Skipping Breakfast?

[jeniac42]

I am also "on" Weight Watchers and got into the habit of eating breakfast that way. Now I have to eat something soon after waking up or I feel like hell the rest of the day.

Alas, when I have to wake up early that frequently ends up being a PowerBar or some such nonsense. Not really great or even good food, although at least it has some nutrients. Generally by the time I get out of bed I have approximately five seconds to brush my teeth, get dressed, and get out the door, so it's all I can do to grab one from the bookcase by the door. Of course, any suggestions of better things to eat that require no prep, no refrigeration, and are edible in the car are welcome.

I confess, I also enjoy a Sausage, Egg, & Cheese McGriddle from time to time. Oh, the ignominy.

Of course, I blame eGullet for my being stuck around 185 for the past two months.

[Schielke]

No, I am pretty sure I am not diabetic.  I just sort of get kinda shaky if I dont eat for a while.  I am sure it is because of a drop in blood sugar, but not a result of eating sugar.

Ben

Obviously, Ben, you're an alcoholic.

I only eat breakfast if:

1. It's the weekend and Fritz is making it. In which case, it's more like brunch.

2. The Friday-night crowd wants to go to a restaurant on Saturday morning.

3. Someone forces me.

Unless coffee or Bloody Mary's (on the weekends) count as breakfast.

I usually don't eat lunch either. I'm just not hungry in the morning or early afternoon.

Ya got me there! (glug glug)

Ben

[Marlene]

Shouldn't it just be a function of how many calories you take in versus how many you burn? Does not matter *when* you take them?

For example if I take a packed lunch to work, what I eat for lunch typically does not change whether I eat breakfast or not - on some days I'm just hungrier for it and my stomach rumbles in meetings ... but that is a different issue.

I understand what WW is saying - they're talking about creating most-likely-to-succeed eating habits, but medically it makes no difference, right?

No it's not. I know it sounds logical, but what happens is once your body starts to store calories as fat, it takes longer to reverse that process and start using them to burn energy. So if you don't wake up your system in the morning, the storing of fat process has already begun by the time you get around to lunch. If you eat it. The longer you go without food, the more your body starts to "hoard" what it has. Also, there are good calories and bad calories. Alcohol, for example, while having no fat content persay, has calories. Except they are usually called empty calories because there is little or no nutritional value in them. So under the WW point system, you can burn a lot of points of with a few glasses of wine, thus reducing the amount of healthy calories or food points to take in. Empty calories generally turn to fat quicker because there is nothing in them your system wants in terms of nutrition.

How's that for a morning nutrition lesson

[EJRothman]

I understand what WW is saying - they're talking about creating most-likely-to-succeed eating habits, but medically it makes no difference, right?

No it's not. I know it sounds logical, but what happens is once your body starts to store calories as fat, it takes longer to reverse that process and start using them to burn energy. So if you don't wake up your system in the morning, the storing of fat process has already begun by the time you get around to lunch. If you eat it. The longer you go without food, the more your body starts to "hoard" what it has. Also, there are good calories and bad calories. Alcohol, for example, while having no fat content persay, has calories. Except they are usually called empty calories because there is little or no nutritional value in them. So under the WW point system, you can burn a lot of points of with a few glasses of wine, thus reducing the amount of healthy calories or food points to take in. Empty calories generally turn to fat quicker because there is nothing in them your system wants in terms of nutrition.

How's that for a morning nutrition lesson

[Schielke]

alcohol does inhibit muscle growth. Damn, no beer after lifting.

Ben

[nightscotsman]

alcohol does inhibit muscle growth.  Damn, no beer after lifting.

Ben

I don't think lifting a bottle counts.

Edited April 16, 2003 by nightscotsman (log)

[NeroW]

alcohol does inhibit muscle growth.  Damn, no beer after lifting.

Ben

I don't think lift a bottle counts.

[claire797]

My theory is that people who aren't hungry for breakfast have eaten plenty of calories the night before.

while the logic seems obvious, i'm thinking it might have more to do with the intake of carbs and protein the night before. then again, i'm also thinking that it doesn't work this way anyway (going back to the apparent paradox of every diet suggesting 3 meals a day rather than 2).

Whoah! I'm not suggesting eating 2 meals a day nor am I saying that it is beneficial to weight loss. I just think people who eat large dinners do not wake up hungry. Period. I don't think they should force feed themselves breakfast when their body is still trying to digest a porterhouse from the night before.

[vox]

if i don't eat breakfast, i end up with massive hunger headaches, feel nauseous, and get extremely cranky until i get some food in me.

i used to eat one large meal a day (dinner). i noticed that after eating dinner, i'd be lethargic and usually end up taking an hour long nap presumeably while my body processed the sudden influx of food.

for the past month, i've taken to eating breakfast and bringing fruit or small snacks with me during the day, and i've found that i've lost weight, been much more productive, and all around healthier.

[Allura]

I find I have to eat *something* about 2 hours of waking up. Could just be a few nuts, but it's got to be something, preferably protein.

[tommy]

My theory is that people who aren't hungry for breakfast have eaten plenty of calories the night before.

while the logic seems obvious, i'm thinking it might have more to do with the intake of carbs and protein the night before. then again, i'm also thinking that it doesn't work this way anyway (going back to the apparent paradox of every diet suggesting 3 meals a day rather than 2).

Whoah! I'm not suggesting eating 2 meals a day nor am I saying that it is beneficial to weight loss. I just think people who eat large dinners do not wake up hungry. Period. I don't think they should force feed themselves breakfast when their body is still trying to digest a porterhouse from the night before.

whoa! i was simply suggesting that it might not be "calories", but rather "carbs" and "proteins" the night before that might affect/effect ones hunger in the morning.

[SobaAddict70]

That's what subsidized cafeterias are for, although why they continue to serve this neon pink mess of stewed HOT DOGS with onions and peppers and ketchup for breakfast at my firm's cafeteria is beyond me. (It's not the only option, thank god. Why its there, though, beats me.)

Soba

[fimbul]

I just think people who eat large dinners do not wake up hungry. Period.

Funny, my experience is the opposite. If I eat a very large meal in the evening, I'm ravenous early the next day. I know at least some of my friends share this quirk beause we've discussed it on the way to breakfast.

I always asumed it was a normal thing. I think the way I rationalized it to myself was that I figured my body was in digestion mode: because I'd eaten a lot for dinner it was digesting like crazy, and hadn't thought to stop in time, thus leaving me plenty of room to eat a horse the morning after.

I am, I admit, no nutritionist, so it may just be I'm a weirdie.

[claire797]

I just think people who eat large dinners do not wake up hungry. Period.

Funny, my experience is the opposite. If I eat a very large meal in the evening, I'm ravenous early the next day. I know at least some of my friends share this quirk beause we've discussed it on the way to breakfast.

Everyone is different.

After an evening out, I wake up feeling like I ate bricks for dinner. I eat breakfast anyway because I like it.

Your experience with eating a big dinner and waking up hungry reminds me of people who say that eating breakfast makes them even hungrier for lunch because it gets the body into a digestion mode.

[Joy]

My theory is that people who aren't hungry for breakfast have eaten plenty of calories the night before.

while the logic seems obvious, i'm thinking it might have more to do with the intake of carbs and protein the night before. then again, i'm also thinking that it doesn't work this way anyway (going back to the apparent paradox of every diet suggesting 3 meals a day rather than 2).

Whoah! I'm not suggesting eating 2 meals a day nor am I saying that it is beneficial to weight loss. I just think people who eat large dinners do not wake up hungry. Period. I don't think they should force feed themselves breakfast when their body is still trying to digest a porterhouse from the night before.

i've noticed that when i eat particularly large dinners, i wake up ravenous. conversely when i eat normal sized dinners, i'm not really hungry til around 10:30am.

[claire797]

My theory is that people who aren't hungry for breakfast have eaten plenty of calories the night before.

while the logic seems obvious, i'm thinking it might have more to do with the intake of carbs and protein the night before. then again, i'm also thinking that it doesn't work this way anyway (going back to the apparent paradox of every diet suggesting 3 meals a day rather than 2).

Whoah! I'm not suggesting eating 2 meals a day nor am I saying that it is beneficial to weight loss. I just think people who eat large dinners do not wake up hungry. Period. I don't think they should force feed themselves breakfast when their body is still trying to digest a porterhouse from the night before.

i've noticed that when i eat particularly large dinners, i wake up ravenous. conversely when i eat normal sized dinners, i'm not really hungry til around 10:30am.

So I guess my theory just got shot to Hell

[tommy]

claire, 6 out of 7 experts have PM'd me and told me that you are in fact wrong. can we just move on? do i need to explain this over and over again? i mean, *6* experts for cryin out loud.

[Stone]

Whoah!  I'm not suggesting eating 2 meals a day nor am I saying that it is beneficial to weight loss.  I just think people who eat large dinners do not wake up hungry.  Period.

funny, though, that sometimes when I eat a huge dinner or a huge late night snack, I wake up and within an hour I get such a hunger pang that I feel like I'll be sick unless I eat. I always thought it was from the left over juices (hormones, acid, etc.) triggered by the large meal.

[fimbul]

Your experience with eating a big dinner and waking up hungry reminds me of people who say that eating breakfast makes them even hungrier for lunch because it gets the body into a digestion mode.

Actually, eating breakfast does make me hungrier for lunch.

Apparently, eating makes me hungry. I should stop eating so I don't eat so much....

There *has* to be a flaw in that, but damn me if I can find it.

Edit: By the way, these days, I eat yogurt for breakfast. I find eating something early keeps me from going all spacey and irritable by mid-day.

Edited April 16, 2003 by fimbul (log)

[Wilfrid]

I expect a scientist would tell us that this is related to blood sugar levels rather than fullness or emptiness of stomach. Some have noticed that drinking a bellyful of beer will cause an enormous appetite. This is because the body's blood sugar system gets really confused, or so I'm told. I suspect the same thing is happening for some people when eating a large meal provokes next-morning hunger pangs.

Brief further investigation tells me that bombarding the pancreas with sugar (including alcohol) provokes it to produce excessive insulin, thus metabolizing blood sugar extra fast, and actually pushing blood sugar way down. I can see how this works with alcohol, so it makes sense with big meals too. Your body overreacts, metabolizes the hell out of your dinner, and leaves you hungry for breakfast. My lack of medical training doesn't prevent me from seeing a link to diabetes somewhere here.

Myself, I skip breakfast and have also been known to skip lunch if busy. As long as I eat a ridiculously large meal some time after nine pm, I'm fine. Healthy, huh?

Edited April 16, 2003 by Wilfrid (log)

[fimbul]

I always thought it was from the left over juices (hormones, acid, etc.) triggered by the large meal.

I have nothing to add save that, the next time I do something off-color or inappropriate, I look forward to blaming it on "left over juices." This simply needs to be done:

"Hey! You kicked the cat off the bed!"

"Sorry, dear. Left over juices. You know. Had to be done."

[indiagirl]

shall i invite one of my nutritionist friends to enlighten us?

tommy, was i one of the experts that PM'ed you?

[torakris]

I find that if I don't eat rice for dinner (which I do eat 5 to7 times a week) I wake up ravenously hungry.

Pasta and bread just don't fill me up I guess.

[tommy]

Some have noticed that drinking a bellyful of beer will cause an enormous appetite.  This is because the body's blood sugar system gets really confused, or so I'm told. 

this is especially apparent if one drinks through lunch and dinner. for some reason, one gets very hungry at about midnight. or when the bar closes. it *has* to be blood sugar.

Edited April 16, 2003 by tommy (log)

[snowangel]

Diana and I find larb to be an especially filling breakfast; one that sticks with us for a long time.