Just to be clear, there is a difference between the commercial, industrialized restaurant breakfast offerings vs. what people traditionally eat in their homes.

Just to be clear, there is a difference between the commercial, industrialized restaurant breakfast offerings vs. what people traditionally eat in their homes. I grew up in the rural south, and our traditional breakfast fell into seasonal categories. In the colder months, we'd eat 2 eggs, a small helping of buttered grits, and bacon. Warmer months or autumn depended on what was available, but often times we'd eat fresh shrimp or "trash fish" (stuff we'd caught like spot, croaker, trout, flounder) fried up with grits. The grits were always only buttered, never sweetened. Never pancakes or any starchy, sugary items. Older folks knew these things were energy killers, and ironically the families I knew that ate tons of starches were the ones whose parents had bought into the whole "fat kills you, eggs are bad" mantra pushed by the government. I find it extremely ironic that these families were eating less healthy than the "redneck" families they assumed were killing themselves. No older American who grew up doing farm work thinks the IHOP breakfast is remotely healthy.