Since when did the word "Breakfast" determine a time of day?
The term 'Break Fast' actually describes the point in ones day when they eat for the first time after fasting over night (cause we don't eat when we sleep... well most of us anyway) and at some point we have gotten confused. We are now defined by the clock and we are told when it is time to eat instead of doing what should be the most natural thing in the world - listening to our bodies.
Do you think our ancestors (before clocks were invented) ate because it was morning? No! So at what point did man kind decide that we need to eat by the clock?
I was having a conversation with a friend today and she was relaying information that a psychologist had told her. She mentioned that this specific psychologist told her when she is treating someone with depression and anxiety, she asks her clients what their diet is like, and then follows that up with 'make sure you eat breakfast as your serotonin is created in the gut'. The same friend tagged me in a similar post on facebook and told me all about this awesome psychologist who was in a sence, looking at food as medicine.
Now I LOVE a psychologist that looks at diet and exercise as a potential cure for depression and anxiety. There aren't enough doctors and mental health professionals out there that actually do that. But in all my studies and with all of the Nutritional Medicine professionals, Naturopaths, seminars that I've been and listened too, I have never heard of the need to have breakfast because of the creation of serotonin. I know it is created in the gut and not enough people know that...but eating breakfast because its created in the gut? I will look further into it as I'm intreagued...but I'm really unsure of that information.
While we sleep, we use less serotonin than during the day so when we wake in the morning with all that beautiful goodness in our gut (or our 'Second Brain') the best thing to do is have a big glass of water to kick start our engines and absorb the serotonin. Mixing food with all of that just because it's 'That time again' seems wrong and counter productive.
What's more, while we sleep our liver is working to help with digestion and filtering chemicals and pesticides and our tummy and intestines are still digesting our meals from the day before. I'm not sure about you, but it seems like a horrible thing to do, to give your body another influx of food, when the food you ate the night before is still being digested and you are only doing it because its 7am!
Now I'm not saying by any means starve yourself the whole day because you aren't hungry. That is not what I'm saying at all! Rising and Falling of blood sugars can also cause anxiety and also contribute to depressive symptoms. But what I am saying, is don't feel the need to stuff your face just because you woke up! Kathy Ashton (BHSc Nut.Med) from Flourish Nutritional Medicine in her wonderful Recipe Book 'My Healing Kitchen' also agrees that breakfast should not be defined by a time of day, but rather when you break your fast from the night before.
Breakfast IS the most important meal of the day. You have fasted the period of time before hand and it's time to eat something to fuel your engines and get you through the day, and at some point when we got confused and ate by the clock, we also got told we need to eat fortified cereals and specialised breakfast foods. Oh and lets not forget lunch! Lunch must be a sandwich right?
No! We are being told to fuel our bodies with man made foods that have been modified for a longer shelf life, and while listening to marketing, we stopped listening to our bodies which has made us sick. Since when is having a bowl of dried out corn thats been processed with sugar in a bowl with wet cow puss a nutritious meal to get us through the day? It's not! Why can't you have eggs, and a slice of bacon, a half an avocado and tomato? Why can't you have a steak and some peas and a salad? You can! Our meals are supposed to be fuelled with three things - Protein, Fat and Fibre. Our heaviest meal should be our first meal of the day when you break your fast. It gives our body the whole day and night to digest and absorb nutrients and work off the additional calories consumed. Instead we are doing the heaviest meal at the end of the day and then letting it sit in our stomachs over night. If you consumed over your calorie intake for the day, and that was because of dinner - you now have no time to work it off. So eating first thing in the morning when you aren't hungry just adds to the burden.
So admittedly this turned into a slight rant. But it is just very important to me that we start listening to our bodies, and not what other people tells us. You are your best judge of you. So lets turn back time and get to a place where we listen to ourselves.
