Which meal is the most important among the three in a day?

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   Hui (蕙)posted 13 years ago

   Rebecca Noseworthy, a registered dietitian with children's nutrition advocary group Breakfast For Learning, explains, "After a night of fasting, our brains need to be refuelled. Breakfast kick-starts the brain so it's ready to work and learn." Although making time for a healthy decision, these four foods are in particular recommended to have the biggest impact on brain-power. 1) Eggs. Eggs provide half of your daily requirement of choline and B-vitamin; 2) Oatmeal. Oatmeal contains soluble fibre, which sops up cholesterol and prevents plaque from forming in arteries. 3) Blueberries. Blueberries get their distinctive color from anthocyanin, a powerful antioxidant that has been found to reduce oxidative damage to brain cells. 4) Coffee. Coffee increases alertness, concentration, and energy levels. Personal opinions?

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      recommend1posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I would agree that breakfast may be the most important meal for several reasons but why do supposedly respectable 'advisors' use such stupid language as "re-fuel the brain" and "kick-start the brain" foods do no such thing !  although coffee might qualify as a stimulus for the brain and so could be described as a kick-start I guess.
      
      Also the whole idea that breakfast is the most important meal of the day was coined by the cereal foods advertising industry and is repeated ad nauseum as though it were fact, backed by other glib phrases such as restoring energy levels, as though we were batteries !

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         Hui (蕙)posted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I read a paper written by some professor. She said that the damage for brain because of breakfast missing cannot be made up by other meals, and she also highly recommended the cereal food, but did not mention these four.  I believe her.

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            recommend1posted 13 years agoin reply to this

            I cannot believe that missing breakfast damages your brain cells - sorry.  If this were true then the half of the world that goes hungry for large parts of their lives would be terminally stupid by now and they are definately not.

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            WriteAngledposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Well, I've been skipping breakfast regularly since I was a small child, because it does make me feel sick to eat early in the day. So that makes over five decades of rarely having breakfast. I was consistently top of the class at school.
            
            At university I walked away with the prize for the best undergraduate research project in my subject, got a first class honours degree and then went on to do a PhD. A decade or so later, when I decided I wanted to add a postgraduate qualification in information studies, I was the only person in my year to be awarded a distinction.
            
            Currently, I translate medical documentation out of seven languages into English. Most people tell me this must need a lot of brain power, although to me it feels more like an amusing game most of the time.
            
            Oh, one of the things that became very clear when I was doing academic research myself and then working in a job where I regularly had to review published research, is that academics are as likely as anyone else to make unfounded and stupid statements.
            
            A second obervation, also based on personal experience in various contexts, is that there are a number of not very bright (one could even say downright thick) dietiticians on this planet.

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               Hui (蕙)posted 13 years agoin reply to this

               recommend1 and WriteAngled, you both have confident opinions and do not be sorry. To be frankly, when I was very young, I didn't even have enough food for stomach, letting the nutrional breakfast unsaid, but now I am going to do Ph.D in science. Not bad, right? However, I still believe the irreplaceable role that breakfast plays. How many intelligents in old days sufferred from poverty with half stomach all life long, while their great contributions were admitted years after they died? They did not become "stupid". Does that mean that nutrition and ease life are nothing benificial???
               
               Many phenomena can be only seen under scientific research. What naked eyes cannot see does not mean that it does not exist. The Earth has naturally 6 billion years old longevity, while may 5.9 with humans' trouble. What's the difference? That missing breakfast damages brain can be considered as common sense. Cells are dying and replenishing all the time, naturally. The problem is that to what degree the replenishing can be achieved. Without food supply, the whole body would be collapsed, and so does the cell. After the consumption of a whole night (especially for children), it is the right timing to replenish. Damage does not mean collapse or lysis of the whole tissue or organ. The maintainnance of the whole system depends on the coordinating functions of all parts, the association between the inner and the outer, and different from person to person... A human body can genetically survive over 1,000 years, but we only live several decades, probably and fortunately up to ten. All living organisms naturally wear out. What is wrong with taking good care?
               
               I don't refuse to the advantages of these four food, and actually I like them, but our Chinese have our own eating philosophy. Chinese medicine emphasizes on the harmony between humans and the nature with little human technology in it.
               
               By the way, WriteAngled, you feeling sick with morning eating is only because you do not have a proper living habit. Honest admiration on your achievement, but good living habit is advantageous.

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                  recommend1posted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  NO it is not - and basing a whole scientific jumble on such a premise or opinion is NOT common sense in itself.
                  
                  The breakfast myth is the product of advertising that feeds on the usual situation of feeling peckish soon after we wake up.  We eat because our body tells us that we are hungry not because some paid to write pseudo scientist cobbles up a breakfast myth.

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                     Sottwayposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                     Great comment recommend1 - we share a similar view. Our bodies store glycogen from feed we need to eat when we feel our energy diminishing, not when some advertisement tells us!

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                        Sottwayposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                        Food -*

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               Vinny64posted 13 years agoin reply to this

               Very well written! Talk about pinning the tail on the donkey! I suffer from a tramatic brain injury and would be very happy to know just what you may have forgotten. Boy, would I hate playing scrabble with you!

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      prettydarkhorseposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      yes coffee can be an "upper", makes you alert but not necessarily make your decisions intelligent.
      
      Eating breakfast can be cultural and depends on weather condition, whether days could be longer and what type of occupations you might have. Generally the lifestyle you may have may affect the schedule of your meals. Eating breakfast can make you alert but not help you with your intelligence. It might be the case, but you need cross cultural studies over long periods of time - longitudinal studies to even ascertain it.
      
      I like blueberries though, they are healthy.

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      Dave Mathewsposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      The most important meal for anyone is the one they eat. Some only get one meal a day.

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   melporposted 13 years ago

   Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. We need breakfast to break the fasting since most of us probably have not eaten in the last 9 hours if you are not a late night snacker.  Everything in your body is low from fasting when we first wake up in the morning. We need food as soon as possible to bring our energy level back to an acceptable level.

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   WriteAngledposted 13 years ago

   The nutritional hit squad may bang on about breakfast as much as they like, but I take time to get going after waking up especially if I am forced to get up before 10-11am. If I am forced to eat in the first hour or so after getting up, I feel physically sick.
   
   I also like to work late into the night, well after midnight, sometimes until next morning. Thus, for me, the most important meal is the one I eat any time between 7pm and 2am, depending on when I feel I want it.
   
   I have met many other people who have similar experiences and opinions to mine.

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   Night Magicposted 13 years ago

   The meal I never miss is breakfast.  It gets you metabolism going.

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   Home Girlposted 13 years ago

   It all depends on your metabolism, habits, lifestyle, workstyle and a lot of other factors. Everybody is different. If you eat late, and usually go to sleep soon after a meal, you are not going to wake up hungry, you'll wake up probably feeling tired and wanting a cup of coffee to wake up fully. Nothing good in coffee, just a coffeine boost in my opinion. You can drink a cup of fresh tea with ginseng and get the same effect, and it will be even better for your health. My dad's parents lived on a farm. They would get up at 5am to take care of cows, pigs and other animals they have. After they are done with animals, they would start making their own breakfast, usually pancakes with cottage cheese or jam (for me), at 9am and at 10am we would sit to eat. No food between 5am and 9-10 am! No one complained, though sometimes I would feel really hungry at 9am, but I am the morning person and I hate working at nights. And I NEED MY BREAKFAST!
   The most important thing is to eat at certain intervals, not overeat and consume healthy, natural, not overprocessed, not overcooked meal in a relaxed enjoyable atmosphere with least amount of sugar and salt possible. Your smartness has nothing to do with your manner of eating but if you starve yourself constantly or eat junk food, you can become physically ill and it WILL affect your memory and ability to understand and learn things. If you  are saying that you eat whatever you want and whenever you want, and smoke, and drink, and you are perfectly fine, I can tell you one thing - yes, for now you are fine, you have a strong system that holds perfectly on in one place, but usually it ends in a disaster when suddenly everything breaks loose and nothing you can do about it. It's usually too late.

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   ActiviaUKposted 13 years ago

   I'm interested in what you are saying @WriteAngled, I get that it makes you feel sick eating first thing so naturally you aren't going to do that, but do you eat when you are ready? Like an hour after getting up or do you skip that meal completely?  I am definitely in favour of Activia's TLC plan - 3 meals a day and one or two healthy snacks. This is how I have always eaten and it works for me maintaining a healthy body and mind. Breakfast does set me up for the day but like you I can't eat it as soon as I get up. It is usually half hour to an hour after. If I don't have that first meal I am not me! Just wanted to know whether you do still maintain 3 meals a day, because I think that is what is important, not necessarily that you eat as soon as you get up!

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   WriteAngledposted 13 years ago

   Hi ActiviaUK,
   
   I eat when I feel hungry. Some days I might have one main meal and a couple of snacks, other days I might have six or even more small meals, especially if I work through the night as I often do. Some days I might eat something within an hour of getting up, other days I might not feel like having anything for four or five hours. The type of food I eat also varies massively. I do not live by rules in any aspect of my life, including food.

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   ActiviaUKposted 13 years ago

   To eat when you feel hungry...you can't really argue with that. We all have our own methods! In  a way I eat when I am hungry too which is, for most days 3 meals and 1/2 snacks, as that is what my body is use to and needs.

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   Sottwayposted 13 years ago

   Is breakfast really the most important meal? Our body will break down the food we previously ate, storing glycogen in our muscles for when we need energy. As glycogen is a long-lasting energy source whenever we then feel weak is when we need to eat?

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