Is skipping breakfast bad for you?

[TheBrain]

In his book or interviews, does Valter Longo mention ApoE4 at all? If not, that’s a big variable to leave out of the discussion.

[Searcher]

Skipping breakfast appears to invite atherosclerosis.

http://www.onlinejacc.org/content/accj/ ... carousel=1

This evidence was sufficient for me to switch my fasting from skipping breakfast to skipping the evening meal. I still sit and chat with the family at the dining table.

Further, "disruption of clock genes results in dyslipidemia, insulin resistance and obesity. Modifying the time of feeding alone can greatly affect body weight."

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28585194

Being lean or obese makes a difference to the effects of skipping breakfast.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29193093

In lean people, skipping breakfast

a) enhances insulin sensitivity by upregulating the IRS2 gene.
b) enhances fatty acid oxidation in mitochondria to produce energy by upregulating the ACADM gene.

The more obese the person, the lower the glucose uptake by fat cells.

Look forward to learning more.

[Brian4]

Skipping breakfast appears to invite atherosclerosis.

The paper doesn't support that claim. The authors of the paper were pretty careful not to conclude that, at first, but then they overreach. Odd paper.

Conclusions

Skipping breakfast could serve as a marker of unhealthy dietary and lifestyle behavior and is associated with [bad stuff].

So far so good, but then in the next sentence they say something about the importance of eating breakfast! (i.e., that it's not just a marker).

Anyway, take a look at the "Study Strengths and Limitations" section.

I think the safe conclusion to all this is that we simply don't know, and self-experimentation is probably the way to go for most people.

Brian

[rrao2015]

I don't do anything extraordinary with my diet. I try to have a balanced CHO+protein+fat diet. Lots of veggies and greens. Ghee, Olive oil and coconut oil are the sources of my fat. Snacks include walnuts, almonds and dates. I stay away from processed, highly refined, canned foods. I have also minimized eating out. I pay attention to what I am eating. I use "eating" as part of my "meditation" practice. I take a long time to eat a small, simple meal because these days I am focusing on chewing my food well. I am eating less as a result, but i guess I am metabolizing it all well. And yes, I have lot of spices: freshly ground pepper, coriander seeds, cumin, fennel, ginger, cinnamon. Indians cannot do away with their spices.

[Jennifer]

So, I'm glad this thread is going because I'm having a breakfast issue. I have always been a breakfast eater, but had switched over to the no-breakfast protocol to do the 16 hour daily fast. (I'm a 4/4) I did ok with that for a few weeks until I recently changed up my morning routine. I now get up at 5:45 AM to do the feeding chores (we have a farm) before I get ready for work. I used to get up at 6:30 and would feed on my way to work. That was very hectic and stressful. The earlier wake up time has made for a better morning. -
and I get in an almost mile walk going down to the barn and back to the house.
HOWEVER, getting up at 5:45 and fasting through 12:00 lunch has been really, REALLY hard. I've started eating two scrambled eggs with a little chive and cheese at 7:00 AM. (after reading about the cholesterol, and seeing mine is on the high end of normal, I'm going to switch at least one egg for just the white). The eggs really help me make it through to lunch. However, if I start eating at 7:00 AM that switches my 16 hour fast to cutting off at 3:00 PM? I don't think that's feasible either. I do have to make dinner for my spouse and daughter, and depending on farm chores, we often eat dinner around 6:30. I guess I am asking - is an 11-12 hour fast sufficient? or do I just need one of you to tell me to suck it up and either skip breakfast or dinner?

[Orangeblossom]

I have taken to having a handful on nuts after the school run (around 10am) as a kind of compromise, find this keeps me going, is low carb...kind of a mini breakfast! Bit I find anything more especially higher carb, such as porridge makes me more hungry.

[SusanJ]

...is an 11-12 hour fast sufficient?

Bredesen suggests 12 hours as the minimum to have beneficial autophagy and get you into mild ketosis.

Could you do like Orange suggests and eat nuts or something to break your fast at work, say mid-morning? Or a hardboiled egg or two, or anything easy that wouldn't take time away from your job (reheat dinner leftovers?).

And don't get stuck on only eating 2 times per day. Everyone is different. I eat 3 times per day, in order to maintain weight (I'm petite, and physically can't eat enough calories in 2 meals). I break my fast around 9:30-10:00, then eat again around 1-1:30 and somewhere around 6:00.

Stick with it. You'll find what works for you!

[Jennifer]

and eat nuts or something to break your fast at work, say mid-morning?

Yes, I think that is going to be my go to plan. Something around 10/10:30. That's when I find I get really hungry and it causes me to watch the clock until 12:00. (Pretty distracting) Thank you all for the suggestions!

[Thrac92]

It is great for me and work great.
I am 49 year old and I start to practice IF (intermittent fasting) 6 months ago.
I don't eat from 6PM to 12PM next day every day. I drink water if I need it but mostly I don't need it.
The skin is better, my best time of focusing is in the morning before the lunch. Pain goes away.
There is lots of data out there that support the IF, it is more important to eat rarely than to limit the calories and eat often.
Ideally is to have a good one meal a day. There are lots of people who do that and they feel and look great.
You will have a lot more energy during the day. Read the book: "The Code of Obesity" and you get some great explanation about it how it works. Also in 2016 the Nobel Prize for biochemistry was taken by a Japanese doctor that studied for more than a decade the effect of fasting for all living cells. Great effect in rejuvenation and maintain your health. The science is there along the common sense. What we are bombarded daily is the crap sold by food industry and pharma that has no interest in curing the diseases but in selling more crap for profit. Intermittent fasting is not for kid or pregnant women but works great for the rest. Don't believe in the crap that says is mandatory to eat your breakfast. You don't need it, especially if you are an Apo4.

People that live in Nigeria have a higher rate of Apo4 gene than westerners but very rarely they get Alzheimer (read none).
But these people don't eat like us westerners, the food intake is scarce and once a day.

Lots of data out there that show the benefits of limiting the time windows of eating during the day.
Fast and feast.
If you stay hungry for small periods of time you are healing yourself most probably.
Check what Mark Twain said about fasting: "Appetite Cure" ~ Mark Twain - 1898

Check this as well and use your common sense:
http://www.greekmedicine.net/hygiene/Fa ... ation.html

Search it and you will find it out.

[Epsilon?]

Of course breakfast is important, I have it everyday about noon. I have been following time restricted feeding for a year or so but more seriously in 2018. Combining the 16-18 hour fasts with more emphasis on cutting carbs I am down 10 lbs in the past 2 months with A1c of 5.0 vs 5.6. I know that the human results are not as robust as those in mice but there may be something to TRF. On the other hand, my results may just be from elimination of unhealthy evening snacking. Either way it seems to be working for me.