I listened to the advice of family and friends for the early part of my life and ate breakfast as others do, but it always made me feel a bit bloated, and then shortly after, actually hungry where I wouldn't have been otherwise.
Left to my own devices I do not eat in the morning, I just drink perhaps a coffee, but mostly water and green tea. I'll start getting hungry a few hours after waking up, which is ideal because that is right around lunch time.
Then I'll eat after work, or after my thrice-weekly lifting session, with perhaps a small snack later on. Usually something like cheese, cucumber and chutney on wholegrain crackers.
My stomach just does not seem 'awake' in the mornings and never has done. When I did eat in the morning it always felt like a bit of a chore.
I'm read somewhere once that hunter-gatherer humans never really ate in the morning either, and our bodies go through some process/reaction after waking from sleep that gives us a burst of energy, enough to go out and forage or hunt, and that eating first thing in the morning is a recent thing in our evolution.
Makes perfect sense to me given my own personal experience.
I do agree though, that the concept of breakfast being important is bunk. Everyone is different and as these IF studies show, no one meal is all that important.
But it makes me think too, other cultures have a strong emphasis on breakfast, and that doesn't necessarily include cereals (but it would include bread). Like France, Germany, and Finland.
I'm in Ireland, where people are definitely under the Kellogg's influence.
Granted, in the 50s we didn't have the same scientific knowledge as we do today, but the food pyramid was "invented" by them for their own benefit, make no mistake. Remember when butter was good for you because it lubricated your arteries?[1] Or when doctors were associated with smoking?[2]
This sort of propaganda easily permeates into popular culture and can cause a lot of harm. Refined carbs are 90% guilty of the worldwide obesity pandemic.
[1] https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/78/d4/5b/78d45b7a6...
Granted, Kellogg did hold an M.D. degree, but there's no denying he had a product to sell."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/06/breakfast-most-impo...
I heard a sleep doctor give a lecture awhile ago who repeated the advice of eating a hearty breakfast, primarily as a way to encourage good sleep. She said that our bodies interpret food within 30 mins of waking up as a signal that food is abundant, which lowers our general stress levels and makes it easier to sleep.
Skipping breakfast, on the other hand, signals food scarcity or higher predator threat, increases stress hormones, and encourages lighter sleep so you can be woken more easily.
No idea how true it actually is, but it seems to make sense from an evolutionary standpoint.
The "stress hormones" at the beginning of the day are beneficiary - they make you more attentive, easier to focus and, last but not least, make caffeine (and other stimulants) more stronger (you need less caffeine for same effect). So, enjoy fasted wakefullness at the beginning of the day, and gluttony sleepness at the end of it.
I haven't really experimented or tested the impact of this yet, but I wonder how it ties in alertness/energy levels. I'm normally a zombie in the morning and don't get productive till the afternoon and evening.