There’s Nothing Magical About Breakfast • Hacker News Board

Re: There’s Nothing Magical About Breakfast

#71

Post by everfree » Mon, May 23, 2016, 4:01 PM UTC

coldtea wrote: post #63

mmastrac wrote: post #5

This reads like "I don't eat breakfast, so here's the reasons why I'm right." Studies that support his conclusion, while flawed, are probably right. Studies that oppose it are obviously tainted by various problems. The fact that research shows that breakfast is actually beneficial for children is hand-waved away because 'reasons'. This is honestly just a low-quality, cherry-picked opinion piece by someone who really…

> This reads like "I don't eat breakfast, so here's the reasons why I'm right." Actually he gives very reasoned arguments and comments on meta-studies showing that he is right -- not that breakfast is bad, but in that it doesn't make any difference, and if it does nobody has clearly shown it. (a) . In a paper published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2013, researchers reviewed the literature on the e…

So it sounds like a more apt name for the article would be "There is no conclusive evidence for or against whether breakfast is magical".

Re: There’s Nothing Magical About Breakfast

#72

Post by fu9ar » Mon, May 23, 2016, 4:07 PM UTC

thomasahle wrote: post #51

jonknee wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well there is no shortage of people who like breakfast (or are in charge of selling people breakfast) and hand wave about it being "the most important meal of the day". The truth is probably people have different metabolisms and if you are hungry in the morning you should eat and if you are not you shouldn't. And that's almost exactly what this post suggests: > The bottom line is that the evidence for the importance…

And again other people may have metabolisms that need to be "kick started" in the morning by breakfast, to keep a stable bloodsugar level during the day.

Did you read the article or just head straight into posting this morning?

Re: There’s Nothing Magical About Breakfast

#73

Post by jcoffland » Mon, May 23, 2016, 4:19 PM UTC

"As with many other nutritional pieces of advice, our belief in the power of breakfast is based on misinterpreted research and biased studies."

This is the real piece of truth in this article.

Re: There’s Nothing Magical About Breakfast

#74

Post by nkohari » Mon, May 23, 2016, 4:22 PM UTC

sd8f9iu wrote: post #23

zodPod wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No need to hate being that person! The bullshit paywalls are obnoxious! It's good to know I'm not the only one annoyed!

Honestly, how are they obnoxious? They're asking you to pay for a service. I wish there were more paywalls in online journalism. Low-quality ad-funded journalism is how we get clickbait and crap like the Huffington Post.

Do you subscribe to all of the sites with paywalls?

Re: There’s Nothing Magical About Breakfast

#75

Post by brahmwg » Mon, May 23, 2016, 4:30 PM UTC

pizza wrote: post #10

Honestly, fasting for >16 hr/d >> eating breakfast, in my experience. Pet-theory is that you get a lil' neurotransmitter upregulation as an added benefit ;) Thoughts?

Anecdata, but I've found the same. I have more energy and better performance (for physical activity and cognitive activity) when I fast for the majority of the day.

Not a fan of gimmicky diets but my eating pattern seems similar to "the warrior diet", look it up if you're curious. I just think that in nature (if we were wild humans) we wouldn't have access to a huge meal right out of bed, We'd have to work hard all day to hunt and gather our food, then celebrate as a group with a food orgy around the fire.... okay I got a bit carried away :P

Re: There’s Nothing Magical About Breakfast

#76

Post by will_brown » Mon, May 23, 2016, 4:31 PM UTC

>I don’t eat breakfast...In fact, I’m rarely hungry until about lunchtime. So, other than a morning cup of coffee, I don’t eat much before noon.

This is fairly amusing. First, coffee is a well known appetite suppressant. Second, unless coffee is black it is probably far from zero calories, with dairy and sugar maybe between 200-300 [empty] calories which would be in the ball park of bacon and an egg.

Of course some starbucks drinks can easily be >600 calories so who knows, the author could be drinking a coffee every morning that is closer to the caloric equivalent of pancakes with syrup.

Re: There’s Nothing Magical About Breakfast

#77

Post by EGreg » Mon, May 23, 2016, 4:39 PM UTC

Here's what I think:

People who are college students, young professionals, esp. developers and entrepreneurs often work late into the night, either because they're partying or because they want to put that one problem to bed before they go themselves.

They often eat small snacks at night. Some wake up early, some wake up late, but many rush to work and forget breakfast.

As a result, their bodies adjust to intermittent fasting, and they actually have good calorie intake. Provided they don't eat junk food.

People who have been doing that since their early 20s are for the most part not overweight.

That's my theory. You could also do intermittent fasting by skipping dinner, but few night owls would do that. Instead, they eat dinner and some snacks at night, it digests overnight and they aren't hungry in the morning.

Re: There’s Nothing Magical About Breakfast

#78

Post by collyw » Mon, May 23, 2016, 4:41 PM UTC

bgilroy26 wrote: post #52

jonknee wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well there is no shortage of people who like breakfast (or are in charge of selling people breakfast) and hand wave about it being "the most important meal of the day". The truth is probably people have different metabolisms and if you are hungry in the morning you should eat and if you are not you shouldn't. And that's almost exactly what this post suggests: > The bottom line is that the evidence for the importance…

>The truth is probably people have different metabolisms and if you are hungry in the morning you should eat and if you are not you shouldn't. Bodies don't always cooperate, if you are going to exercise strenuously in a given day you had better eat some kind of breakfast whether your body feels like it or not. Breakfast is always going to be the opportunity to eat when you have more of the day ahead of you. That's tr…

Meh, I did 4 hours driving followed by 4 or 5 hours of whitewater kayaking on Saturday, with hardly anything to eat until afterwards. (I have been doing a bit of intermittent fasting the last couple of years, and that seems to help in such situations).

Re: There’s Nothing Magical About Breakfast

#79

Post by EGreg » Mon, May 23, 2016, 4:41 PM UTC

nkohari wrote: post #74

sd8f9iu wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, how are they obnoxious? They're asking you to pay for a service. I wish there were more paywalls in online journalism. Low-quality ad-funded journalism is how we get clickbait and crap like the Huffington Post.

Do you subscribe to all of the sites with paywalls?

Why not make it simple?

Maybe like a PayPal for Paywalls, to start a subscription with one click?

Re: There’s Nothing Magical About Breakfast

#80

Post by UK-AL » Mon, May 23, 2016, 4:43 PM UTC

I'm a victim of this myth. I'm just not hungry in the morning. Some people love breakfast, and that's ok.

But don't barrage me with "it's the most important meal of the day" old wife tales, when you don't understand my lack of hunger.