Logic Does Not Apply Part 2: Breakfast

[Johan]

Logic Does Not Apply Part 2: Breakfast

By John Kiefer

From EliteFTS
http://articles.elitefts.com/article...t-2-breakfast/



People that are either malicious or ignorant hold the diet and health industry, and even government agencies hostage. If I had an overwhelmingly positive view of humanity, I’d assume the best and go with ignorant, but I don’t.

They use the logical slight-of-hand of exchanging observation for proof. Ten men in a bar might all observe the lady in the corner with silicone enhancements, crimson lipstick, fishnet stockings and stilettos, but unless one of them tests the hypothesis that she is a woman, none of them will ever find out that he’s a transvestite. Observing something doesn’t make it true, and sometimes, depending on the depth one explores, no one wants to admit the reality — it might be a little embarrassing.

Observation creates a place for all scientific research to begin. From Plato to Einstein, observation has gotten science started down some extraordinary paths — started. Once on the trail, scientists dream up explanations (step 2) and test these explanations for validity (step 3). They’re either right or wrong and proceed as necessary. In the health and fitness world, the process often stops at observation. This is where we find ourselves with myriad training and eating protocols, but I want to tackle one that’s entrenched more than any other, breakfast.

The Idea

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and makes people healthy, thin and smart.

The Logic

All metabolic arguments aside, scientists have witnessed that healthy, smart people eat breakfast; therefore, breakfast must be key. (Of course, from here, there are endless theories on why it’s so important: the body’s been starving all night and needs food to function; if you eat a lot of food in the morning it sparks metabolism and you burn off all the food and some fat; since the brain needs carbs to function, supplying the body with a low-fat breakfast gets the mind working at peak performance; etc.)

The Reality

The only reasonable conclusion the facts support is that breakfast sucks.

It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of breakfast. When working with a new client in a physique or strength sport or the average person trying to lose a few pounds, more often than not, the first thing I say is, “stop eating breakfast.” Brian Carroll loves the excuse to skip breakfast as do a large number of people I work with. Like I once thought, they believe that breakfast is critical to mental and physical performance and they force themselves to eat it whether they want to or not.

Here’s a brief synopsis of hormonal-happenings around 7 AM for the average person. Cortisol levels elevate naturally through the night1-9 and peak2, 9-14. Uh oh, cortisol is catabolic and without food, the body’s going to start eating all that hard-earned muscle, right? Wrong. Catabolic only describes the process of something being broken down for energy. Cortisol, when acting without elevated insulin levels and in a natural manner — so without being constantly elevated like during chronic stress — triggers the breakdown of triglycerides into free-fatty acids (FFAs) for metabolization and triggers lipolysis1, 2, 14-28. Cortisol, in the morning, accelerates fat burning.

Ghrelin, the main hunger-control hormone32, is released in a pulsatile manner through the night with a peak occurring upon waking29-31, which incites hunger. Ghrelin not only causes hunger, but also potently stimulates growth hormone release33-44. As growth hormone levels raise the body releases more fat to be burned as fuel45-49 and decreases the destruction of protein for use as fuel50. Growth hormone levels peak roughly two hours after waking without breakfast51.

Every day the body starts as a fat-burning furnace. Even during exercise, without eating breakfast, the body burns far higher levels of fat than normal52, 53 and causes up regulation of the enzymes necessary to burn fat, allowing fat to be metabolized faster54.

Now contrast with what happens as soon as you eat breakfast, one that contains around 30 grams or more of carbs. As is well known, insulin levels raise with the rise in blood sugar, kick-starting a downward spiral: the early-morning release of insulin reduces fat burning for the entire rest of the day55; while cortisol levels remain high, the insulin release causes new empty fat cells to be created56-64; and the insulin lowers levels of ghrelin and growth hormone29-31, 51.

From the facts above—this is not what I think happens, this is what happens — one would come to the conclusion that maybe we should hold breakfast off for a bit when we get up, at least until cortisol levels return to normal and growth hormone levels fall naturally, which takes a few hours. Skipping breakfast looks like a way to lose body fat faster, or at least to keep it off.



Rest of article in the link......

[Bobbystealz]

How does this pertain to someone trying to add size?

[Johan]

If the author is correct, then it would make sense that skipping breakfast and starting to eat around lunch would be the best for preventing to much fat gain while adding size.

Check through all the intermittent fasting threads I posted up a while ago, its related to this. This one is good start

http://www.getnarked.net/forum/showthread.php?t=13246

It's a very interesting approach Let me know what you think of it!

[mad_mervyn]

bump!

[greeniz515]

This seems interesting. Its funny I saw this thread now because I have been starting to eat my first meal later and later during the day. What would you consider breakfast? Meaning, not the food choice but the time that you eat? Would waiting three or four hours after waking up be sufficient? Just looking for some more info :)