Liz Wolegmuth of US News &; World Report published a post Wednesday entitled "What a 'Power' Breakfast Really Looks Like". Her subtitle succinctly defines the theme of the article: "The only sure thing is that there's no one breakfast route to success."
What I found particularly interesting is Ms. Wolegmuth's discussion of New York University nutrition program professor Marion Nestle, whom has written some widely cited popular nonfiction books, in particular What to Eat and Food Politics.
[I have not read these books and will reserve any substantive comment until I have reviewed them. But a brief reading of reader reviews online indicates that Dr. Nestle has rather conventional advice in terms of diet and exercise: eat less; exercise more; and eat more fruits and vegetables. She also is critical of the meat industry (in terms of energy-intensive production and inadequate regulation, e.g., questionable use of antibiotics) and the food industry in general, which has a vested interest in promoting the consumption of high-margin, questionable nutritious foods and drink (e.g., soft drinks and snack foods).
I will avoid any ideological judgments about industry management or value judgments regarding meat producers. I will say that the typical response, e.g., of the fast food industry, is that healthier offerings, e.g., McDonald's Big & Tasty burger, do not sell well. Indeed, there is much to be said about how customers flocked to the nutritionally appalling McGriddle. Still, McDonald's has discovered when it has smartly packaged and marketed more nutritionally virtuous premium salads, it dramatically increased sales with professional women, including talk show host Oprah Winfrey. I am also encouraged by steps to market milk (versus soda) and fruit slices in children's combo meals.]
Dr. Nestle says that she herself is rarely hungry when she gets up, and she doesn't believe it's a good idea for an adult to eat when he or she is not hungry; she will often opt for typical lunch fare around 11AM or so. Ms. Wolegmuth notes at the end of her articles that Dr. Nestle was startled by how many readers have responded emotionally to her simple defense of adults skipping breakfast during her book tour for What to Eat. [It really didn't surprise me that people react emotionally to deeply held beliefs about meals. A few years back I found myself personally attacked in a low-carb forum for advocating a more nutritionally balanced lower-carb lifestyle; this one mother argued that the ketogenic (high-fat) diet (very similar to the Atkins diet) worked for her epileptic child, and what I was doing, by venturing an opinion on diet and nutrition for healthy Americans (without special medical conditions, such as organ disease), was the logical equivalent of practicing medicine without a license.]
I do not like the idea of simply waiting until you're hungry or thirsty to eat or drink. I think that those urges are lagging indicators and inefficient (e.g., if your urine is darkly colored, you most likely have not had enough water or liquids to drink; if the signals were efficient, a person would always be properly hydrated and never have dark urine); I also note that there is often a lag before the brain gets the message that one has eaten enough, and hence one can eat more calories than are necessary for your own lifestyle (again, if the signals were fully efficient, a person would never eat more than he or she needs to eat).
In many cases, people have not eaten for 10 to 12 hours or longer when they get up; this contrasts with maybe a handful of hours between meals in a typical 3-meal day. I do grant that most people are sedentary during the evening and while sleeping, with metabolism not requiring as many calories to burn. Assuming it is important to eat (but to control how much one eats), what do you eat? I go in part to my referenced lower-carb background: protein and fats are essentially dietary components, and vitamins are water- or fat-soluble. Eggs are a wonderful, if not the most perfect food. Probably my favorite self-prepared meal is to scramble an egg, load in some vegetables (e.g., fresh mushroom and jalapeno peppers), cover it with a slice of nonfat cheese, put it in a low-carb, whole-wheat tortilla (e.g., La Tortilla Factory or Tumaro's Low in Carbs), covered with a generous helping of picante sauce. (Sometimes I'll sprinkle on some chia seeds or Garden of Life Super Seed.) I'll also look for a way to supplement my meal with foods containing soluble fiber (a departure from my lower-carb preferences), such as a serving of fresh berries in season. The reason I particularly focus on lower-glycemic/lower-carb foods is that fats promote a feeling of satiety and proteins (and whole-grains) tend to be more absorbed more slowly.
As I read through all the yuppie alternatives to a power breakfast in Wolgemuth's column, I identify most closely with Flickr cofounder Caterina Fake, whom eats eggs, cheese and toast and avoids carb-laden alternatives like pastries or cereal (which she feels dulls mental acuity).
I have not conducted scientific research in the area of nutrition, and I would often give deference to an expert in the field of nutrition, like Professor Nestle, as a matter of academic courtesy. But I think that the old saw about breakfast being the most important meal of the day is more than just an old wives' tale:
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day for everyone. Many studies have found a relationship between eating breakfast and learning ability, attention span, and general well-being. The American Dietetic Association (www.eatright.org) reports that adults who eat breakfast have an easier time losing weight. Children who regularly eat breakfast think faster, clearer, solve problems more easily, and are less likely to be irritable.Breakfast is important for all ages, not just children. Other studies point to a connection between skipping breakfast with weight gain and memory impairment in young and older adults.
