Breakfast and blood sugar levels

suomi

I know this probably gets asked all the time but I tried searching and couldn't find the answer.

I never eat breakfast during the week, even the idea of eating something in the morning makes me feel sick! I rarely eat breakfast on weekends and if I do, it's a couple of hours after I've woken up so I'm not sure if that even counts as breakfast. I only start to get hungry about half an hour before lunchtime and even then I don't binge, I have a normal sized meal. And as far as I know, the lack of breakfast doesn't affect how I eat in the evenings. I've been skipping breakfast for years now.

Now my question is... I was recently told that it's not good to skip breakfast because when you have lunch your blood sugar levels jump up and then crash down again afterwards, and those kind of big changes can eventually cause diabetes. Is this true? I know that the goal is to keep your blood sugar levels even and that's why it's recommended to have several small meals throughout the day, but does not eating breakfast really have that big of an effect?

I know there are people who believe that breakfast is bad and others who believe it's good but is there any proof that not eating breakfast can eventually cause longterm problems with your blood sugar levels?

siochain

If your lunch consists of bread, sugary juice and most processed foods your blood sugar levels jump up regardless of what or if you had breakfast. There are loads of different theories out there about breakfast, what works for you? Are you healthy? What are your energy levels like during the day? Is your nutrition good the rest of the day?

If I’m hungry in the morning I’ll eat if I’m not I won’t eat and will only do so when I’m hunger, not when some mag or diet says I should. I’ve had some of my best training sessions in the mornings without any breakfast.

suomi

My lunch usually consists of a side salad with a little bit of salad dressing and some seeds, a glass of water and some sort of "home made" meal (I eat in a cafeteria so I don't cook it myself) but it's always healthy and I try to eat more meat/fish and less pasta/potatoes etc. I don't eat bread with lunch. I never get that sleepy feeling after lunch that you sometimes get when you eat too much. I'm healthy otherwise and my energy levels are fine, I don't starve myself on purpose or eat enormous amounts in the evening. I've tried eating breakfast but the only thing I can eat without feeling sick is something light like fruit, and I'd rather not force myself to eat if I'm not hungry. So the whole not eating breakfast thing works for me and I never questioned it until I heard someone say that it can cause diabetes.

Thanks for your reply btw!

martingriff

siochain wrote: »

If your lunch consists of bread, sugary juice and most processed foods your blood sugar levels jump up regardless of what or if you had breakfast. There are loads of different theories out there about breakfast, what works for you? Are you healthy? What are your energy levels like during the day? Is your nutrition good the rest of the day?

If I’m hungry in the I’ll eat if I’m not I won’t eat and will only do so when I’m hunger, not when some mag or diet says I should. I’ve had some of my best training sessions in the mornings without any breakfast.

Hey I have just joined motivation therapy and there say you should eat 3 meals a day. They say it is important to have 3 meals a day to stop hyperglsemia (not the correct spelling)

Frogdog

martingriff wrote: »

Hey I have just joined motivation therapy and there way is you should eat 3 meals a day and have 3 protein supplements a day (bar or drink which they sell to you.) They say it is important to have 3 meals a day and the supplements (maybe just for the weight loss dont know yet as on week 1) to stop hyperglsemia (not the correct spelling)

You pay money to a company, who tell you to buy their supplements, and you give them money.........have I got it right? Can I have some of your money?

Siochain has provided the best advice here so far.

siochain

martingriff wrote: »

Hey I have just joined motivation therapy and there way is you should eat 3 meals a day and have 3 protein supplements a day (bar or drink which they sell to you.) They say it is important to have 3 meals a day and the supplements (maybe just for the weight loss dont know yet as on week 1) to stop hyperglsemia (not the correct spelling)

Joining a group can help to lose weight, weight watchers has proven this. My aunty lost a load of weight with motivation therapy for a short while with the usual rebound back to normal weight plus VAT. When she was on it I couldn’t believe the price of the course and the price of the stuff the sell.

The money here would be best invested in learning about nutrition, your body, then do some trials and see what works for you and make the necessary lifestyle changes, this will be the best investment you will make in your life.

Even spend the money on a good personal trainer, make sure you get one of the few in this county that knows what their talking about. Look up a user called transform who posts here.

suomi

martingriff wrote: »

Hey I have just joined motivation therapy and there way is you should eat 3 meals a day and have 3 protein supplements a day (bar or drink which they sell to you.) They say it is important to have 3 meals a day and the supplements (maybe just for the weight loss dont know yet as on week 1) to stop hyperglsemia (not the correct spelling)

Thanks for the advice! I probably wouldn't start eating protein bars but I guess the basic idea is the same; eat several times a day to keep your energy levels up.

So basically, if not eating breakfast works for me (I'm healthy, not tired, doesn't affect the rest of the day) it's fine? It won't have a long term effect on how my body produces insulin?

martingriff

Frogdog wrote: »

You pay money to a company, who tell you to buy their supplements, and you give them money.........have I got it right? Can I have some of your money?

Siochain has provided the best advice here so far.

You pay money for a 20 week course and then you have to eat protein supplements which you have to buy I really don't see your point. Yes the payment is expensive but its for 20 week and you have weekly meeting. If it works great

martingriff

siochain wrote: »

Joining a group can help to lose weight, weight watchers has proven this. My aunty lost a load of weight with motivation therapy for a short while with the usual rebound back to normal weight plus VAT. When she was on it I couldn’t believe the price of the course and the price of the stuff the sell.

The money here would be best invested in learning about nutrition, your body, then do some trials and see what works for you and make the necessary lifestyle changes, this will be the best investment you will make in your life.

Even spend the money on a good personal trainer, make sure you get one of the few in this county that knows what their talking about. Look up a user called transform who posts here.

I agree it is expensive but sometimes people need motivation and help and help you lead a healthy lifestyle and keep it and a group help is good for this. The reasons for these programs it to show you a lifestyle change. As I am in week 2 now I cant say if it will work for me if it does brilliant. I am not preaching it I was just answering a question from the side I was given it. It is up to people to keep up with healty eating and not put the pounds on again + VAT.

martingriff

suomi wrote: »

Thanks for the advice! I probably wouldn't start eating protein bars but I guess the basic idea is the same; eat several times a day to keep your energy levels up.

So basically, if not eating breakfast works for me (I'm healthy, not tired, doesn't affect the rest of the day) it's fine? It won't have a long term effect on how my body produces insulin?

I am not sure of that I think the main point is to eat your 3 meals a day. The protein bar bit is just during the weight loss stage and should not have put it in. If your sugars go down and in the afternoon/evening you might start binging to get it back up which is then unhealty.

In relation to the bit in bold I do not know.

4zn76tysfajdxp

But martingriff, the OP isn't talking about weightloss...

martingriff

Holland Tasty Sport wrote: »

But martingriff, the OP isn't talking about weightloss...

Ya I know I should have ommitted the bit about the weight loss when rereading it a while ago I realised that. I might edit it just to keep the salient piece in

Redisle

There is an interesting article here about breakfast and Insulin response actually. The gist of it suggests that there is a cortisol spike in the morning when we wake up due to the process of going from a sleeping state to a waking state being stressful in a way. Eating breakfast at around the same time as this cortisol spike results in a larger than usual insulin response for the same meal at any other time of the day. This means your blood sugar drops faster and you get hungry shortly after breakfast.

parismilton

i believe breakfast is the most important meal of the day, as after being in a long dormant state body demands fuel source for morning activity, with the first bite in morning our metabolic activity starts. skiping it may lead to generation of some harmful chemicals in body.

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siochain

parismilton wrote: »

with the first bite in morning our metabolic activity starts.
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I'm pretty sure our metabolic activity only stops when were dead or a few days after we are dead........

One of several intresting metabolic activity that starts if we train fasted is the release and burning up of free fatty acids.

suomi

Thanks for the replies, everyone! They've certainly given me a lot to think about.

I just realised that since I usually don't eat between 8 PM and 12 PM the next day (16 hours), apparently that's intermittent fasting and that's supposed to be pretty good for you so maybe I'm not doing that badly after all!

Chancer3001

IF all the way.

massive focus on getting in protein and youll notice results imo.

elipsoid

There seems to be mounting evidence, although it really is scientifically speaking, in its infancy, relating to forms of intermittent fasting and health benefits. Lots of interest was generated over the BBC Horizon program "Eat, fast and live longer" (which is up on you-tube;)).

Someone here posted up a link to Leangains, a guy advocating only eating within a 8 hour window every day, e.g. skipping breakfast - lunch, and eating later in the day, but getting your full nutritional requirements within that window. He makes a rather compelling argument, citing a-lot of peer reviewed literature - but it is anecdotal nonetheless.

The first bit of researh I have seen testing the 16/8 diet, only in mice unfortunately, was reported on here http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120517131703.htm
You may have unwittingly been on to something skipping breakfast, like myself BTW, but of course only if you still meet your nutritional requirements during the day (or week!).

suomi

Chancer3001 wrote: »

IF all the way.

massive focus on getting in protein and youll notice results imo.

Thanks for the advice. That's definitely something I need to work on, I'd happily eat nothing but fruit and vegetables and yoghurt.

elipsoid wrote: »

There seems to be mounting evidence, although it really is scientifically speaking, in its infancy, relating to forms of intermittent fasting and health benefits. Lots of interest was generated over the BBC Horizon program "Eat, fast and live longer" (which is up on you-tube;)).

Someone here posted up a link to Leangains, a guy advocating only eating within a 8 hour window every day, e.g. skipping breakfast - lunch, and eating later in the day, but getting your full nutritional requirements within that window. He makes a rather compelling argument, citing a-lot of peer reviewed literature - but it is anecdotal nonetheless.

The first bit of researh I have seen testing the 16/8 diet, only in mice unfortunately, was reported on here http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120517131703.htm
You may have unwittingly been on to something skipping breakfast, like myself BTW, but of course only if you still meet your nutritional requirements during the day (or week!).

Thanks for the link, that's a very interesting article! Seems like the whole intermittent fasting is so new that no one knows about the longterm effects yet. I guess I can't be doing too badly though if I keep eating healthy during the 8 hours.