Is Breakfast the Most Important Meal of the Day? // Nutrition Myths Series

I'm gonna be coming at you with some myth-busting over the next few weeks...

I hear too much of this crap. This one hits close to home - because listened to it for soooooo long.

I see so many posts from trainers about "stoking the metabolic fire" and other such nonsense. There is no evidence for this, and the idea that you should have a good breakfast is mostly just an old wives tale.

(Remember "eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dinner like a pauper...?) What about Intermittent Fasting (IF)? Not that it has all the answers either, but supporters recommend EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE (with some IF protocols)...

How can both be right?

What about Italians who drink a coffee and eat a small biscuit for breakfast? How come they're so skinny? Personally, I tried to eat this way for SUCH a long time it's embarrassing how little I listened to my body. It wasn't until I tried IF that I realized that NOT eating breakfast actually did me good. I personally love to eat light throughout the day and have a big meal in the evening. For such a long I tried to flip this around, because "they" say you should but usually felt sleepy and sluggish during the day and struggled to fall asleep at night. That all changed when I tried IF.

I'm not promoting IF by the way, it just gave me permission to eat a different way and I felt better, so I got a lot out of it. It is just a strategy that can help you adhere to a caloric deficit, but it is not superior to any other kind of diet strategy. It will either work for you or it won't.

I'm also not saying that you should eat like me. I know some people wake up STARVING and aren't too fussed about dinner. So they should eat in a way that suits them. When we listen to one-size-fits-all guidelines we stop listening to our bodies and try to fit a square peg (ourselves) into a round hole (the diet or "rule").

Meal timing is ultimately about adherence - habits that help you stick to a healthy diet and a caloric deficit (if fat-loss is your goal) or your maintenance calories (if you are happy with your weight and don't want to lose or gain). - Bottom line. Your metabolism will not slow down if you don't eat when you're not hungry. Listen to your body's signals, not external cues (like time or "the plate isn't empty yet!!")