Here's What Skipping Breakfast Does to Your Body

Bye! Do you have breakfast, or are you on the team that skips breakfast? You probably have heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, haven't you? Many think that skipping breakfast is a sin, even if only two-thirds of adults in the United Kingdom and three-quarters of Americans actually have breakfast regularly. According to experts, the body uses lots of energy during the night, both for growth and repairing. A balanced breakfast restores all the energy, proteins, and calcium used during the night. Isn't it amazing? For them, breakfast's fame is justified for many observational studies, where researchers follow people and their habits for a while. Many of them point out that individuals who have breakfast tend to be thinner. However, there might be more differences between these people and those who skip breakfast, such as overall healthier food patterns. Breakfast is necessary, or is it just a tradition? Breakfast as we know it today started with the invention of morning cereal. Before that, breakfast wasn't a routine in many places of the world. Did you know that? The proof of this is that ancient Romans believed that having only one meal a day brought more health. This is where we get the famous intermittent fasting. Have you heard of it? Intermittent fasting, which involves fasting from night to the following day, is getting famous among people who want to lose or maintain their weight or even improve their health. A pilot study published in 2018 found that intermittent fasting controls blood sugar and insulin sensitivity, besides lowering blood pressure. Isn't it incredible? Eight men with prediabetes received two food plans, ingesting all calories between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., or ingesting the same calories throughout 12 hours. The first group showed results similar to the effects of medications for lowering blood pressure, according to Courtney Peterson, author of the study and associate professor of nutrition sciences at the University of Alabama. If skipping breakfast is good, does that mean having breakfast is bad? This is what Terence Keeley says, academic from the University of Buckingham, for whom breakfast is even dangerous. According to him, having breakfast makes our cortisol levels reach a higher peak than what would happen later. This leads the body to develop insulin resistance in the long term and may cause type 2 diabetes, as pointed out in his research. A study published in 2017 analyzed 18 healthy people and 18 diabetic people, and found that skipping breakfast interrupted the circadian cycles of both groups and caused glucose peaks after eating. Having breakfast, as the researchers came to conclude, is essential to maintain the biological clock working. However, for those who dine later, the risk of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases is increased. Although it looks like breakfast is the most important meal of our day, it might actually be dinner. Blood sugar control is better at the beginning of the day, so when we dine later, we get more vulnerable since blood sugar levels get worse. More studies are necessary, but it is interesting to stop skipping breakfast and start having dinner early. After all, the circadian cycle needs to work like a clock, depending on light exposure, mealtimes, and other factors. In this case, there is nothing positive in having breakfast or not. It is important to pay attention to your body and hunger. If you are hungry, breakfast might be the solution to your health. Otherwise, opt for eating throughout the day, always respecting dinner times around 6 or 7 PM. Also, pay attention to what you eat in each meal.