Skip Your Breakfast to Live Longer & Healthier

I adopted a new diet – skipping breakfast, time-restricted feeding, and intermittent fasting.

You might not be familiar with the feeding and fasting, but you probably screamed NO WAY at the mention of skipping breakfast.

Since young, we have been told that breakfast is the most important meal of all.

But is breakfast really that important?

Could it be another unexplanable culture passed down? Or could it be a movement by some commercial establishment trying to sell more stuff to eat?

The Science Behind Breakfast

Dr James Betts, senior lecturer in nutrition at the University of Bath said:

The idea that breakfast is inherently good may stem from marketing campaigns designed to sell us cereals, eggs and bacon.

When he started looking for evidence to support breakfast, he was surprised.

There is no evidence supporting the benefits of breakfast.

To eat, or not to eat? Unfortunately, there is no simple answer.

The History of Breakfast

But you will be happy to know that breakfast didn’t exist for large parts of history.

The Romans didn’t really eat it.

They usually consume only one meal a day, around noon. In fact, breakfast was actively frowned upon.

We Are Over Eating

Given the lack of science and the support of history, I am leaning towards skipping breakfast.

The biggest reason is because – we are over eating.

At least I am sure I have consumed more than I need. Add to the lack of exercise, these extra intake contributed nothing but fat to my waist.

Yet, there is something more sinister than the gain in weight:

Do you know that excess protein causes aging and cancer?

The Easiest Meal to Skip

The choice to skip breakfast (vs lunch/dinner) is obvious for a number of reasons.

After fasting for 8 hours (while you are sleeping), if you continue to extend the fast in the morning, your body will burn into your reserves – the fat!

There is good reason to fast, which you’ll read about later.

If you choose to skip breakfast like me, remember a balanced diet is still the rule:

don’t overeat your lunch & dinner to make up for breakfast
don’t undereat any important nutrients you might consume for breakfast

Another reason for killing breakfast: there is no time to prepare a healthy breakfast (NO to cereals).

Time-restriced Feeding

While science has no simple answer to breakfast, other scientific research has proven that you can become healthier if you restrict your feeding window to 8-hour a day.

That means to consume all your meals within 8 hours. You can still drink water, but not consume any food/drinks with calories.

Benefits include: reduced hunger swings, increased fat burning, improved metabolic flexibility, and improved clinically relevant parameters associated with obesity and diseseas such as diabetes.

Adjust the 8-hour window to your lifestyle. I eat my first meal at around 11am, then dinner at 7pm.

Intermittent Fasting

Another change in my dietary is to adopt intermittent fasting, eg 5:2 fasting.

5:2 fasting means that in 2 days in a week, you will consume only 600 calories (that is 25% of usual consumption).

There are health benefits when you starve your body.

You hear me right.

When you deprive your body of food, it not only induces your body to burn fat, but also induces your body to repair cells, removes toxins/cancerous cells, and change in genes for longevity.

I intend to starve once a month, instead of 5:2 which could be painful (: