Most people have heard the saying from their grandmothers, or moms that “breakfast is the most important meal of the day”. The saying has been known for years, however, many people around the world, especially in the United States practice the opposite eating habits. Despite the fact that most are aware of the importance of breakfast, According to the NDP Group 31 million Americans skip breakfast every day. That is a 10% of Americans who choose to skip the morning meal. But why would someone choose to skip breakfast? Well, some of the excuses from the non-breakfast eaters are that they are simply not hungry in the morning, or they just do not have the time for it (McLynn). Some people even go as far as calling breakfast dangerous. Biochemist professor Terence Kealey has even written a book “Breakfast is a Dangerous Meal” proposing that the idea of breakfast being the most important is funded by the cereal companies. He claims that breakfast makes people fat because of the addition of the caloric intake. According to Kealey, breakfast is dangerous because our body's cortisol hormone peaks first thing in the morning, thus causing the body to be resistant to insulin. He uses that to explain the reasoning for not being hungry in the morning, as the body’s warning of cortisol spikes (Kealey). Although the anti-breakfast claims are something to consider, the numerous scientific studies on breakfast confirm its importance in our daily routines. Because of its numerous benefits, which include fueling your body, strengthening your heart, helping to stay fit, and improving your concentration, eating breakfast should be everyone’s daily priority, to make them overall smarter, and healthier.

We need food in the morning, the same way a car needs gasoline. Humans get the energy from food that we consume, therefore we need to have a meal in the morning after about ten hours of “fasting” while sleeping. Throughout the night our bodies continue to work and burn calories, so when we wake up we need breakfast to refuel our bodies. Eating food within a few hours of waking up refills our body’s low supply of glucose from the long night of sleep. Glucose is a carbohydrate that is the most important simple sugar in our metabolism (“How Important Is Breakfast?”). Alice Walton, a journalist for Forbes magazine uses the data from American Heart Association, to also back up the idea that skipping breakfast could have problems with glucose metabolism, possibly leading to “full-blown diabetes”. Even though anti-breakfast people, such as Professor Kealey, propose that eating breakfast will destabilize the sugar levels in our body, a study by Consumer Reports has showed otherwise (Kealey).  University of Bath performed a study to see a relationship between breakfast and glucose levels in the people’s body. They asked one group of people to eat a big meal before 11am, and another to eat their big meal after 11am. Monitoring their blood sugar levels every five minutes, the researchers noticed that people who ate in the morning had more stable glucose levels. As seen on the chart below, breakfast skippers sugar levels kept fluctuating throughout the day. The people of the group who ate breakfast had their insulin sensitivity, which is the body’s response rises in glucose increased by as much as 10% (“Why Eating the Right Breakfast Is So Important - Consumer Repo”). This shows that in order to be a healthy functioning body, breakfast has to be included in your daily routine. A nutritious breakfast, consisting of lean protein, whole grains, or fruit, will fuel the body throughout the day, and maintain stability in sugar levels.  

By maintaining stability in sugar levels, eating breakfast daily has the ability to decrease your chances of getting diabetes. Type 2 Diabetes, has been growing exponentially in the United States. It is caused by an overly high sugar levels in a person’s body, which is usually controlled by insulin. And one of the biggest causes for Type 2 Diabetes is a person’s diet, especially breakfast, since it provides a large amount of the body’s nutritional needs. Researchers performed a study on over 200 children’s diet to measure the glucose levels in order to see which ones are more in risk of getting Diabetes. The experiment concluded that students who eat breakfast daily, especially full in fiber are less likely to develop type 2 Diabetes (“Eating Breakfast May Lower Kids' Type 2 Diabetes Risk.”). This shows that daily breakfast consumption helps lower one’s risk of getting Diabetes. Therefore, if people ate breakfast on a daily basis, it could possibly lower the rates of different health problems, such as diabetes. 

Some people choose to skip breakfast as part of their strict diet to attempt to lose weight by lowering the daily caloric intake. The famous anti-breakfast book author, Kealey, even believes that eating breakfast will make you fat because of the addition of extra calories in total caloric intake, or that breakfast makes you more prone to snacking mid-day and mid-afternoon (Kealey). However, that is not the case. A study done by two doctors, Goyal and Julka, shows an inverse relationship of that theory. The doctors proposed that skipping breakfast is linked to obesity. According to their experiment, where 14,000 boys’ and girls’ body mass index (BMI) were measured over a three-year period, the children who never ate breakfast had a higher BMI than those who ate breakfast regularly (Goyal et al). Having a meal in the morning will likely prevent one from eating a larger meal later in the day, since people tend to eat more when they are hungrier. However, it is also possible that the reason why breakfast skippers are more linked to obesity, is because of their other unhealthy diet habits, or perhaps the ones that skip the morning meal are already overweight and it is their attempt to cut calories (Frankel). Overall, eating breakfast helps maintain weight, and people who eat it daily are less likely to become obese. 

Not only breakfast eaters are less likely to become obese, but also a nutritional breakfast is essential for building muscle, or making your gym visit worth. Melina Jampolis, a physician nutrition specialist explains that it is essential to “fuel your body correctly”, in order to see results at the gym. She mentions that breakfast, full of natural protein such as, eggs, lean greek yogurt, or nuts, will help build muscle, or lose weight depending on the exercises you are performing. She highlights that working out is only a small part of being fit, and that in order to get the results of that strong, lean muscle, it is necessary to put “good” fuel in our body in the beginning of the day by eating a nutritious breakfast (Thedoctorstv). In order to see real change in your body while working out and trying to become fit, one needs to also consider their diet. A healthy, nutrient rich diet will provide the foundation for building muscles, or fighting fat. Even fitness champion Chellana Dinsmore, who is Miss Fitness Universe, a professor of human biology, and an instructor in a Life Time Fitness gym, explains that a big part of her fitness routine is a healthy breakfast, consisting of eggs, oatmeal, fruit, and water. Having a nutritious meal in the morning is a big part of maintaining fitness, as it helps to either gain lean muscle, or lose weight.

Blood pressure is the measurement of the pressure created by the blood moving and pushing against the blood vessels. Having a high blood pressure is associated with having a high risk for developing health problems, therefore it is important to have a normal blood pressure, consisting of 120/80 mmHg (“Understanding Blood Pressure Readings”). Eating a healthy breakfast may lower your blood pressure, thus making you an overall healthier self. One study tested this theory of breakfast lowering blood pressure on healthy adults, and concluded that indeed breakfast eating adults had a lower blood pressure than the ones that skipped it (Lee et al). Many breakfast foods, which include oatmeal, bananas, berries, and egg whites, have been claimed by many doctors to decrease one’s blood pressure. These breakfast foods have needed the vitamins to support the blood flow: Oatmeal is full of iron, magnesium, and vitamin B, bananas are loaded with potassium, berries are a source of antioxidants, and egg whites are full of protein (Janet). Morning is the perfect time for your body to receive all these nutrients, and vitamins, because absorbing them early will provide energy, and promote healthy habits throughout the day. 

 Heart disease ranks as the number one cause of death in the United States. (“Leading Causes of Death.”) So if heart is such an important organ, in order for us to live longer, we need to practice healthy habits to keep the heart strong. One of such healthy habits, happens to be eating breakfast daily. A study was performed by researchers which showed that skipping breakfast in childhood is associated with the cardiovascular diseases shown later once the child reaches adulthood. The experiment concluded that skipping breakfast may have harmful effects on the heart, therefore a simple step to prevent that would be daily consumption of breakfast (Smith). Another study performed over a decade by Doctor Eric Rimm, health and associate professor at Harvard Medical, on health effects of diet quality, concluded that healthier diet habits, such as having breakfast in the morning can lower the risk of coronary heart disease (Association, American Heart). These studies once again, demonstrate, one of many benefits of eating breakfast: that having a nutritional meal in the morning will help your heart stay strong, decreasing your chances of getting heart disease in the future. 

Not only eating breakfast has many benefits on your health, but it has also been seen to make you overall smarter, by increasing your levels of concentration, attention, and memory. A study looking at the effects of breakfast on children, 11-13 years old, was conducted and showed an increased levels of concentration and a better performance of children who consumed breakfast, compared to the ones that did not. The breakfasting eating children group also reported on feeling more awake during their early classes (Frankel). Another study, also noticed the breakfast benefits on people’s brain. Aliya Hisam studied the association of breakfast with intelligence by examining IQ levels of 102 Pakistan students who ate breakfast regularly, and the ones who ate breakfast irregularly. Through the experiment Hisam found that more than half of the 102 students who had a high IQ levels were regular breakfast consumers (Hissam et al). Even though through the study a causal relationship between breakfast consumption and intelligence cannot be determined, it is possible that poor breakfast causes poorer academic achievements. Foods such as nuts, blueberries, and whole grains are rich in nutrients and are said by nutritionists, and doctors to “increase your odds of maintaining a healthy brain” (Sorgen). And not surprisingly at all those are the same foods that are recommended for nutritional breakfast. Therefore, eating a healthy breakfast daily, has the potentiality to make you smarter, thus making you learn more by increasing your concentration, attention levels. 

Even though many breakfast skippers understand the importance of breakfast, most still argue that their reason for skipping is just simply not being hungry in the morning. But why would we not feel hungry after a night full of fasting, but have our stomachs roar during the day if we go a few hours without a snack? Well, a nutritionist, Michelle Blum explains that one of the reasons for that could be our slowed down metabolism at sleep: 

Your metabolism works much like a fireplace, if you keep throwing sticks on a fire (food), it will burn strong. If you do not add fuel to the fire, it will go out. This is what happens when we sleep, which is fine because we don’t expend much energy when we sleep either (Weingus)

When we wake up, our metabolism takes a little longer to get the message of being awake, therefore leading to people feeling a lack of hunger. Another reason why people might not be hungry could be because of a late night snack. According to Blum, if our bodies have not finished digesting the food from the night before, it might have an impact on the lack of hunger. Lastly, she mentions that hormones could have something to do with it as well, explaining that our body releases a few hormones as soon as we wake to get our body started, which could contribute to the lack of appetite. So if some people are not feeling hungry in the morning, should they be excluding breakfast completely, and not receiving many of the benefits that it brings? Lisa Hayim, another nutritionist interviewed in Elite Daily mentions that eating mindfully is the key. Even if you are feeling a lack of hunger in the morning, she recommends having at least something small and nutritious, which will start your metabolism, and you will be craving breakfast within an hour (Weingus). 

Not having enough time is another popular response from breakfast skippers. Almost everyone has busy schedules, so those extra ten minutes of sleep often replace the time for the morning meal. Even though those extra minutes might feel like it does a lot, the breakfast benefits far outweigh the benefits of ten extra minutes of sleep. As little as ten minutes is needed for a quick and easy breakfast. Making a simple and nutritious breakfast can take as little as two minutes. Some examples of simple healthy breakfast include oatmeal, eggs, plain greek yogurt with berries and granola, or a banana (Thedoctorstv). If sleep still sounds better to you than eating a full meal in the early morning, then one way you could encourage yourself to eat breakfast is to buy and prep your favorite healthy breakfast meals. Simply by knowing that you have something delicious waiting for you in your fridge will motivate you to get up earlier to make sure that you have time for that morning meal. So next time you are contemplating whether to sleep in, or to eat the morning meal, remember that breakfast will overall make you feel a lot better throughout the day, than those few minutes of snoozing. 

Breakfast has been proven by many nutritionists and researchers to be the most important meal of the day for a reason. Just by simply having a nutritious meal in the morning, you are benefiting your body and brain in many ways. Some of the benefits that breakfast provides include: maintaining fitness, gaining muscle, or losing weight, lowering your blood pressure, strengthening your heart, and increasing the concentration and attention levels. In order to decrease the rates to many health issues, and diseases, such as obesity, and cardiovascular disease, each person needs to make time for breakfast. All it takes is some dedication to wake up at most ten minutes earlier than usual, and make time for something so simple, yet so powerful. 
