If I only eat 1 meal a day, it’s usually dinner so that we can all sit down together, share in storytelling and deepen our family bond.
This method of eating just feels right for me… I’ve had great energy and body composition results… and, it’s so easy and uber convenient to only eat 1 to 2 times / day. That said, I never skimp on calories nor nutrient value.
Like you, I eat only twice a day and almost never snack. If I eat a late breakfast I skip lunch and vice-versa. Dinner is usually between 5 and 6 with nothing afterward. I eat some sort of protein with both meals, which stays with me better than carbs alone, so I seldom get very hungry. This might not work for everyone but it works well for me. I have no problem maintaining a normal weight.
As to when, how much, or how often our ancestral hunter-gatherers ate, I doubt that anyone really knows. It wouldn’t matter if we did know. What matters is what works best for each of us as individuals.
Sounds similar to me. Usually 2 meals a day. 11am and about 5pm, sometimes a handful of nuts in the afternoon.
About the fasted workouts, which I do all the time, I believe i’m so adapted to it after 6 years that my cortisol jump is very, very mild. Any info. on being “Cortisol Adapted” would be nice, Chris.
Yes, I would love to see some info on cortisol adapted as well.