Breakfast? Intermittent Fasting or Skipping Breakfast?
We’ve all heard:
“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!”
“If you skip breakfast you’ll slow your metabolism!”
While it’s true that skipping breakfast isn’t good for you, it’s not for the reason you might think.
Skipping meals doesn’t slow your metabolism.
In fact, a recent study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found the opposite!
Nine women and eight men were observed under three circumstances. They ate 3 meals a day, skipped breakfast or skipped dinner. The study reported individuals burned more calories if they skipped a meal even if they ate the same number of calories for the day.
Skipping breakfast burned 45 calories and skipping dinner burned about 100 calories!
Sounds like a tempting solution for weight loss! But, skipping meals also resulted in low-grade inflammation and poor blood sugar control.
This might explain why meal skipping is associated with risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes!
Inflammation is associated with heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.
In the long-term, inflammation and poor blood sugar control are associated with weight gain, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer.
What can you do to prevent inflammation, weight gain and chronic disease?
- Eat regular meals
- Eat foods that combat inflammation: tomatoes, olive oil, green leafy vegetables, nuts, fatty fish and fruits
- Avoid inflammatory foods: fried foods, sodas, refined carbohydrates and processed meats
Reference:
Nas. A, Mirza N, Hagele, F, Kahlhofer, J., Rising, R., Kufer, T.A., Bosy-Westphal, A. (2017, June) Impact of breakfast skipping compared with dinner skipping on regulation of energy balance and metabolic risk. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 105(6), Pages 1351–1361.