25 ms·

How Breakfast Became a Thing

247 points by samsolomon 10y ago

bonniemuffin 10y ago
And yet, cereal is in decline, apparently because pouring two things into a bowl is too much effort, among other reasons. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/11/business/cereals-struggle-in-us-as-tastes-and-rituals-change.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/11/business/cereals-struggle-...
- throwaway_java 10y ago
  Cereal is a sugar delivery vehicle, but juice is good as gold. Right.
  - a_t48 10y ago
    He probably means juicing, as in sticking fruits and veggies in a juicer and making something akin to a smoothie.
- matthewrhoden1 10y ago
  Since the article stated that 50% of adults account for cinnamon toast crunch I'm thinking it's because we're realizing that even if we do eat it, we're still hungry within an hour. After building the habit of eating a solid breakfast, I noticed others followed the same pattern I did; eat two big meals and feel too nauseated in the morning to eat. edit: the eating two meals part was during my cereal phase.
  - rhinoceraptor 10y ago
    It's really freeing to realize you won't die if you skip a meal.
    - paulddraper 10y ago
      Your mental and physical stamina will be reduced though.
      - nommm-nommm 10y ago
        Depends on what your body is accustomed to.
      - VeejayRampay 10y ago
        Not really no. Our bodies have not evolved since the point in time where the access to food was much more difficult, it is perfectly adapted to not getting energy intake regularly.
        paulddraper 10y ago
        That's just not true. I can run much farther if I ate my previous meal than if I didn't. And the effects of skipping breakfast on the cognition of children have been studied ad nauseam. A lengthy list: http://frac.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/breakfastforlearning.pdf http://frac.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/breakfastforlearn...
        rhinoceraptor 10y ago
        > I can run much farther if I ate my previous meal than if I didn't If anything I would think the reverse to be true. Runners and cyclists eat sugar gels instead of 'real food' because gels are easier to digest, and all the energy you spend on digestion isn't spent on the activity.
        paulddraper 10y ago
        They generally only do that during activities or shortly (30-60 minutes) before. Gels are eaten rather than "real" foods to match the glycemic index to the rate of energy expenditure. In any case, this really only applies to lengthy activities, where glycogen is exhausted. It doesn't matter for a 5k or even a 10k run.
jerryhuang100 10y ago
this article kind of lags for a while (at least several months) as in march 2015 Bloomberg business wk just ran a cover story of the declining cereal sales across the board: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2015-02-26/for-kellogg-cereal-sales-recovery-may-be-lost-hope http://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2015-02-26/for-kellog... and the last several paragraphs about "breakfast-denying" seem biased as there are more studies to support the importance of breakfast.
deleted 10y ago
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dpweb 10y ago
Obesity problem as well. I know some people don't like to hear it, but breakfasts can easily go 800 calories and up. You are starting off the day in surplus.
- joelrunyon 10y ago
  And an insulin spike.
- alatkins 10y ago
  > You are starting off the day in surplus. Generally breakfast comes after a 10-12 hour fast for most people, so I don't think this is the way to think of it.
  - Aelinsaar 10y ago
    Fasting, while accurate, is kind of deceptive too, since most of those hours are spent asleep. Very few people burn of their previous day's intake by the time they've woken up, or even close to it.
  - dpweb 10y ago
    True, I think a good policy is to eat when you're hungry. Not sure the body was necessarily meant to be constantly processing food all the time anyway.
    - alatkins 10y ago
      Totally agree, and also breakfast is the 'easiest' meal to skip as well, along with mooted benefits of extending your overnight fast.
  - bluthru 10y ago
    I would be shocked if most people in our obese country don't eat after dinner.
- to3m 10y ago
  If it's 33% of your meals then 33% of your kcal isn't an unreasonable place to start ;) I'd be surprised to hear that this is common, though. I was actually going to suggest that for this supposed most important meal of the day, the options for breakfast are not very substantial. I have a bowl of cereal (2 x weetabix + semi-skimmed milk) - all of 150kcal. Add a cup of tea and it still won't be past 175kcal. Suppose I have to get up early for whatever reason and treat myself to an extra weetabix to make up for it - 250kcal. This seems to be enough for me (suggesting that perhaps breakfast's importance is indeed overblown - not that I'd like to go without it), but it's not very much. I ate a slice of quiche for lunch today that was more than that.
Aelinsaar 10y ago
Dropping breakfast from my diet as a regular thing, something as simple as just getting started later in the day on eating, has been incredibly helpful in losing (and maintaining lower) weight. It's not the only thing of course; generally eating smaller portions, and moving my butt more are the other two keys. Obsessing over exactly what I'm eating and how much has never helped, but just eating less... it sounds simple, but it's what works.
- kilroy123 10y ago
  Also losing weight. I just cut my breakfast way down, to a breakfast bar, and coffee.
  - HorizonXP 10y ago
    I've done the opposite actually. My breakfast is my single largest meal, with every other meal throughout the day being small. For me, my body prefers to have energy throughout the day, and doesn't like having food in my stomach when I sleep. Sometimes I go to bed "hungry" but at least I don't get indigestion or heartburn.
    - Aelinsaar 10y ago
      There is definitely no one routine that works for everyone, and learning what it is that fits you best has to be it. I imagine there is a huge lifestyle factor at play too, not to mention general things like a tendency to some acid reflux.
    - mrfusion 10y ago
      What kind of things do you eat? And how do you find the time? Breakfast seems like the meal there's the least time for and hard to find by portions.
      - DougWebb 10y ago
        For me it's scrambled eggs, a bit of cheese, and coffee. Takes less than 15 minutes to make and clean up after.
hyperpallium 10y ago
When I was multiday camping and bicycle touring over mountainous terrain, I tried skipping breakfast once (it takes extra time), and it left me strikingly weak. Very different energy demands from office work.
- themodelplumber 10y ago
  I had a similar experience when I was a bicycle-riding missionary in Japan. I unwittingly reduced my calorie count drastically one day by switching up my breakfast menu and had to return and refuel early. At the time we were riding about 60-80km a day.
- pgwhalen 10y ago
  I had the exact same experience. I was totally outmatched. Interestingly though, in my typical life as a guy with an office job, I average about 1 breakfast per month and have no problems with energy in the morning.
aznpwnzor 10y ago
I was just bringing this up as a possible thing the other day at work. It was always weird to me how marketed breakfast was. The irrational vitriol I received only further convinced me how much breakfast (specifically grains heavy) is due to marketing.
- danharaj 10y ago
  There's this idea that markets just discover and serve peoples' wants and preferences. It has to be tempered with the fact that our perceptions and even our identities are shaped by the information we are served with from birth. In this era, culture serves capital as much as capital serves culture.
  - deleted 10y ago
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- TACIXAT 10y ago
  Caffeine too. People are proud of how addicted they are. I used to get headaches from it, I think a lot of people do, and there was just this wtf moment of "why do I abuse this stuff"? Great PR.
  - manopeace 10y ago
    I say we ban caffine and tobacco. The war on drugs would be over in a week.
    - spydum 10y ago
      Who would win? In all seriousness I think you'd undo the last couple decades worth of productivity gains in just a couple days..
      - reitanqild 10y ago
        I think gp means if caffeine and tobacco was included in the list of drugs the "war on drugs" would end because nobody would enforce it, thereby legalizing everything. Of course this won't happen and I think that is to a certain degree a good thing.
usaphp 10y ago
I dont know why but if I skip breakfast I will 100% get a headache later during the day. Not sure why it's happening...
- manopeace 10y ago
  Dehydrated?
  - usaphp 10y ago
    Not really, I drink plenty of water
- tracker1 10y ago
  I get the same thing if I don't eat something mid afternoon... usually try to have a few apples at my desk and have one around 10am, and another at 3:30, having lunch around 1... I can skip any given meal, but if I don't have something in the afternoon, I really loose it later in the day.
- steadicat 10y ago
  Do you eat a lot of sugar? I used to have pastries or cereal and sugar with my coffee at breakfast and sometimes throughout the day. Like for you, a skipped meal or snack meant headaches. I've since weaned off sugar and I can easily go many hours without eating or snacking. I no longer eat breakfast. I suspect that the blood sugar spikes were addictive, i.e. my body desensitized and needed me to frequently consume sugar to keep my blood sugar level high. Try gradually reducing the amount of sugar that you consume, and/or the total amount that you eat at breakfast, as well as the frequency of your snacks throughout the day. Eventually you should be able to do fine on two good meals a day and nothing else.
  - usaphp 10y ago
    Interesting thought thanks, however I mostly eat cottage cheese or greek yogurt with granola in the morning, I almost never eat sweats in the morning.
infectoid 10y ago
Personally I feel best with a very small breakfast (maybe just a coffee), large lunch and small or no dinner.
hasenj 10y ago
Misleading title. Many cultures have a concept of a morning breakfast meal. Title should be: How cereal became a thing in America. Where I grew up, breakfast was just eggs, bread, and tea (or milk-tea).
- cperciva 10y ago
  It does address the question of when and why people started eating breakfast. It just concentrates mostly on the foods eaten by Americans for breakfast.
biswaroop 10y ago
This may be an argument against breakfast for the sedentary, but athletes on extended training programs usually need to eat in the morning. You're much more likely to hit the wall on an empty stomach, a few hours into your training.
- secstate 10y ago
  That's totally true, but I would argue the second half of your statement covers approximately 5% of the U.S. population, while the first half covers the other 95%. I'd also add that I am an amateur long-distance runner and just completed a medium distance run after fasting all day and performed fine. Had it been a race, probably less so. But the myths of caloric necessities have been greatly exaggerated.
- erkkie 10y ago
  That is very much unsubstantiated, all kinds of athletes enjoy and thrive training fasted. It's probably much more complex in what's best for whom than just "much more likely to hit the wall". Type of metabolism, levels of fat adaption, type of activity, length of activity, etc all matters. As an personal anecdote, I enjoy climbing in the mornings before having food, that's a few good hours of intermittent sprint type activity.
  - biswaroop 10y ago
    Sure it's more complex, but it you're still more likely to hit the wall. Also, correct me if I'm wrong but climbing isn't quite as cardiovascular as cycling for instance, and I'd be hard-pressed to find an endurance athlete who can survive with no breakfast.
- dingaling 10y ago
  Not just athletes but also people who exercise better in the morning. I have to head out running before 06:00 ( ex-farm border collie dog still has early-rising demands ) so need to eat about 05:30. On a couple of occasions I overslept and skipped breakfast. It was terrifying, I barely had enough energy to make it back home and was shaking. All my body wanted when I returned was sugar, now. So in my case at least a bowl of museli / milk / yoghurt and a banana is the minimum possible breakfast.
jmarinez 10y ago
I've dropped breakfast for about a month now and I feel so much better. I'm eating a heavy lunch and then dinner. Lost weight and it wasn't on purpose. As a result I've been questioning a lot of our norms. Not only when we eat, but what we eat and why. Loved the article.
- glangdale 10y ago
  This was my conscious weight loss strategy. Stop eating at 7-8pm in the evening and hold off eating any food until noon or so, which gets a 16+ hour fast. I ate whatever I wanted (not crazy, but not spartan) and lost about 70g per day over a long period (110kg -> 95kg). This was in conjunction with exercising but I was exercising before without losing much weight. Not a very original idea but I was amazed at how easy it was (relative to 5:2, which gave me two workdays a week of 'thinking about food way too much').
- noahbradley 10y ago
  3x meals a day feels absolutely preposterous for any sedentary profession. There's just no need to eat that much (or that often) unless you have an actually physically demanding job.
hyperchase 10y ago
I need to eat around 3000 calories per day to support my powerlifting training, and if I don't eat something first thing in the morning with a shitload of carbs -- usually something like rolled oats, berries, and a few bananas -- then I'm usually gassed and feeling like crap by 10. A few friends of mine fast intermittently and train in the morning before eating but it's beyond me how that is not just pure torture.
- manigandham 10y ago
  > A few friends of mine fast intermittently and train in the morning before eating but it's beyond me how that is not just pure torture. Practice. If you've never done it before, it takes a few days/weeks to get used to. Also willpower.
  - hueving 10y ago
    Saying that willpower is a factor implies that it is unpleasant, which is actually agreeing with the implication of "pure torture" that the parent comment implied.
    - manigandham 10y ago
      Not really, it has nothing to do with it being pleasant or not. It means that you need to commit to actually doing it (like anything in life). I'm absolutely fine with it and prefer it, like many other people. It's definitely not "torture". Maybe it isn't for some but mostly it's about overcoming the change in routine and there's no shortcut to changing or building habits, it's just willpower.
      - alatkins 10y ago
        What effects do you experience in lifting performance vs. eating beforehand?
      - reitanqild 10y ago
        Generally we throw a lot of words around sometimes: Like calling something torture - that you voluntarily do to yourself because of an expected net positive outcome. For the respect of people who suffers or have suffered from torture I think we should avoid that kind of hyperbole. Same goes for calling sexism on any joke about gender differences. It's kind of disrespectful to everyone who has suffered from the real thing.
wslh 10y ago
I find more insight and less conspiracy in "History of breakfast" from Wikipedia[1]. The Wikipedia article talks about different perspectives before 1800 since it is not clear why the article is talking about the American breakfast instead of focusing on different cultural perspectives (e.g. "Before cereal, in the mid 1800s, the American breakfast was not all that different from other meals"). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_breakfast https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_breakfast
thomasjudge 10y ago
How did priceonomics become a thing.. this seems like a clickbait site for the more intellectual crowd, less trashy than say buzzfeed, but ultimately not really delivering much in the way of genuine insight. It probably doesn't hurt that the name recalls "freakonomics", another brand which, while occasionally interesting, is far past its pull date as well..
- bgun 10y ago
  Please refrain from labeling any article with a less-than-literal headline as "clickbait". I feel this lies somewhere between "avoid gratuitous negativity" and "complaining that a submission is inappropriate" guidelines; maybe I'm just tired of seeing the word slung at any headline even remotely designed to engage its audience.
- jameslk 10y ago
  I believe Priceonomics went through YC, so I assume that's partially why it pops up on HN so frequently. From my understanding they started out as more of a data-driven guide for pricing things but seemed to have pivoted to being another media company.
- tokensimian 10y ago
  They tell their own story pretty well. Informative and interesting, pretty decent advice in there. Of course, no secret sauce, but that's overblown anyhow. I find their articles very interesting, almost every time. Really high signal to noise, even if their content isn't always about weighty matters. I rather liked this one about breakfast, for instance: it taught me a lot about the historical development of breakfast. Anyhow, not to tout these guys too much, but I do respect them for what they've done. http://priceonomics.com/the-content-marketing-handbook/ http://priceonomics.com/the-content-marketing-handbook/
- ulrikrasmussen 10y ago
  What would you categorize as "genuine insight", then? I found the article pretty good, well written, and it actually taught something about the history of cereals in America that I didn't know (the fact that Kellogg had purely moral reasons for inventing what later evolved into the sugary Kellogg's that we know today was pretty interesting!) Articles that can be called "clickbait" are generally not very well written, misrepresents information, and leave you with a feeling of not getting what the headline promised. That is not the case here, at all.
Guildpact 10y ago
I eat cereal and milk as a dessert at night in place of something like ice cream, because that is what it is. People who eat cereal for breakfast are no better than people eating donuts or other sweets, it is just an awful way to start your day because of the blood sugar spike and then drop which creates hunger pangs. You can combat it by having a proper breakfast focusing on protein and low glycemic index carbs, eggs, steel-cut oats, omelettes, etc. A favorite of mine is proatmeal, make some oats and then mix in BSN Syntha-6 vanilla ice cream protein powder, absolutely delicious. The other way to combat it as suggested by people in this thread is to drop breakfast all together besides maybe having coffee and a granola bar.
- redcap 10y ago
  I eat muesli at 7:15 and don't feel hungry until 12. Maybe people don't think of muesli when they hear the word cereal.
  - Symbiote 10y ago
    Depending on the composition, muesli is either close to oats, or packed with sugar ("45% fruit!").
    - AstralStorm 10y ago
      Which is why I prefer to make my own. Candied and most kinds og dried fruit are nutritionally negative worth compared to fresh or frozen.
- matwood 10y ago
  I also eat cereal at night for a snack. My idea of cereal is not what most people on here are hating on though. I am not a sweets person so I gravitate towards the cereals with plain flakes, nuts, and dried fruit. As far as breakfast goes, when I was in my prime weight lifting days skipping breakfast was never an option. Now that I'm older, coffee with milk works on days I do not go to the gym. On days I do go I just have a protein shake after the gym.
- 10y ago
bbarn 10y ago
I started to read this with some interest, as someone who's spent many hours thinking about and trying different metabolic strategies, diets, etc.. Then about 30 seconds in my reading got disrupted by a fucking light-box asking me to sign up or log in or god knows what.. my instinct to close tab won out over my curiosity. Please stop this pattern. If you really think your content is worth having to (whatever)wall from the public, do so, but don't make me get into it and then shove something mid word into my face. This is the digital equivalent of giving me a magazine to read, waiting until you're sure I've got my eyes on it, then shoving a business card in my field of vision and telling me what you do for a living. It's a low rent tactic, annoys rather than grips your users, and it reeks of desperation to monetize.
- pg_is_a_butt 10y ago
  i had never been the site before, but i too wanted to know. i signed up and paid them $200 for their hard work. spoiler alert: it was hunger the whole time.
- edanm 10y ago
  This company produces great, great content. You agree that it's interesting, from what you've read. And yet apparently the most popular comment on their effort is that you don't want to spare the all-of-2 seconds it takes to click your mouse to close a pop-up? On a site that isn't plastered with ads, btw, and is generally very accessible? I don't mean to take out my frustration on you, and I get where you're coming from, but maybe we as consumers should stop feeling so entitled, maybe that's the pattern that has to end here.
  - solipsism 10y ago
    Ve specifically said ve didn't mind a pay wall. Ve found the the mid-read interruption rude, which I think is totally fair.
    - 98qz99191 10y ago
      I had to google this "ve". At first I thought that you were mimicking a German accent, which did not make sense here.
nihonde 10y ago
In Japan, I learned what a truly healthy breakfast is. Most days I eat a bowl of brown rice with a raw egg stirred in and a dash of high-quality soy sauce and topped with natto. Some days I'll also grill salmon or smelt. On the side, I usually have tsukemono (pickled vegetables) and miso soup. Protein, probiotics, pickles...once you get used to it, the idea of eating sweet desserts for breakfast (which is what most people eat) seems counterproductive. (By the way, it's probably true that many people in Japan eat the same crap as Americans do for breakfast——there's no shortage of bread, donuts, etc.)
- soared 10y ago
  I was curious if raw eggs were actually healthy after reading your comment. I was never allowed to eat raw eggs growing up. A little google-fu says he risk of salmonella is overstated and extremely rare, but the USDA and others still suggest avoiding raw eggs. Not much definitive on cooking vs. raw though.
  - zhemao 10y ago
    Eggs won't get salmonella if they are refrigerated promptly after they are laid. Japan has higher food safety standards, so eggs produced in Japan are less likely to have salmonella than those produced in the US.
    - pilsetnieks 10y ago
      Eggs will also not get salmonella if their natural protective coating is not washed away as per regulations in the US (vs Europe.) In fact, American eggs would be illegal in most European countries and vice versa - American eggs must be washed and refrigerated, whereas washing European eggs is prohibited. http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/09/11/336330502/why-the-u-s-chills-its-eggs-and-most-of-the-world-doesnt http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/09/11/336330502/why...
      - abyssin 10y ago
        The rationale behind it being that European egg producers will put more care into making sure the raising site is actually clean.
awinter-py 10y ago
For mice (and presumably for certain other mammals), 12-hour daily fast seems to have positive outcomes. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/01/15/a-12-hour-window-for-a-healthy-weight/?_r=0 http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/01/15/a-12-hour-window-fo... The study suggests this is true even if you cheat on the weekend. I'm super-dubious of evidence showing that breakfast improves school outcomes (except where it helps meet kids' calorie needs). You know what else boosts school outcomes? Sedatives, because school is hella boring. That doesn't mean sedating kids or adults is a good idea.
feritkan 10y ago
Breakfast is not a new thing, or it has anything to do with cereal or milk or donuts.. Just google image search Turkish Breakfast...
raz32dust 10y ago
Title is misleading. It should be titled "How cereal became a thing". But that is kinda obvious and no one would probably click it then.
musgrove 10y ago
I'm more interested in how breakfast food became mostly garbage for so many Americans. May as well eat a Snickers, chili dog and a Coke from the gas station when you get up.
- zhemao 10y ago
  I'm pretty sure that's the primary question the article answers. Heavy marketing of highly sugary cereal.
deleted 10y ago
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iomind 10y ago
If you have ever chance to read any ancient Greek historian, you would notice breakfast was a big deal back then. Xenophon for example mentions it about every time he describes how the morning starts in an army camp. This is just another click-bait article, don't fall for it.
chestervonwinch 10y ago
I was surprised to see no mention of Edward Bernays: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vFz_FgGvJI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vFz_FgGvJI
OneTwoFree 10y ago
I don't drink coffee at all. I eat a vegetarian sandwich every morning when I go to work, it gives me a good start for the day, I feel sharp and focused all morning. Sometimes when the sandwich shop is closed I buy something like a chicken sandwich, and that makes me more sleepy and tired. Lunch is usually a big pile of rice with some vegetables and meat. Wow, this makes it reeeally hard to stay awake at the afternoon, but there aren't many options for lunch near the workplace. For dinner, my wife cooks something also usually rice with some meat and veggies. But about 1 hour before I plan to go to sleep I eat 1 or 2 bananas. I always had hard time sleeping, and I read that bananas are good for sleeping because it contains potassium. For me it works. Although this might be completely placebo, because bananas don't work for my wife.
jcoffland 10y ago
It's just amazing how much "common knowledge" about food has been shown to be completely wrong: * Breakfast is the most important meal [0] * Saturated fat is bad [1] * Carbs are evil [2] * You regain more weight after a fast diet [3] Many will argue but studies have show each one of these to be wrong. [0]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/08/10/the-science-of-skipping-breakfast-how-government-nutritionists-may-have-gotten-it-wrong/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/08/10/the-s... [1]: http://www.eufic.org/page/en/show/latest-science-news/fftid/Study-no-association-dietary-saturated-fats-cardiovascular-disease-risk/ http://www.eufic.org/page/en/show/latest-science-news/fftid/... [2]: http://www.nature.com/nutd/journal/v6/n2/full/nutd20162a.html http://www.nature.com/nutd/journal/v6/n2/full/nutd20162a.htm... [3]: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/landia/article/PIIS2213-8587%2814%2970200-1/abstract http://www.thelancet.com/journals/landia/article/PIIS2213-85...
- lucb1e 10y ago
  On mobile so I won't look up sources now, but from memory you can add "diamonds are rare" (no, they're monopolized) to the list.
- mrfusion 10y ago
  I thought the jury was still out on saturated fat? Can I start eating butter with abandon?? I'm excited.
- visakanv 10y ago
  I think if there's one big idea about nutrition, it should be that there are no one-size-fits-all answers. I skipped breakfast for most of my childhood, and I had no idea why I was so lethargic all the time. I was typically anxious from undone schoolwork, etc and had no appetite in the morning. I'd self-medicate with cigarettes. I started forcing myself to eat breakfast about a year ago and my mind is so much clearer, seemingly as a function of relatively-stabilized blood sugar levels. But that's just me. It could be totally different for someone else.
  - Aelinsaar 10y ago

247 points by samsolomon 10y ago

And yet, cereal is in decline, apparently because pouring two things into a bowl is too much effort, among other reasons. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/11/business/cereals-struggle-in-us-as-tastes-and-rituals-change.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/11/business/cereals-struggle-...

throwaway_java 10y ago
Cereal is a sugar delivery vehicle, but juice is good as gold. Right.
- a_t48 10y ago
  He probably means juicing, as in sticking fruits and veggies in a juicer and making something akin to a smoothie.
matthewrhoden1 10y ago
Since the article stated that 50% of adults account for cinnamon toast crunch I'm thinking it's because we're realizing that even if we do eat it, we're still hungry within an hour. After building the habit of eating a solid breakfast, I noticed others followed the same pattern I did; eat two big meals and feel too nauseated in the morning to eat. edit: the eating two meals part was during my cereal phase.
- rhinoceraptor 10y ago
  It's really freeing to realize you won't die if you skip a meal.
  - paulddraper 10y ago
    Your mental and physical stamina will be reduced though.
    - nommm-nommm 10y ago
      Depends on what your body is accustomed to.
    - VeejayRampay 10y ago
      Not really no. Our bodies have not evolved since the point in time where the access to food was much more difficult, it is perfectly adapted to not getting energy intake regularly.
      - paulddraper 10y ago
        That's just not true. I can run much farther if I ate my previous meal than if I didn't. And the effects of skipping breakfast on the cognition of children have been studied ad nauseam. A lengthy list: http://frac.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/breakfastforlearning.pdf http://frac.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/breakfastforlearn...
        rhinoceraptor 10y ago
        > I can run much farther if I ate my previous meal than if I didn't If anything I would think the reverse to be true. Runners and cyclists eat sugar gels instead of 'real food' because gels are easier to digest, and all the energy you spend on digestion isn't spent on the activity.
        paulddraper 10y ago
        They generally only do that during activities or shortly (30-60 minutes) before. Gels are eaten rather than "real" foods to match the glycemic index to the rate of energy expenditure. In any case, this really only applies to lengthy activities, where glycogen is exhausted. It doesn't matter for a 5k or even a 10k run.

jerryhuang100 10y ago

this article kind of lags for a while (at least several months) as in march 2015 Bloomberg business wk just ran a cover story of the declining cereal sales across the board: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2015-02-26/for-kellogg-cereal-sales-recovery-may-be-lost-hope http://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2015-02-26/for-kellog... and the last several paragraphs about "breakfast-denying" seem biased as there are more studies to support the importance of breakfast.

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dpweb 10y ago

Obesity problem as well. I know some people don't like to hear it, but breakfasts can easily go 800 calories and up. You are starting off the day in surplus.

joelrunyon 10y ago
And an insulin spike.
alatkins 10y ago
> You are starting off the day in surplus. Generally breakfast comes after a 10-12 hour fast for most people, so I don't think this is the way to think of it.
- Aelinsaar 10y ago
  Fasting, while accurate, is kind of deceptive too, since most of those hours are spent asleep. Very few people burn of their previous day's intake by the time they've woken up, or even close to it.
- dpweb 10y ago
  True, I think a good policy is to eat when you're hungry. Not sure the body was necessarily meant to be constantly processing food all the time anyway.
  - alatkins 10y ago
    Totally agree, and also breakfast is the 'easiest' meal to skip as well, along with mooted benefits of extending your overnight fast.
- bluthru 10y ago
  I would be shocked if most people in our obese country don't eat after dinner.
to3m 10y ago
If it's 33% of your meals then 33% of your kcal isn't an unreasonable place to start ;) I'd be surprised to hear that this is common, though. I was actually going to suggest that for this supposed most important meal of the day, the options for breakfast are not very substantial. I have a bowl of cereal (2 x weetabix + semi-skimmed milk) - all of 150kcal. Add a cup of tea and it still won't be past 175kcal. Suppose I have to get up early for whatever reason and treat myself to an extra weetabix to make up for it - 250kcal. This seems to be enough for me (suggesting that perhaps breakfast's importance is indeed overblown - not that I'd like to go without it), but it's not very much. I ate a slice of quiche for lunch today that was more than that.

Aelinsaar 10y ago

Dropping breakfast from my diet as a regular thing, something as simple as just getting started later in the day on eating, has been incredibly helpful in losing (and maintaining lower) weight. It's not the only thing of course; generally eating smaller portions, and moving my butt more are the other two keys. Obsessing over exactly what I'm eating and how much has never helped, but just eating less... it sounds simple, but it's what works.

kilroy123 10y ago
Also losing weight. I just cut my breakfast way down, to a breakfast bar, and coffee.
- HorizonXP 10y ago
  I've done the opposite actually. My breakfast is my single largest meal, with every other meal throughout the day being small. For me, my body prefers to have energy throughout the day, and doesn't like having food in my stomach when I sleep. Sometimes I go to bed "hungry" but at least I don't get indigestion or heartburn.
  - Aelinsaar 10y ago
    There is definitely no one routine that works for everyone, and learning what it is that fits you best has to be it. I imagine there is a huge lifestyle factor at play too, not to mention general things like a tendency to some acid reflux.
  - mrfusion 10y ago
    What kind of things do you eat? And how do you find the time? Breakfast seems like the meal there's the least time for and hard to find by portions.
    - DougWebb 10y ago
      For me it's scrambled eggs, a bit of cheese, and coffee. Takes less than 15 minutes to make and clean up after.

hyperpallium 10y ago

When I was multiday camping and bicycle touring over mountainous terrain, I tried skipping breakfast once (it takes extra time), and it left me strikingly weak. Very different energy demands from office work.

themodelplumber 10y ago
I had a similar experience when I was a bicycle-riding missionary in Japan. I unwittingly reduced my calorie count drastically one day by switching up my breakfast menu and had to return and refuel early. At the time we were riding about 60-80km a day.
pgwhalen 10y ago
I had the exact same experience. I was totally outmatched. Interestingly though, in my typical life as a guy with an office job, I average about 1 breakfast per month and have no problems with energy in the morning.

aznpwnzor 10y ago

I was just bringing this up as a possible thing the other day at work. It was always weird to me how marketed breakfast was. The irrational vitriol I received only further convinced me how much breakfast (specifically grains heavy) is due to marketing.

danharaj 10y ago
There's this idea that markets just discover and serve peoples' wants and preferences. It has to be tempered with the fact that our perceptions and even our identities are shaped by the information we are served with from birth. In this era, culture serves capital as much as capital serves culture.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
TACIXAT 10y ago
Caffeine too. People are proud of how addicted they are. I used to get headaches from it, I think a lot of people do, and there was just this wtf moment of "why do I abuse this stuff"? Great PR.
- manopeace 10y ago
  I say we ban caffine and tobacco. The war on drugs would be over in a week.
  - spydum 10y ago
    Who would win? In all seriousness I think you'd undo the last couple decades worth of productivity gains in just a couple days..
    - reitanqild 10y ago
      I think gp means if caffeine and tobacco was included in the list of drugs the "war on drugs" would end because nobody would enforce it, thereby legalizing everything. Of course this won't happen and I think that is to a certain degree a good thing.

usaphp 10y ago

I dont know why but if I skip breakfast I will 100% get a headache later during the day. Not sure why it's happening...

manopeace 10y ago
Dehydrated?
- usaphp 10y ago
  Not really, I drink plenty of water
tracker1 10y ago
I get the same thing if I don't eat something mid afternoon... usually try to have a few apples at my desk and have one around 10am, and another at 3:30, having lunch around 1... I can skip any given meal, but if I don't have something in the afternoon, I really loose it later in the day.
steadicat 10y ago
Do you eat a lot of sugar? I used to have pastries or cereal and sugar with my coffee at breakfast and sometimes throughout the day. Like for you, a skipped meal or snack meant headaches. I've since weaned off sugar and I can easily go many hours without eating or snacking. I no longer eat breakfast. I suspect that the blood sugar spikes were addictive, i.e. my body desensitized and needed me to frequently consume sugar to keep my blood sugar level high. Try gradually reducing the amount of sugar that you consume, and/or the total amount that you eat at breakfast, as well as the frequency of your snacks throughout the day. Eventually you should be able to do fine on two good meals a day and nothing else.
- usaphp 10y ago
  Interesting thought thanks, however I mostly eat cottage cheese or greek yogurt with granola in the morning, I almost never eat sweats in the morning.

infectoid 10y ago

Personally I feel best with a very small breakfast (maybe just a coffee), large lunch and small or no dinner.

hasenj 10y ago

Misleading title. Many cultures have a concept of a morning breakfast meal. Title should be: How cereal became a thing in America. Where I grew up, breakfast was just eggs, bread, and tea (or milk-tea).

cperciva 10y ago
It does address the question of when and why people started eating breakfast. It just concentrates mostly on the foods eaten by Americans for breakfast.

biswaroop 10y ago

This may be an argument against breakfast for the sedentary, but athletes on extended training programs usually need to eat in the morning. You're much more likely to hit the wall on an empty stomach, a few hours into your training.

secstate 10y ago
That's totally true, but I would argue the second half of your statement covers approximately 5% of the U.S. population, while the first half covers the other 95%. I'd also add that I am an amateur long-distance runner and just completed a medium distance run after fasting all day and performed fine. Had it been a race, probably less so. But the myths of caloric necessities have been greatly exaggerated.
erkkie 10y ago
That is very much unsubstantiated, all kinds of athletes enjoy and thrive training fasted. It's probably much more complex in what's best for whom than just "much more likely to hit the wall". Type of metabolism, levels of fat adaption, type of activity, length of activity, etc all matters. As an personal anecdote, I enjoy climbing in the mornings before having food, that's a few good hours of intermittent sprint type activity.
- biswaroop 10y ago
  Sure it's more complex, but it you're still more likely to hit the wall. Also, correct me if I'm wrong but climbing isn't quite as cardiovascular as cycling for instance, and I'd be hard-pressed to find an endurance athlete who can survive with no breakfast.
dingaling 10y ago
Not just athletes but also people who exercise better in the morning. I have to head out running before 06:00 ( ex-farm border collie dog still has early-rising demands ) so need to eat about 05:30. On a couple of occasions I overslept and skipped breakfast. It was terrifying, I barely had enough energy to make it back home and was shaking. All my body wanted when I returned was sugar, now. So in my case at least a bowl of museli / milk / yoghurt and a banana is the minimum possible breakfast.

jmarinez 10y ago

I've dropped breakfast for about a month now and I feel so much better. I'm eating a heavy lunch and then dinner. Lost weight and it wasn't on purpose. As a result I've been questioning a lot of our norms. Not only when we eat, but what we eat and why. Loved the article.

glangdale 10y ago
This was my conscious weight loss strategy. Stop eating at 7-8pm in the evening and hold off eating any food until noon or so, which gets a 16+ hour fast. I ate whatever I wanted (not crazy, but not spartan) and lost about 70g per day over a long period (110kg -> 95kg). This was in conjunction with exercising but I was exercising before without losing much weight. Not a very original idea but I was amazed at how easy it was (relative to 5:2, which gave me two workdays a week of 'thinking about food way too much').
noahbradley 10y ago
3x meals a day feels absolutely preposterous for any sedentary profession. There's just no need to eat that much (or that often) unless you have an actually physically demanding job.

hyperchase 10y ago

I need to eat around 3000 calories per day to support my powerlifting training, and if I don't eat something first thing in the morning with a shitload of carbs -- usually something like rolled oats, berries, and a few bananas -- then I'm usually gassed and feeling like crap by 10. A few friends of mine fast intermittently and train in the morning before eating but it's beyond me how that is not just pure torture.

manigandham 10y ago
> A few friends of mine fast intermittently and train in the morning before eating but it's beyond me how that is not just pure torture. Practice. If you've never done it before, it takes a few days/weeks to get used to. Also willpower.
- hueving 10y ago
  Saying that willpower is a factor implies that it is unpleasant, which is actually agreeing with the implication of "pure torture" that the parent comment implied.
  - manigandham 10y ago
    Not really, it has nothing to do with it being pleasant or not. It means that you need to commit to actually doing it (like anything in life). I'm absolutely fine with it and prefer it, like many other people. It's definitely not "torture". Maybe it isn't for some but mostly it's about overcoming the change in routine and there's no shortcut to changing or building habits, it's just willpower.
    - alatkins 10y ago
      What effects do you experience in lifting performance vs. eating beforehand?
    - reitanqild 10y ago
      Generally we throw a lot of words around sometimes: Like calling something torture - that you voluntarily do to yourself because of an expected net positive outcome. For the respect of people who suffers or have suffered from torture I think we should avoid that kind of hyperbole. Same goes for calling sexism on any joke about gender differences. It's kind of disrespectful to everyone who has suffered from the real thing.

wslh 10y ago

I find more insight and less conspiracy in "History of breakfast" from Wikipedia[1]. The Wikipedia article talks about different perspectives before 1800 since it is not clear why the article is talking about the American breakfast instead of focusing on different cultural perspectives (e.g. "Before cereal, in the mid 1800s, the American breakfast was not all that different from other meals"). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_breakfast https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_breakfast

thomasjudge 10y ago

How did priceonomics become a thing.. this seems like a clickbait site for the more intellectual crowd, less trashy than say buzzfeed, but ultimately not really delivering much in the way of genuine insight. It probably doesn't hurt that the name recalls "freakonomics", another brand which, while occasionally interesting, is far past its pull date as well..

bgun 10y ago
Please refrain from labeling any article with a less-than-literal headline as "clickbait". I feel this lies somewhere between "avoid gratuitous negativity" and "complaining that a submission is inappropriate" guidelines; maybe I'm just tired of seeing the word slung at any headline even remotely designed to engage its audience.
jameslk 10y ago
I believe Priceonomics went through YC, so I assume that's partially why it pops up on HN so frequently. From my understanding they started out as more of a data-driven guide for pricing things but seemed to have pivoted to being another media company.
tokensimian 10y ago
They tell their own story pretty well. Informative and interesting, pretty decent advice in there. Of course, no secret sauce, but that's overblown anyhow. I find their articles very interesting, almost every time. Really high signal to noise, even if their content isn't always about weighty matters. I rather liked this one about breakfast, for instance: it taught me a lot about the historical development of breakfast. Anyhow, not to tout these guys too much, but I do respect them for what they've done. http://priceonomics.com/the-content-marketing-handbook/ http://priceonomics.com/the-content-marketing-handbook/
ulrikrasmussen 10y ago
What would you categorize as "genuine insight", then? I found the article pretty good, well written, and it actually taught something about the history of cereals in America that I didn't know (the fact that Kellogg had purely moral reasons for inventing what later evolved into the sugary Kellogg's that we know today was pretty interesting!) Articles that can be called "clickbait" are generally not very well written, misrepresents information, and leave you with a feeling of not getting what the headline promised. That is not the case here, at all.

Guildpact 10y ago

I eat cereal and milk as a dessert at night in place of something like ice cream, because that is what it is. People who eat cereal for breakfast are no better than people eating donuts or other sweets, it is just an awful way to start your day because of the blood sugar spike and then drop which creates hunger pangs. You can combat it by having a proper breakfast focusing on protein and low glycemic index carbs, eggs, steel-cut oats, omelettes, etc. A favorite of mine is proatmeal, make some oats and then mix in BSN Syntha-6 vanilla ice cream protein powder, absolutely delicious. The other way to combat it as suggested by people in this thread is to drop breakfast all together besides maybe having coffee and a granola bar.

redcap 10y ago
I eat muesli at 7:15 and don't feel hungry until 12. Maybe people don't think of muesli when they hear the word cereal.
- Symbiote 10y ago
  Depending on the composition, muesli is either close to oats, or packed with sugar ("45% fruit!").
  - AstralStorm 10y ago
    Which is why I prefer to make my own. Candied and most kinds og dried fruit are nutritionally negative worth compared to fresh or frozen.
matwood 10y ago
I also eat cereal at night for a snack. My idea of cereal is not what most people on here are hating on though. I am not a sweets person so I gravitate towards the cereals with plain flakes, nuts, and dried fruit. As far as breakfast goes, when I was in my prime weight lifting days skipping breakfast was never an option. Now that I'm older, coffee with milk works on days I do not go to the gym. On days I do go I just have a protein shake after the gym.
10y ago

bbarn 10y ago

I started to read this with some interest, as someone who's spent many hours thinking about and trying different metabolic strategies, diets, etc.. Then about 30 seconds in my reading got disrupted by a fucking light-box asking me to sign up or log in or god knows what.. my instinct to close tab won out over my curiosity. Please stop this pattern. If you really think your content is worth having to (whatever)wall from the public, do so, but don't make me get into it and then shove something mid word into my face. This is the digital equivalent of giving me a magazine to read, waiting until you're sure I've got my eyes on it, then shoving a business card in my field of vision and telling me what you do for a living. It's a low rent tactic, annoys rather than grips your users, and it reeks of desperation to monetize.

pg_is_a_butt 10y ago
i had never been the site before, but i too wanted to know. i signed up and paid them $200 for their hard work. spoiler alert: it was hunger the whole time.
edanm 10y ago
This company produces great, great content. You agree that it's interesting, from what you've read. And yet apparently the most popular comment on their effort is that you don't want to spare the all-of-2 seconds it takes to click your mouse to close a pop-up? On a site that isn't plastered with ads, btw, and is generally very accessible? I don't mean to take out my frustration on you, and I get where you're coming from, but maybe we as consumers should stop feeling so entitled, maybe that's the pattern that has to end here.
- solipsism 10y ago
  Ve specifically said ve didn't mind a pay wall. Ve found the the mid-read interruption rude, which I think is totally fair.
  - 98qz99191 10y ago
    I had to google this "ve". At first I thought that you were mimicking a German accent, which did not make sense here.

nihonde 10y ago

In Japan, I learned what a truly healthy breakfast is. Most days I eat a bowl of brown rice with a raw egg stirred in and a dash of high-quality soy sauce and topped with natto. Some days I'll also grill salmon or smelt. On the side, I usually have tsukemono (pickled vegetables) and miso soup. Protein, probiotics, pickles...once you get used to it, the idea of eating sweet desserts for breakfast (which is what most people eat) seems counterproductive. (By the way, it's probably true that many people in Japan eat the same crap as Americans do for breakfast——there's no shortage of bread, donuts, etc.)

soared 10y ago
I was curious if raw eggs were actually healthy after reading your comment. I was never allowed to eat raw eggs growing up. A little google-fu says he risk of salmonella is overstated and extremely rare, but the USDA and others still suggest avoiding raw eggs. Not much definitive on cooking vs. raw though.
- zhemao 10y ago
  Eggs won't get salmonella if they are refrigerated promptly after they are laid. Japan has higher food safety standards, so eggs produced in Japan are less likely to have salmonella than those produced in the US.
  - pilsetnieks 10y ago
    Eggs will also not get salmonella if their natural protective coating is not washed away as per regulations in the US (vs Europe.) In fact, American eggs would be illegal in most European countries and vice versa - American eggs must be washed and refrigerated, whereas washing European eggs is prohibited. http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/09/11/336330502/why-the-u-s-chills-its-eggs-and-most-of-the-world-doesnt http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/09/11/336330502/why...
    - abyssin 10y ago
      The rationale behind it being that European egg producers will put more care into making sure the raising site is actually clean.

awinter-py 10y ago

For mice (and presumably for certain other mammals), 12-hour daily fast seems to have positive outcomes. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/01/15/a-12-hour-window-for-a-healthy-weight/?_r=0 http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/01/15/a-12-hour-window-fo... The study suggests this is true even if you cheat on the weekend. I'm super-dubious of evidence showing that breakfast improves school outcomes (except where it helps meet kids' calorie needs). You know what else boosts school outcomes? Sedatives, because school is hella boring. That doesn't mean sedating kids or adults is a good idea.

feritkan 10y ago

Breakfast is not a new thing, or it has anything to do with cereal or milk or donuts.. Just google image search Turkish Breakfast...

raz32dust 10y ago

Title is misleading. It should be titled "How cereal became a thing". But that is kinda obvious and no one would probably click it then.

musgrove 10y ago

I'm more interested in how breakfast food became mostly garbage for so many Americans. May as well eat a Snickers, chili dog and a Coke from the gas station when you get up.

zhemao 10y ago
I'm pretty sure that's the primary question the article answers. Heavy marketing of highly sugary cereal.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

iomind 10y ago

If you have ever chance to read any ancient Greek historian, you would notice breakfast was a big deal back then. Xenophon for example mentions it about every time he describes how the morning starts in an army camp. This is just another click-bait article, don't fall for it.

chestervonwinch 10y ago

I was surprised to see no mention of Edward Bernays: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vFz_FgGvJI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vFz_FgGvJI

OneTwoFree 10y ago

I don't drink coffee at all. I eat a vegetarian sandwich every morning when I go to work, it gives me a good start for the day, I feel sharp and focused all morning. Sometimes when the sandwich shop is closed I buy something like a chicken sandwich, and that makes me more sleepy and tired. Lunch is usually a big pile of rice with some vegetables and meat. Wow, this makes it reeeally hard to stay awake at the afternoon, but there aren't many options for lunch near the workplace. For dinner, my wife cooks something also usually rice with some meat and veggies. But about 1 hour before I plan to go to sleep I eat 1 or 2 bananas. I always had hard time sleeping, and I read that bananas are good for sleeping because it contains potassium. For me it works. Although this might be completely placebo, because bananas don't work for my wife.

jcoffland 10y ago

It's just amazing how much "common knowledge" about food has been shown to be completely wrong: * Breakfast is the most important meal [0] * Saturated fat is bad [1] * Carbs are evil [2] * You regain more weight after a fast diet [3] Many will argue but studies have show each one of these to be wrong. [0]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/08/10/the-science-of-skipping-breakfast-how-government-nutritionists-may-have-gotten-it-wrong/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/08/10/the-s... [1]: http://www.eufic.org/page/en/show/latest-science-news/fftid/Study-no-association-dietary-saturated-fats-cardiovascular-disease-risk/ http://www.eufic.org/page/en/show/latest-science-news/fftid/... [2]: http://www.nature.com/nutd/journal/v6/n2/full/nutd20162a.html http://www.nature.com/nutd/journal/v6/n2/full/nutd20162a.htm... [3]: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/landia/article/PIIS2213-8587%2814%2970200-1/abstract http://www.thelancet.com/journals/landia/article/PIIS2213-85...

lucb1e 10y ago
On mobile so I won't look up sources now, but from memory you can add "diamonds are rare" (no, they're monopolized) to the list.
mrfusion 10y ago
I thought the jury was still out on saturated fat? Can I start eating butter with abandon?? I'm excited.
visakanv 10y ago
I think if there's one big idea about nutrition, it should be that there are no one-size-fits-all answers. I skipped breakfast for most of my childhood, and I had no idea why I was so lethargic all the time. I was typically anxious from undone schoolwork, etc and had no appetite in the morning. I'd self-medicate with cigarettes. I started forcing myself to eat breakfast about a year ago and my mind is so much clearer, seemingly as a function of relatively-stabilized blood sugar levels. But that's just me. It could be totally different for someone else.
- Aelinsaar 10y ago