Skipping Breakfast- Life Lessons Learned Along the Way

12 Jul 2012

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Food for Thought
Carla
by

not skipping breakfast

I’m a believer in living in the present.

I reflect upon my past, but never with regret.

I’ve done myriad moronic things (things I won’t list here lest my parents stumble upon the post), yet all of these missteps come together to create the person I am today: a little wiser, a lot flawed, and far more mindful with my choices at 42 than at 22.

I look back and wouldn’t change a thing—except my habitual skipping of the morning meal.

First I skipped because I wasn’t hungry.  I’d take the piece of toast my mother thrust upon me and typically toss it to the birds as I walked to the bus.  I wasn’t in tune enough with my body to know I was, in fact, ravenous.

Later I skipped because I was lazy.  My college dorm was far from the dining hall. Making time for breakfast meant having to get ready for class earlier.  And, if I didn’t have an early class, there was *no* chance I’d be motivated to leave my room.  I wasn’t in tune yet with how eating breakfast set my brain up for a successful day.

Later still (freshman forty pounds later) I skipped because I subconsciously believed no breakfast was the key to rapid weight-loss.  I assumed the later in the day I started eating, the fewer calories I’d consume (not surprisingly I was incorrect. I more than made up for my ‘noon-start’ late at night).  I wasn’t yet in tune with what my body needed to thrive.

With hindsight I see how different each life-stage would have been had I eaten the morning meal.

I’d have had the fuel to perform better academically, I may not have gained ‘college weight’ if I’d set myself up for food-success with a healthy breakfast, and I’d have lost weight more easily if I didn’t leave myself FAMISHED till noon.

As a result, breakfast is a non-negotiable for my family.  When my six year old asks why– I BREAK it down into three reasons.

  • It breaks the fast.  We eat dinner early and end up playing for a while before bedtime.  As a result, by the time we’re awake/back in the kitchen, it has been 12+ hours since we’ve eaten.  Whether she realizes it or not she is HUNGRY verging on HANGRY.
  • It breaks the isolation.  Studies show families who have dinner together each night raise more successful, healthy children.  I’d beg to differ.  I agree it’s important to come together once a day, but don’t believe it matters when.  My husband works late and is rarely around at bedtime.  As a result breakfast is when we reconnect and gather as a family.
  • We break the mold.  I’ve always been a non-traditional breakfast eater.  Salmon & rice? Chicken and broccoli? Very likely on my plate at the morning meal.  Not surprisingly, I’m raising a child who gravitates toward a nontraditional start to her day.  Leftover chicken Kiev? Yes please!  We’re both up early & ready to cook? Oven-fried chicken it is.  There’s no breakfast normal here (more likely cereal loaf than simple cereal)—but there’s always breakfast.

Are you a life-long breakfast eater or have you, too, added in the morning meal as you’ve gotten older?

Do you still skip breakfast? What small step toward a morning meal could you take starting today?

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Carla

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