31. To Eat or Not To Eat? The Eggsistential Breakfast Question

Breakfast is one of those nutrition topics that can make you feel like you’re failing no matter what you do. One person swears it’s the most important meal of the day, another says to fast until noon and someone else calls coffee “breakfast.” When you stack all that advice together, it feels incongruous and honestly exhausting. I walk through what the research actually suggests about breakfast nutrition, then we get into intermittent fasting and time-restricted eating.

If you want simple, evidence-based wellness for real life, hit subscribe, share this with a friend who’s confused by breakfast vs fasting and leave a review so more people can find the show. What does your ideal morning meal look like right now?

I am happy we can share this journey of leveling up, together. Send me a text by clicking the link at the top of the description. I would love to hear from you :) See you next week! 

- Alita <3 

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This podcast is intended for general educational purposes only. The content discussed does not replace professional medical, nutritional, or fitness advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Individual needs and responses vary, especially with exercise and nutrition. Always consult with a qualified healthcare provider before making significant lifestyle changes.

Transcript

Welcome And Podcast Purpose

SPEAKER_00 0:00

What's up? Welcome back to Vito with Alita. This is a podcast about evidence-based wellness for real life. I'm Alita and I'm here to talk about fitness, health, mindset, and building a strong and sustainable life. But doing so without extremes, guilt, or perfectionism. If you care about your health, but you also want a life that you can actually live, you're definitely in the right place. Now before we jump in, I just want to say thank you for being here. It genuinely means a lot that you choose to spend your time listening. And I don't take that lightly. If you've been enjoying the show, following the podcast really helps it grow and lets me know that you're enjoying what you're listening to. And it will actually help more people find these conversations, which means I can keep bringing you new episodes every single week. Alright, let's get into today's episode. I'm your host Alita, and today, today's a topic that honestly coming from the heart. Breakfast. I absolutely love breakfast. It's my favorite meal of the day, and I decided to dedicate a whole episode to it because why not? But before we start, as always, I want to introduce our word of the week. The word is incongruous. I n C O N G-R-U-O-U-S. Incongruous means something doesn't quite fit together or something that seems inconsistent. And honestly, I think this word perfectly describes a lot of the health advice we might hear today, especially when it comes to nutrition. Now, shifting it to breakfast. One person might say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. That person's me, but another person probably says you should skip breakfast completely and fast until noon. Someone else says you should just drink coffee and then that's your breakfast. Or a banana, right? Like that's enough. And when you step back and look at all that advice together, it can feel very incongruous. In congruous. Like none of it really quite lines up. So in today's episode, we're going to cut through some of that noise and talk about what the research actually says about breakfast and even about fasting and why this conversation can be especially important for women. For years, breakfast has been one of the most debated topics in nutrition. Some people, like me, swear by it, others skip it entirely, and with the rise of intermittent fasting, many women are now wondering, do I actually need breakfast? I mean, it saves me so much time to just skip it completely. I know I get it. Or have we just been told that for decades? The reality is that the answer is always a lot more nuanced than we might think. And today we're going to explore some of the science behind it. So I'd like to bring a surprising breakfast fact number one. Something a little interesting for you to pump up this episode. People who eat breakfast often have better blood sugar control later in the day. And so this is something researchers sometimes refer to as the second meal effect. And research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows that when you eat earlier in the day, your body may process later meals more efficiently. So, in simple terms, eating breakfasts may help your body handle food better later in the day. Alright. Our surprising breakfast fact number two. Another interesting finding is that higher protein breakfasts can significantly reduce cravings later in the day. Studies in the Journal of Nutrition show that people who eat protein-rich breakfasts often experienced improved satiety, fewer afternoon cravings, and more stable energy levels throughout the day. And this is especially relevant for women who struggle with sort of that mid-afternoon energy crash. We've all been there, you're not alone, but potentially having a high protein breakfast may sort of help stabilize those energy levels. Alright, our surprising breakfast fact number three. People who skip breakfast sometimes will end up actually consuming more calories later in the day, particularly in the evening. And this doesn't happen to everyone. Not everything always applies to everybody. But it's one reason why simply skipping breakfast just because isn't always an effective strategy, especially when it comes to weight management. I don't want to completely disregard the skipping breakfast or fasting. I understand that it is a way to help folks restrict their calories. You know, you're removing an entire meal, so right there it's you're deducting a certain amount of calories, but I'm gonna kind of get into fasting a little bit later in the episode. Right now, let's look at the role of protein in breakfast and why this word protein that we hear everywhere, I'm sorry, it's a it's a buzzword nowadays, I guess. But I can't talk about breakfast without talking about protein. So if you are someone who enjoys breakfast, like myself, one of the simplest ways to actually improve your breakfast is by prioritizing protein. Protein helps to regulate your hunger hormones and it actually keeps you fuller for longer. And research suggests that aiming for 20 to 30 grams of protein in the morning can help stabilize appetite and energy throughout the day. So some simple examples can include eggs and a whole grain toast, Greek yogurt with berries and nuts, cottage cheese with fruit, a smoothie with protein powder, yogurt and a nut butter, things along those lines, protein, pancakes, whatever you kind of want. Just be mindful of that 20 to 30 grams. Like, for example, two eggs is about like 13 grams of protein. So you're not even hitting it yet with just the two eggs. Either you add an extra egg or you add other things, like there are some breads that are a little bit higher in protein. Just you have to supplement it with something to make sure you're kind of hitting that target as much as possible. Now, these meals that I kind of listed provide a combination of protein, fiber, and healthy fats. Don't be scared of those, okay? And these can actually help support steady energy levels. So now, what about intermittent fasting? We have to talk about intermittent fasting because this is where a lot of the I think confusion comes in. And honestly, even sometimes I felt fall for this. Like I remember in my episode where I talked about my New Year's resolutions, I literally talked about how fasting was going to be one of them. I'm telling you right now, I tried it and it's not for me. I get hangry, I just cannot. And I will maybe talk about this a little bit later in the episode and how how we need to look at things more at an individual level. We need to stop generalizing when we see something online. You can take advice online, and maybe you that's your starting point, or maybe that's something that resonates with you and can fit with you, your life, and how you feel, and not even, yeah, like how you feel when you try that advice. If you feel good and you want to continue, that's great. But advice that's not tailored to you should be taken lightly. And that's why I think I'm gonna also maybe I'll add a disclaimer right now. Maybe I should have done this at the beginning, but never too late. Always talk with either your doctor, a healthcare provider, if you have access to a nutritionist, a dietitian about your needs. Everybody has different food intolerances, different conditions, what like everyone is active in a different way. So please make sure that you are get seeking advice that is individualized, that is catered to you and what works for you. Just because I say I have breakfast, it doesn't mean everybody in the world needs to have breakfast. But there is still research that shows the like this research is always also like the majority. You're never gonna always have those nuanced cases that are being taken into account. So anyway, I got off on a little bit of a tangent. So let's just get back into intermittent fasting. What about it? We have to talk about it because of course with breakfast comes this conversation. So intermittent fasting, if you don't know what it is, it's when you have like an eating window. So between a certain time for a specific number of hours, the most, I guess, famous pattern is the 16-8 pattern. So this is where you can fast for 16 hours of the day, and then you eat for eight hours. So for example, if I break my fast at noon, I can eat as much as I want between noon and eight p.m. And then the rest of the time, no calories. I'm completely fast, and that includes even drinks. So if you're drinking tea or coffee, it should be black, and then obviously water is allowed. And this has become extremely popular in recent years. And some studies published in cell metabolism suggest that time-restricted eating may actually improve insulin sensitivity, metabolic health, and even weight regulation in some populations. So this just shows that fasting can have benefits. It really can. But here's a nuance that often gets lost in the hype of fasting. Fasting does not work the same for everyone. And I'll tell you right now, it's not something that I particularly enjoy or that I like for me. Some people feel completely fine skipping breakfast. Some people even don't even feel like eating in the morning. They might even say they feel a little bit nauseous. But yeah, so some people feel completely fine skipping breakfast. But for others, especially if you're someone with a very busy schedule or a demanding job, or you have an intense training routine, or you just have a very active day ahead, prolonged fasting can actually lead to low energy, intense hunger later in the day, overeating in the evening, unstable blood sugar. And this is where my word of the week, our word of the week, the incongruous comes back. Because the advice we hear online often makes it seem like there's one correct approach. But the science actually shows that nutrition is highly individual. I don't even think we need science to know that. You'd know, you'd know within probably your own household or within your own group of friends that there's something your friend can eat that you know will make your stomach upset, or there's some like even just everything is always very individualized. So take what you see with a grain of salt and do your own research, do your own kind of experimentation, try with breakfast, without breakfast, bigger meal, smaller meal, and obviously give it a few days, a week or two to kind of get accustomed to it before you decide to reject it, because change is always going to maybe be, I don't know if uncomfortable is the right word, but there's always going to be a weird something to get used to at first. But then once you get over that little bump, then you can see if it's truly working for you or not. So now that we kind of talked about breakfast and fasting and the benefits of both, well, I guess I didn't really talk about the drawbacks of breakfast. I mean, I'm a very biased person here. Breakfast is the best meal of the day. But in all seriousness, if you're having a breakfast that is balanced and able to fuel you for the day ahead, it's filled with enough protein, fats, and carbs, and it's something that sits well in your stomach. I think as long as you're not overeating and over-consuming and you're not having a very sugary breakfast to start off your morning, I don't want to say there are no downsides. I probably have, you know, but the it's not the healthy meal has never killed anybody, okay? So, why breakfast can be important for women in particular? So, our bodies, as women in particular, are very sensitive to energy availability. So having adequate nutrition supports hormone production, our metabolic health, exercise recovery, even our cognitive performance. And especially if you're someone who's active, starting the day with balanced nutrition can help support both your physical performance, even your mental focus. So that doesn't mean breakfast needs to be huge. I get it. Sometimes you don't have a very big appetite in the morning, but even a small, balanced meal can honestly make a meaningful difference in how you feel throughout the day. Now, I share, or I'm going to share on my Instagram some of the breakfasts that I have sometimes. And the list is always changing because I always rotate. I have favorites that I rotate through, because as I said, breakfast is my favorite meal, so I take it very seriously, and I try to find meals that I very much enjoy, and I enjoy them to the point where I'm excited to wake up and get my day going so I can have breakfast. So I hope, I hope someone out there feels the same way because honestly, breakfast is just top tier in my books. But let me leave you with a few practical takeaways. So if you're wondering what to do with all this information first, listen to your body. Surprise! I don't think that's the first time we've heard that one, but listen to your body. If skipping breakfast works well for you and you feel energized and focused, that may be perfectly fine. But if you often feel tired, you're irritable, or you're even extremely hungry later in the day that you just want to eat anything that's in front of your face, potentially adding breakfast might help. Secondly, prioritize protein. Even small changes like adding eggs, changing to Greek yogurt, having a smoothie, adding a little bit of protein powder in there, can improve satiety and your energy levels. Third, this is not gonna be a surprise, but we want to avoid extremes. I find that health advice online is always very black and white. Do this, don't do that, do this, don't do that. But the reality is usually much more balanced than that, and balance is always going to win because it's sustainable. Balance is going to be the thing that keeps you going. And having one sugary breakfast or skipping one breakfast is not gonna be the reason that everything falls off the wagon. So balance, a balanced approach is always, always the best way to go about everything. And we talk about this in terms of training, in terms of nutrition, in terms of sleep, even water. If you don't, if you have too much or too little of water, it can kill you. Extremes are never the way to go. So listen to your body, prioritize protein, and avoid extremes. So I hope this episode may have potentially helped you to kind of clarify some of your potential confusion around breakfast. If you ever felt confused about nutrition advice around breakfast and fasting, you're not alone. I I I am still figuring things out, and the more I learn about my body and the learn, even when I when my body is changing, when I have different activity levels, and I have seasons of my life where I'm more active or less active, when I have seasons where I'm stressed or more stressed, these things all impact our hunger hormones, our hunger levels, how we feel with without breakfast. So just listening to your body, taking note, deciding what may work well for you and what doesn't, and try to stick to a few meals that truly work. If you find a breakfast or two or three that you really enjoy, stick with them. It's okay. Honestly, I eat mostly the same things all the time because it's easy, I don't have to think about it, and I know my body responds well to them. So I know a lot of the messaging we hear can feel incongruous, like different pieces of advice that don't quite fit together. The goal isn't to follow extreme rules, the goal is to build habits that support your energy, your health, and your lifestyle. Anyway, thank you so much for listening to another episode of Vita with Alita, and I'll see you on the next one. Bye-bye. Thanks for hanging out with me today. I really appreciate you being here. If something in the episode clicked for you, send it to a friend, or you can reach out to me directly using the link in the description. I genuinely love hearing from you. And if you want more evidence-based wellness, you can connect with me via my Instagram. Again, that link will be in the description below. Take care of yourself this week, and I'll talk to you soon. See you on the next one. Bye bye.