Breakfast: The Most Important Meal of the Day

Breakfast

Breakfast is the first meal of the day, and is a combination of the words break and fast, referring to the fact that since you have physically fasted since the previous day’s last meal, you are breaking the fast by eating at the start of a new day. While breakfast meals vary around the world in terms of what they consist of, they are generally considered to be the most important meal of the day, and one of the leading reasons why so many people in the Western world have developed obesity problems as the direct result of skipping breakfast. Almost everyone you talk to in the United States will tell you that they skip breakfast on a regular basis, mostly because they believe that they are too busy to prepare something, and think that by saving the calories from this meal they can lose more weight. Unfortunately, this is wrong on many different levels, and goes to show how uneducated most people are when it comes to nutrition and the importance of a balanced diet with regularity in terms of schedule.

Breakfast has been eaten worldwide for thousands of years and is a concept that can transfer easily between cultures, despite the fact that there are a variety of regional interpretations regarding what exactly breakfast should consist of, or when it occurs. The most common type, which is the “hearty breakfast”, is a direct result of medieval times when people ate the “king, noble, peasant” meals throughout the day. In other words, you should eat like a king first thing in the morning, then eat like a nobleman for lunch, and follow that up with a peasant’s portions in the evening. And while the reason for this might not have had any sort of scientific basis at the time, we can now understand why it is that breakfast was considered such an important meal, and why traditionally we have seen breakfast as the heaviest meal in the dietary routine.

Traditions

The traditional American breakfast is actually a derivative of European and English breakfasts as they have evolved over the past few hundred years. A typical full English breakfast consists of bacon, eggs, fried or grilled tomatoes, fried mushrooms, fried bread or toast, along with sausages and a mug of tea. Some regions actually included black pudding as well as left over fried mashed potatoes, called potato cakes. If you order a traditional English breakfast while in England, it is often referred to as a Full English, or a Full Monty, referencing the fact that it contains everything available in the kitchen at the time, thrown onto the plate.

Many European customs have been transferred over the years as well. For example, a typical breakfast in Denmark is cereals or bread accompanied by tea or coffee. Swedish breakfasts are closed sandwiches, while Finnish breakfasts are open sandwiches. Belgians, contrary to popular belief, do not eat waffles for breakfast; rather, they eat similar to their friends in the Netherlands, who consume some sliced bread with either some form of cheese, cured meats, or jams.

As a general rule, the breakfasts in America and Canada were derived from the Full English form of breakfast. Most traditional breakfasts include some form of hot oatmeal porridge or grits, along with sausages, pan-fried potatoes (also known as hash browns), biscuits, toast, pancakes, waffles, French toast, English muffins, pastries, as well as steak and eggs. Cold cereal is also popular as a quickie meal. However, various regions throughout the United States actually have local breakfast specialties that are less popular on a national level because of the influence of the immigrants who first established a foothold in those regions. For example, the Southwest has a Mexican influenced theme, which in its own turn was influenced by Spanish practices and the native South American indigenous peoples, while people in New York tend to follow a more European way of eating. The traditional Midwest breakfast is derived from those in rural England, although there are a few small differences. For example, most American breakfasts do not include lightly fried tomato slices or sautéed mushrooms, while in the same tone is almost impossible to find steak and eggs in England.

However, with the 21st century has come less time available for people to spend enjoying a hearty meal first thing in the morning, and many people have begun to either skip breakfast entirely, or simply have a cup of coffee or tea. The belief that they are doing more good than harm because they aren’t eating calories is actually completely false.

The Reality of a Good Breakfast

The first thing that eating a good breakfast does for you is that it establishes your metabolism for the rest of the day. You do not necessarily have to eat a large breakfast in the morning, especially if you are someone who is trying to lose weight, but it is vitally important to get some form of food into your stomach to spark your metabolism. In addition, the energy from that little bit of breakfast will carry you through the morning hours, leading to enhanced levels of energy throughout the day. Plus, by eating breakfast first thing in the morning you reduce your hunger later on in the day, which keeps you from overeating. Plus, if you skip breakfast, you increase your body’s insulin response, known as the famine mode, which is where your body increases fat storage and weight gain. This is where most people go wrong, because they do not understand that skipping breakfast actually increases the risk of obesity.

Eating breakfast does not mean you have to eat traditional breakfast foods. If you look at many European breakfasts they actually consist of foods that Americans consider to be associated with lunch, or even dinner. Eating leftovers is a great way to eliminate the time factor from your morning routine. Simply grab something from the night before, have a few bites to get something in your stomach, and prepare yourself for the rest of your day. Just remember that it is important to eat at least a small amount of something to get a jump start on the day, otherwise you could actually be promoting obesity.

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