The Myth About Breakfast

You know what they say, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Is it? The old wives tale claims that breakfast gives you the essential nutrients, calories, and energy to get through the day, but is breakfast actually more important than every other meal? In reality, it is no more or less important than lunch and dinner. It’s simply just as important.

In fact, a study by Cornell University showed that skipping breakfast can actually reduce caloric intake throughout the day. Old myths claimed that by skipping breakfast, individuals would be hungrier throughout the day and would actually consume more calories to compensate for skipping breakfast. However, Cornell tracked the intake of groups of people who ate and did not eat breakfast, and the individuals who ate breakfast consumed roughly 200 less kcals then those who ate breakfast. This shows that breakfast really does not have that strong of an effect on caloric intake, and if anything, skipping it helps consume less calories.

Additionally, a study by the WHO which tracked groups of people who ate, and did not eat breakfast also showed that the group who skipped breakfast lost slightly more weight than those who ate. However, the difference between was rather small, again proving that there is really no difference between skipping breakfast or eating it. Essentially, if you like breakfast, you should eat it. But if you’re not a breakfast eater, do not worry about it. With multiple studies showing that breakfast has no real impact on calorie intake and weight gain, it is hard to claim that it is the most important meal of the day.

If you’d like some help with a meal plan from The Abs Company, here is our brand new HIIT Ebook that contains a great eating guide with a sample meal for your reference. It does include breakfast, but remember - you don’t HAVE to! Do what works for you!