Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think the mantra "breakfast is the most important meal of the day" is just bollocks?

105 replies

Mintyy · 07/07/2015 22:04

I am nbu, am I?

I get up at 7am most days (8 or 8.30 at the weekends) and never feel a pang of hunger before 10.30/11.

If I were to eat breakfast I would be forcing myself to eat when I'm not hungry.

Since I am quite overweight that would seem to me to be a very unwise thing to do.

OP posts:
Trills · 07/07/2015 22:30

I would TRY to encourage a child to eat breakfast.

Just because they might not be able to plan well enough ahead to think I am not able to eat between 8:30 and 11 at school and if I get hungry at 9:30 that's going to be qute unpleasant.

An adult, I would expect to know themselves and know their circumstances well enough to make that judgement.

Morloth · 07/07/2015 22:30

I can't face food until 11ish at the earliest.

For years I made myself eat it because of the metabolism bullshit and I was fat.

Dropping a meal I didn't want or need was definitely part of sorting out my weight.

Raveismyera · 07/07/2015 22:31

My understanding is there is no way you can "kick start" your metabolism or similar and I believe some scientists dispute are something you can manipulate at all and the idea of one being fast or slow is a myth.

If you missed breakfast and didn't snack you'd lose weight as consume fewer calories, by that doesn't really tally with being overweight anyway.

SwedishEdith · 07/07/2015 22:31

I think it's brain alertness or something that it's necessary for - maybe that is connected to kick starting the metabolism? I remember a programme with Prof Lesley Regan about what kids eat with the conclusion that they can eat anything for breakfast as long as they eat something.

Trills · 07/07/2015 22:31

Why would you expect your body to function on zero energy for a day??

Experience, and the understanding that "energy" is not provided only by "food that I have consumed in the past couple of hours".

Meow75 · 07/07/2015 22:31

I think - albeit based on evidence of less than 30 respondents - that what this thread shows is that when it comes to breakfast or not, everyone is different.

Just like lots of others things we could name.

WorraLiberty · 07/07/2015 22:32

I've just never seen the point in forcing unwanted food into my body, because the clock strikes a certain time.

It doesn't make sense. We're all too individual as people to have some sort of 'one size fits all' when it comes to eating.

Morloth · 07/07/2015 22:32

DS1 doesn't like breakfast and DS2 does. Your body can function on its stored energy and then when it is needs some more it lets you know.

Forcing down food is a mugs game.

knackered69 · 07/07/2015 22:34

I can't eat when I first get up at 6.30 - but I take a sandwich to work and eat it around 9.30 -then a spot of lunch at around 1.30, then at 4.30 I'll have a wee snackette, eat a small meal at around 7.30 and another small snack at bedtime. Little and often works for me - but I just couldn't eat within an hour or two of getting up.

cosytoaster · 07/07/2015 22:35

YANBU - I'm not hungry until I eat, I then spend the rest of the day feeling hungry.
My kids aren't really bothered either, they have something at break time at school.

AnyoneForTennis · 07/07/2015 22:36

I workout/run fasted... So I wake up and go. No food just water. All is well and this doesn't mean I'm flaking out or anything

When I was marathon training tho I'd have to eat beforehand. So I'd be up at 6 to eat before j set off for an 18/16/20 miler.... I needed the 'fuel' on those occasions

Marathon training..... Puts lots of things into perspective!

Raveismyera · 07/07/2015 22:37

Food giving you energy isn't the same as metabolism though

Stealthpolarbear · 07/07/2015 22:38

"
I've just never seen the point in forcing unwanted food into my body, because the clock strikes a certain time."
I've made a hobby of it :o

Thanks both. Trills that's sort of what I think. She's very like dh, given the chance shed get up at 8 and have breakfast at any half 10. That isn't an option :o ds bounds up like me and will happily eat raisin what's before 6am

Bostin · 07/07/2015 22:39

Everyone is different. I never used to eat before lunch and could manage. But now I have a condition which has sped up my metabolism and most mornings I wake up so hungry I can barely think straight.

TheHappinessTrap · 07/07/2015 22:39

I used to be thin and never ate before 11 am, or much after 6 pm for that matter. I made myself introduce breakfast (porridge with fruit or meusli, no added sugar) when I was ttc. Now I have to have it, starving by 8, and I'm over weight. I figure ive simply added 200 calories a day to my diet that I don't need and it's added up!

Sidge · 07/07/2015 22:44

It's a fallacy that you can tweak your metabolism.

It's fairly fixed; unless you have some underlying pathology such as thyroid disturbance or metabolic disease it won't change significantly.

StonedGalah · 07/07/2015 22:45

Ok, well it works for me. I am a good weight, get exercise daily (walking ever where) and eat treats and drink probably too muchalcohol.

If you're overweight maybe it's not the meal you're missing but the ones you're eating?

StonedGalah · 07/07/2015 22:46

Hate a strike out fail!

Original poster
Mintyy · 07/07/2015 22:47

My ds, who is 11 and fizzing with energy, plays every sport going and has a HUGE appetite, never wants breakfast either. I can sometimes persuade him to eat a banana or some fruit or one piece of toast before school.

Dd, aged 14, otoh, is happy to eat more or less the minute she gets up.

OP posts:
Stealthpolarbear · 07/07/2015 22:50

Well I'm here now, hoe impromptu is impromptu? ;)

CactusAnnie · 07/07/2015 22:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

member · 07/07/2015 22:54

I don't tend to eat breakfast and I'm fat.

I think there's some evidence that non- breakfast ears are more susceptible to gallstones as the long period of not eating means that the gallbladder doesn't contract to release bile allowing bile salts to crystallise more easily?

Original poster
Mintyy · 07/07/2015 23:00

Cactus - please point out to me where I suggest that what I do now is "the right way"? I shall be fascinated to see how you can extrapolate that.

OP posts:
Rainbunny · 07/07/2015 23:00

Most mantras are rubbish.

Btw - all those studies saying how breakfast kickstarts your metabolism - turns out that there are just as many saying it doesn't make a difference.

www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2014/08/23/why-breakfast-may-not-be-the-most-important-meal-of-the-day/

I personally am a breakfast person, but that's because I don't eat much for dinner. I mostly eat two poached eggs on a slice of toast with fruit for breakfast and lunch is generally my largest meal of the day. Dinner is more like a supper for me (except when I'm going out for dinner) so salads or soup is the usual fare. I wake up and feel hungry for breakfast likely because I don't eat a large dinner. If you eat a decent sized dinner, you may well just not feel hungry for breakfast the next morning. I think you shouldn't worry about it, listen to your body and don't put too much stock in the endless health studies that show contradictory conclusions every other week!

JaceLancs · 07/07/2015 23:31

I never used to eat breakfast - still don't on a weekend
Now during the week I have porridge around 9.30 at work, this often keeps me going all day, may have some fruit early afternoon
Main meal around 7.30
Helped me lose 4 stone so far - along with having to go wheat free

Swipe left for the next trending thread