“You really should eat breakfast,” he says, dropping two slices of wheat bread into the toaster, and checking the timer on his soft boiled egg.
“I’m not hungry,” I say. “I’d rather eat after I’ve been awake a few hours.”
“It’s not good for you,” he insists, falling back on conventional wisdom that I’ve heard plenty of times before, and which has never felt true. At least, not for me.
Why do we all seem to think it’s “my way or the highway?”
How to eat – and when to eat – appears to be no exception.
I don’t eat breakfast, as a general rule. If I do, it’s at least three hours after being awake. And no, I don’t eat more lunch or dinner – as a result. If anything, when I eat breakfast (strong-armed into it), I tend to munch restlessly throughout the day, feeling somewhat sluggish as a result.
Eating Rhythms
Personally, I’m tired of the breakfast bullies, telling me to eat when I don’t want to, and not eat when I do. It seems I’m not the only one, and views on the necessity of an early morning meal may be changing.
So grab your coffee or tea and take a gander at “Is Everything You Learned About Breakfast Wrong?” from Alternet.
Columnist Ari LeVaux explores the dynamics between eating and exercise, cortisol and blood sugar, and a variety of surveys and studies that crack open the assumptions around the ironclad necessity of Breakfast Before All Else.
Reading between the lines, we might also consider yielding our preoccupation with burning calories before all else to understanding our eating patterns, which may change with age and circumstances.
Mr. LeVaux writes of his own preference for exercise on an empty stomach, and a meal later in the day.
Eating habits change over a lifetime. There’s a big difference between when you’re young, growing, and basically hungry all the time, and when you hit the fattening 40s… It would be easy to keep eating like I used to, out of habit and momentum, but if I listen to my gut, I’m less hungry than I used to be, especially in the morning.
Listening to Our Bodies
Personally, I think my body tells me what it “likes” and doesn’t, how much to eat (or not), and what I need – or crave. It’s taken years to listen to my body and my hunger – both when it rises, and when it is satisfied.
Why would I force myself to eat a meal I have no desire for, when my energy stores are strong, and I’m not hungry? If this is my “natural,” and has been for as long as I can remember, shouldn’t I pay attention to it – especially if I feel better when I do?
I’ve spent a lifetime learning to distinguish emotional eating from physical hunger. I would even go so far as to say that emotional eating – when not taken to an extreme – is exactly the “comfort” I need at a point in a time.
I would also suggest that we ditch the thought that every aspect of eating – especially among women – demands vigilance of every bite, lest we put on a pound or two. Can’t we focus instead on healthy eating – for our age, our nutritional needs, any medical conditions we might have, and maybe some pleasure?
That said, I’ve always adored breakfast for lunch or dinner. A fantastic omelet filled with veggies? A glorious indulgence of Eggs Benedict? This isn’t the stuff of everyday fare, but occasionally, Eggs Mark the Spot! I tend to go light on the Hollandaise (or skip it altogether), and enjoy alternating ham with a little smoked salmon.
As for my friend egging me on to eat when my stomach says no? I’ll continue to politely decline, siding with my energy level and my digestive system. Perhaps – eventually – I’ll talk him into Sunday brunch instead.
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I can so relate – I love eggs but more particularly for lunch or dinner.
It takes me a while to get going in the morning and sometimes can’t bear the thought of food – although if I stop eating earlier the night before often I wake up more hungry and actually want to eat breakfast – but I’m a grazer … cannot eat a large plate of food so I tend to pick all day.
I love that I have a passion – like art – which distracts me from eating or picking at food – it’s just not possible when you’re painting to have food around – and before I know it hours have gone by and my stomach tells me when it’s time to eat – usually a lot later than expected.
Therefore I really believe if we’re into what we’re doing – we will eat when our body tells us to – rather than using food as a hobby 🙂 But I have to say – sugar is addictive – the more you have, the more you want – and is my weak point!
I quite agree, Vicki Lee – on all counts – including the passion! (When I’m writing, everything else drops away (except for kids of course)… the last thing I’m thinking about is being hungry!)
Yes, too, to the addictive qualities of sugar. Though believe it or not, I’ve found that if I truly crave chocolate, I should just have some. If I let the craving build and build… that’s when I run the risk of overdoing it. (Have you found that to be true as well?)
Absolutely – so when I crave it – I have 70% dark chocolate – and savour it – you can’t eat too much of it as it is so rich – two squares and I’m happy.
Exactly, Vicki Lee! Dark chocolate and a glass of red wine… (Truth be told, make mine a half a glass. I’m a lightweight when it comes to alcohol. Just one more way we learn to listen to our bodies?)
What timing! A few days ago I read an article in Women’s Health about this same research and I was very persuaded. So this morning I went without breakfast for the first time in, literally, as long as I can remember and opted instead for a big mug of tea. I sipped it and water through the morning and never did experience the ravenous hunger I was expecting. I had a regular lunch at the regular time and still feel fine. One day does not a convert make, but I have to say that it definitely shook my faith in a concept that I have clung to for my whole life. To be continued…after I make an omelette for dinner!
Love it, Kristen! (And I made myself an omelette for lunch. Can we compare omelettes later?)
agreed!
we had two slices of sourdough crispbread (the norwegian kind) with some sheep’s milk cheese from yesterday’s farmer’s market for breakfast and it was yummy.
*wavingfromlosangeles*
_teamgloria x
I enjoy egg whites omlettes. I prefer to eat them for dinner, rather than breakfast. Coffee and yogurt with fruit complete my mornings.
Just recently I have not been hungry in the mornings, but I forced myself to eat something because I thought I needed to. Thank you…you just gave me permission to go without it!! I will eat later which will be hard at work, but I can do it.
That is the inconvenience when you’re hungry 3 or 4 hours after waking. (Able to grab a healthy something at work, I hope?)
I’m totally the same way! Love breakfast food, but not first thing in the morning! The later in the day, the better breakfast food tastes. And I’m also the same way about just trying to listen to my body: eat when I’m hungry, stop when I’m not. And, I also think there’s a difference between stopping when you’re no longer hungry and stopping when you’re full. I’m usually not completely full when I stop eating, but I’m a little more than no longer hungry.
I’m curious, April. Have your girls picked up your breakfast (non-breakfast) habits, or did you feel compelled to make them eat before school?
Great distinctions – no longer hungry and not full.
Taking this great eating post to another level. I have pondered personally and asked clients: “do you think you are eating your wildness”? — and then they look at me trying to “get” what I am saying…then it sinks in. I wonder how much of our eating has to do with swallowing our dreams, ideas, yearnings for adventure, and the urge to create a life that truly resonates with who we are…”I think we have an inner ravenous beast that hungrily awaits our creative urges to bubble up and often quickly devours them with the teeth of doubt, fear and beliefs that so limit us. I think we women have grown fat, cadaverous and malnourished by eating the deepest hungers within us.” Morgana Morgaine/Borderless Broads
Very wise words, Morgana.
While were at it, have you had your eight glasses of water today? (Which is another load faux medical advice calculated to sell newspapers and drive honest people crazy with guilt.)
Eat when you’re hungry and drink when you’re thirsty. You heard it here.
I’m quoting you, Wolf. (Make that, Doctor.)
Morgana’s words ring very true for me. Wildness is something we have largely tried to hold at bay, assuming it is unnatural and dangerous. I think nothing could be farther from the truth, and yes, trying to smother it is having social consequences. My late-mid-life turnaround was prompted by the sudden recognition that I had bowed to other people’s expectation of me, and moderated and contorted myself into someone I hardly recognized. I’m working to break out of my self-constructed box.
What an insightful remark, Robert. We do close ourselves in over the years, and if we’re lucky, manage to break out again. I (too often) assume that women do this more than men. I suspect I’m wrong – very wrong – on that score.