Thread: Breakfast is not the most important meal of the day

-Contrary to popular belief, breakfast is not the most important meal of the day. In fact, omitting breakfast, as part of an intermittent fasting schedule, can have many important health benefits, from improving your insulin/leptin sensitivity to helping your body more effectively burn fat for fuel.

Longer bouts of fasting have also been shown to have potent health benefits, including the regeneration of your immune system, as demonstrated in recent research.

In the past, it was believed that skipping breakfast might hinder weight loss, or even make you gain weight, but recent research demonstrates there's no truth to this theory.¹ As noted by David Allison, senior investigator of the featured study and director of the UAB Nutrition Obesity Research Center:²

"The field of obesity and weight loss is full of commonly held beliefs that have not been subjected to rigorous testing; we have now found that one such belief does not seem to hold up when tested. This should be a wake-up call for all of us to always ask for evidence about the recommendations we hear so widely offered..."


...Fasting for a Few Days Can Regenerate Your Immune System
In related news, another recent study^{6, 7} has found that a three-day long fast can regenerate your entire immune system, even if you're elderly. The researchers described the findings as "remarkable." Fasting for a few days, they found, has the power to kick-start your stem cells into producing more white blood cells, which are part of your body's natural defense arsenal. As reported by Daily Life:⁸

"Scientists at the University of Southern California (USC) say the discovery could be particularly beneficial for those suffering from damaged immune systems, such as cancer patients on chemotherapy. It could also help the elderly whose immune systems become less effective...

''And the good news is that the body got rid of the parts of the system that might be damaged or old, the inefficient parts, during the fasting. Now, if you start with a system heavily damaged by chemotherapy or ageing, fasting cycles can generate, literally, a new immune system..."

http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fit..._rid=559347884

its very obvious u have never been to bojangles........

Originally Posted by wheeze

its very obvious u have never been to bojangles........

We stopped at Bojangles' the other evening, and my son got a cheddar bo biscuit....it was cooked to perfection. I was soooooo jealous.

If you click the link there's a lot more great info there including tips on intermittent fasting and all the good benefits associated with it:

Intermittent Fasting Works Best When You Also Cut Down on Carbs

Dr. Johnson is a proponent of skipping breakfast, as it helps your body to enter into a more efficient fat burning phase. However, if you're overweight, then step number one is to reduce your overall sugar and grain consumption. He suggests cutting sugar by one-half to one-third of your normal intake. I recommend keeping your total sugar/fructose intake below 25 grams a day, or as little as 15 grams a day if you have any health problems related to insulin and leptin resistance, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, or heart disease, until your insulin/leptin sensitivity has been restored.

You can then further boost your fat loss efforts by incorporating the principles of intermittent fasting, and by exercising in a fasted state. A simple way to get started with intermittent fasting is to simply omit breakfast, making lunch the first meal of your day. I usually recommend this kind of eating schedule, but if you want to eat breakfast and skip dinner instead, that's okay too. The key is to limit your eating to a specific, narrow window of time each day (about 6-8 hours), rather than eating every two to three hours, all throughout the day.

Intermittent fasting is by far the most effective way I know of to shed unwanted fat and eliminate your sugar cravings. Since most of us are carrying excess fat we just can't seem to burn, this is a really important benefit. When sugar is not needed as a primary fuel, your body will also not crave it as much when your sugar stores run low. Another mechanism that makes fasting so effective for weight loss is the fact that it provokes the secretion of HGH—a fat-burning hormone that has many well-recognized "anti-aging" health and fitness benefits...