Lose weight – but not breakfast

Have you made your New Year’s resolutions? If they include losing weight, hold off until you read this article! Many people think skipping breakfast is a good way to lose weight.

However, the desired weight loss rarely occurs with this method. Today, a growing body of research focuses on meal frequency and timing, with breakfast playing a prominent role.

Researchers, using information from 50,000 participants in Adventist Health Study-2 (AHS-2), found four factors that were associated with a decrease in body mass index (BMI):¹

eating only one or two meals per day; maintaining an overnight fast of up to 18 hours; eating breakfast instead of skipping it; and making break- fast (or lunch) the largest meal of the day.²

The two factors that related most strongly with higher weights were eating more than three meals a day (snacks are counted as extra meals) and eating the largest meal of the day for supper. The latter is very common among many cultures—and even church gatherings! Recent research strongly suggests that eating meals later in the evening can sabotage an otherwise good weight management program.³

These findings also challenge the widely held opinion that eating more frequently is better for weight management than eating larger meals less often. A few observational studies have suggested the opposite, but large prospective studies have clearly shown snacking leads to weight gain—probably because snack foods tend to be high in sugar, fat, and calories.

The principle investigator of AHS-2, Hana Kahleovo, MD,⁴ says these findings could be combined into a very practical weight-management strategy for relatively healthy individuals. She recommends skipping supper, avoiding snacks, eating a substantial breakfast, and fasting at least 18 hours per day.

We may not like the idea of going to bed on an empty stomach—many people are used to retiring with very full stomachs! Evidence in animal studies points to a longer life-span and positive influences on glucose tolerance, insulin sensitivity, and the incidence of type 2 diabetes when evening meals are skipped.⁵

Most of us are acquainted with the old adage, “Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper.” For years, nutritionists have urged us to make breakfast the largest meal of the day—containing at least 25 to 40 percent of the daily calories. Yet, evidence from large-scale surveys in the United States reveals that 18 to 25 percent of adults and as many as 36 percent of adolescents skip this most important meal.⁶

Breakfast foods vary by culture. One culture often can’t even contemplate eating what another relishes first thing in the morning! Yet within cultures, there is a surprising amount of consistency in terms of the kinds of foods consumed at the start of the day.

A wide and growing body of evidence supports the concept that breakfast is a very important meal of the day for both children and adults. It provides fuel for the body, supports mental alertness, and may prolong life as well!⁷ Breakfast should contain a substantial part of the day’s energy, be well-balanced, and deliver its energy slowly over the course of the morning. This is not always followed. Researchers in the United Kingdom found that children younger than 10 years old consume more than 50 percent of the daily allowance for sugar in breakfast cereals, drinks, and spreads alone.⁸

These are not new concepts. Many years ago, the early health reformer Ellen G. White wrote: “It is the custom and order of society to take a slight breakfast. But this is not the best way to treat the stomach. At breakfast time the stomach is in a better condition to take care of more food than at the second or third meal of the day. The habit of eating a sparing breakfast and a large dinner is wrong. Make your breakfast correspond more nearly to the heartiest meal of the day.”⁹

The same author recognized that not all would do better on two meals and then suggested a very light supper: “Most people enjoy better health while eating two meals a day than three; others, under their existing circumstances, may require something to eat at suppertime; but this meal should be very light. Let no one think himself a criterion for all,—that every one must do exactly as he does.”¹⁰

It will not hurt you to try this eating pattern for a few weeks—you may find you feel better and have a clearer mind— and an easier time losing weight!

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