Breakfast, breakfast, breakfast! We’re told it’s the most important meal of the day, but did you know that saying was started in the 19th century by James Caleb Jackson and John Harvey Kellogg to sell their newly invented breakfast cereal. Sounds to me like that marketing strategy was a winner!

Some are breakfast eaters and others aren’t. Whether it’s because it’s a pain to make, you don’t have time and leap out of bed and head to work, or maybe you’re just not a breakfast eater. I get it there are days when you just want to grab your coffee or tea and start your morning without thinking about food. And with remote work and so much work from home right now, you might think, I can deal with the morning hunger, since no one but me can hear the sounds of my tummy rumbling.

I think skipping breakfast has definitely been ‘ok’d’ with the rise of intermittent fasting—which is a whole other episode entirely. But I think every nutritionist, including me, is going to tell you the same thing: don’t skip breakfast! The benefits are just too good. Better focus, better productivity, better support for your metabolism, and better control for your hunger.

So today on EAT THIS with Lianne… Breakfast REHAB! Some of breakfast’s great benefits for your body, along with some myths that I’ll be debunking. Also, stay tuned for some easy breakfast ideas that I love and might help you deal with the morning stress!

We sort of grow up with this idea that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Or maybe the old adage of eating breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper. For many of my clients, this is how they function best. But it takes work to flip their day around from a massive dinner, late in the evening. For others, breakfast is a real struggle. I often have to recommend the EASIEST breakfast possible because being crunched for time can be such a barrier.

Then there are the studies that want to confirm if the incredible rise of obesity can be helped by eating breakfast or even is it part of the cause. 

Let’s put all that to rest now. As a nutritionist, I think all meals are important, and all meals are important in different ways. When you start to understand that, you can really start to pay attention to each meal individually and give them the care that they deserve. You can then stop seeing breakfast, lunch, or dinner as “lesser” meals and ensure you’re getting the right nutrients at each one.

So instead of getting into a great debate of whether breakfast is the most important, let’s focus on practical tips and lessons we can learn about your morning meal.

Some myths about breakfast

The first one: skipping breakfast will always lead to weight loss.

To debunk this, I’ll first say that the research out there is really conflicting, and like with any food research, losing weight will really depend on the person’s lifestyle, genetics, and other experiences. In studying obesity, some small studies have reported that skipping breakfast did not result in consuming more energy-dense or high-calorie meals later on in the day, and may have even reduced the amount that they ate.

But one thing I can say is that eating early in the day is more in line with our body’s clock. And when we’re more in sync with that clock, we metabolize food better. Breakfast can then actually lower the risk of weight gain. It doesn’t mean that if you eat breakfast, you’re automatically guaranteed to lose weight and become athletic and muscle-bound like Schwartzinager.  But it might put you on the right track to becoming more healthy overall—as in more stable energy and mood without highs, and lows, so not just from a weight loss perspective.

And there’s an interesting study that shows skipping breakfast is related to our behaviours, too. Probably a correlation more than a causation thing, but some research points out that breakfast skippers are more likely to smoke more and drink more alcohol.

The second myth: eating breakfast will stop you from overeating.

I’d say that it depends. It’s true that a protein-rich breakfast can help you feel more full and stave off some of those cravings later in the day. With any client who complains of the daily after-dinner munchies, the FIRST recommendation is to have more protein at breakfast. That balances out the typical carb and sugar-heavy bagel or muffin – you know the one that’s more like a cupcake, um hum. So balance here is key. Another thing, that so-called vitamin C rich OJ that you have because you think it’s healthy, ummmm that creates a blood sugar spike because it doesn’t have any fibre to slow the release of if it’s sugar and that can start an energy roller coaster, and you’ll see that with the afternoon slump and after dinner snack-attack.

Can eating breakfast make you happier?

It all really depends on what kind of breakfast you’re eating and the way that you eat it: are you rushing grabbing something on the go or really sitting down to enjoy it? 

If you are, breakfast can make you happier. A study found that morning meals can really help increase levels of the happy molecule dopamine. And this is great for all sorts of things—mood, focus, and productivity. Dopamine itself, on top of all the good nutrients that we’re getting in a good meal, can also help us regulate cravings for other foods. And if you have kids, research shows breakfast helps with slowing hyperactivity and giving back some focus.

And do you find that extra bit of time where you sit down in the morning, eat and drink your tea or coffee is so good for your mental health and mood? It can really set up your day nicely. Days where I get a chance to slow down with breakfast are almost always better than those days when I’m rushing out the door. There’s some research that shows breakfast can help decrease anxiety and depression. So if nothing else, just give yourself that space and that time, especially if you’re feeling frazzled lately.

The way that I approach how much I push a client to have breakfast or not, is to look at how they are feeling throughout the whole day, and of course, take into account how they are sleeping. Usually, there are issues which is why they want to work together in the first place, so 95% of the time I start and focus on improving breakfast. Then we can see how the rest of the day unfolds, looking at energy slumps, how they feel mid-afternoon, early evening and where any of their symptoms flare-up. That tells me a lot.

Breakfast Ideas

Here are some of the best breakfast ideas from my book, Sprout Right Family Food. While I’ve been doing my #cooktogether series, I’ve made so many more of my recipes and actually have been pleasantly reminded about how damn good they are! And I’ll toot my own horn a second time because, well they rock! Here are some of the best ideas:

• For those who say they don’t have time – prep overnight french toast in advance, like the night before, and in the morning it goes into the oven for just over half an hour and presto – you can feed the whole family and maybe have leftovers. It’s made in a pan and the bread soaks up the egg mixture, the blueberries, syrup, and cinnamon give it a 10/10 by most families who have made it.
• Chia pudding – not everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s the fastest to prep and eat. 
•  My kids have been crushing on the smashed avocado on toast with a fried egg on top while in isolation, so I’m happy with that. Before when they had to be up and out for school, everything but the kitchen sink went into their smoothies – spinach, chia seeds, hemp seeds and oil, protein powder, almond butter, banana, and berries. That’s if I’d make it. If they made it, maybe half of all that. 
• My apple crumble, homemade granola, and go faster granola bars have been my go-to lately, although I don’t eat anything until I’ve had my scoop of KID BOOST superfood powder and Alka C, which is around noon. I find the intermittent fasting approach has worked for my peri-menopausal hormone body that acts in ways that I haven’t experienced before, especially with memory, and weight fluctuations. 

As I often do, I took to social media and asked what my community does for breakfast.

• Kim shared her go-to of 2 eggs, GF toast and dairy-free butter, and coffee with almond milk and sugar.
• Amanda said she’s not a big breakfast eater. BUT when she does, she loves the apple pie oatmeal from Oh She Glows or grabs a chia pudding with fruit that she has made ready to go in the fridge. I asked if she felt she had always been a non-breakfast eater and she said “Yes, I have never been somebody who can wake up and eat right away. Well…..as a kid I would before going to school but as an adult, I don’t ever remember waking up and wanting to eat. It takes me a few hours before I feel hungry.”

So you see, as with everything, we have to find what works for each of us and tweak from there.

The key takeaway here is balance. A balanced breakfast is key, and balance throughout all your meals is the best way forward. Breakfast might not be the most important meal of the day, only because all meals are important!

Get more recipes in my book Sprout Right Family Food.

More recipes are available in my book Sprout Right Family Food—plus everything there is to know about getting your family off to a nutritious start, from birth to school age and beyond.

Get Sprout Right Family Food now!