Natural health expert and Mercola.com founder Dr. Joseph Mercola discusses why eating breakfast is not the most important meal of the day. Dr. Mercola also talks about how skipping breakfast can help improve your health.

1. Is Breakfast Even Necessary?
More and more studiesare nowshowingthatthe bestbreakfastmaybe none at all.
A 2013 reportpublishedinthe AmericanJournal of Clinical Nutritionfoundthatonlyahandful of
rigorousclinical studieshadevenlookedat breakfast’srole inweightlossandmaintenance.Andthose
studiesfoundeitherthatskippingbreakfasthadnosignificanteffectonweightgainorthat people who
partookof a morningmeal endedupconsumingmore caloriesthanpeople whodidn’t.
Plentyof lessrigorous,observational studieshave foundanassociationbetweeneatingbreakfastand
beingoverweight,butwhatthese studieshave notfoundisadirectcausal relationship.Whatthat
meansisthat our national obsessionwithfuelingupbefore startingthe dayisbasedona mere untested
assumption.
Recentresearchsuggeststhatintermittentcalorie restriction –shortperiodsof abstainingfromfoods,
knownas intermittentfasting,orwhatI call “effortlesseating” –appearsto provide healthybenefits
similartothose associatedwithconstantcalorie restriction.
One of the easiestwaystoincorporate effortlesseatingintoyourlifeistocreate a habitof skippingor
delayingbreakfastuntil youare eatingall yourfoodinan eight-to-ten-hourwindow.Avoidingfoodfor
longstretchesduringthe dayrequiresenormousdiscipline,whilenighttimefastingdoesn’t.(Afterall,
it’shard to eatwhenyou’re sleeping.)Breakfastalsotendstobe one of the mostsolitarymealsof the
day,the one youtypicallyeatonthe run and that you,intermsof socializationorrelaxation,enjoythe
least.
It will require some willpowerandself-disciplinetoreachthiseight-to-tenhourwindowbecause until
your bodyshiftstofat-burningmode,youwill still have sugarcravings.However,once youare adapted
to burn fatas your primaryfuel,youcaneasilygofourteentosixteenhoursandnotbe hungry.Sonow
youare not on a “diet”but onan effective lifestylemodificationthatyoucan effortlesslyfollow forthe
restof yourlife because youcancycle betweenfeastandfamine modes.
EffortlessHealingTip: Skippingbreakfast can leadto weightloss and promote health,with no cravings
and no needfor incredible willpowerorself-discipline.
For more simple ways tosidestepillness,shedexcessweight,andhelpyourbodyfix itself,checkoutmy
book, EffortlessHealing,available everywhere booksare sold,andvisitEffortlessHealing.com.