Here’s the age-old question: Is breakfast the most important meal of the day? Yes, breakfast is definitely the most important meal of the day. Here are the reasons as to why it is the most important meal of the day, and why you should never skip it, even if you’re low on time.

Breakfast is exactly what it spells out, “break fast.” The body goes without nutrients or calories for many hours overnight; that is fasting. When you wake up, your body is deprived of energy. It needs, and wants, that energy replenished in order for the body to have fuel for the day.

 This energy is known as glucose, and it helps keep your body running. According to Food.ndtv “You try to concentrate hard and work on your most important presentation, but your body is like a car running on an empty petrol tank. Your brain refuses to pick up speed and concentration because you forgot to stock up your body fuel.” The point is to eat up in the morning, otherwise, you’ll struggle to pay attention during school or at work. When you begin a new day, you have so many more hours ahead of you, especially until lunchtime. The most important meal of the day is breakfast because if you run off with no energy, you will be groggy, famished, irritable and unattentive. To have a productive day and perform well, breakfast is necessary. 

Some may argue that dinner is the most important meal of the day since it gives the body what it needs in order to develop overnight or to heal. Perhaps the meal options during dinner and even lunch sound, and look, more enticing than breakfast, especially since it’s later in the day when you’re actually hungry. 

Likewise, some people just can’t eat in the morning, especially myself. I know when I wake up in the morning, I do not want anything to enter my stomach except a hot cup of brewed coffee. Eating anything makes me feel sick in the morning. Anytime I do skip breakfast, I regret it very much later in the day. 

To that, I say that breakfast is still superior. Not eating breakfast can actually make someone more likely to gain weight. According to Fitday, “Not eating breakfast in the morning can ultimately set you up for binging and overconsumption later in the day. By the time another opportunity to eat rolls around, breakfast-skippers are more likely to choose something high in fat and calories to satisfy their hunger cravings.”  Weight gain is troublesome for many people.  If you don’t eat the correct things in the morning, it may result in you eating even more incorrect food items later in the day, choosing items that are not part of a healthy diet. 

Furthermore, eating in the morning allows your body to start up. It’s the same as starting up a lawnmower or even a boat. Pulling at the cord for the engine is the caloric intake and the machine starting up. The machine starting up and moving along is your body consuming calories and having fuel ready for the day.

 Fitday supports this, for it states, “Breakfast ‘breaks the fast’ after a long night of sleep – it alerts your brain and wakes up your system, giving your metabolism the kick start that it needs to work throughout the day. Skipping breakfast sends the message to your body that it needs to keep conserving energy, which can slow down your metabolism, causing a decrease in the amount of calories you burn throughout the day.”

A cup of coffee paired alongside some toast or a baked good may sound nice and is light on the stomach. However, those are not healthy items to be eating. According to Rush, “Much of the research just makes good common sense…If you start with a healthy, satisfying meal in the morning you’re less apt to nibble on less nutritious things during the day, which we often do out of hunger — you grab the first or easiest thing in front of you.” Breakfast is so important because it even has an effect on what your lunch and dinner may look like. Leave your house on an empty stomach and later in the day you’ll find yourself eating a large dinner or even a greasy burger for lunch because it’s filling. 

Breakfast easily takes the #1 spot as the most important, and even useful, meal of the day. It can affect your attentiveness during school or at the workplace, it can affect your weight and it can decide the meals you have later in the day. Breakfast is a huge game-changer, and you should always make sure to eat something.