All our lives we have been told that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. You surely remember your mom or your grandmother saying that, right? They say it on TV, doctors say it, teachers say it, in ads too.
Well, let us see who tells your grandmother that breakfast is not essential to have energy, nor does it guarantee better health, nor does it ensure better appetite control. Something that seemed unquestionable, like the idea that orange juice loses its vitamins, is actually a historical and commercial construction.
And where does this come from?
It does not come from human biology, but from social changes. To understand it, we have to go back to before industrialization. Most people did not have breakfast as we understand it today. They ate a small piece of stale bread or leftovers from the day before.
With the arrival of factories and rigid schedules, eating before work became practical, not for health reasons, but for organization. Breakfast began to be structured because the workday demanded it.
From practical to excessive
Over time, and with better wages, breakfast started to grow. And a lot.
Especially in the United States, it became filled with fatty meats, butter, heavy dishes, so much so that frequent digestive problems appeared. Dyspepsia became so common that it came to be seen as a public health issue, so doctors began looking for “lighter” alternatives to make breakfast easier to digest.
The food industry
And right at that moment, breakfast cereals appeared. Simple at first, easy to consume, with a very well built health related discourse. The message was clear then, “breakfast is the best way to take care of yourself”. It was not a solid scientific conclusion, but a great communication strategy.
Desserts in disguise
Over the years, those cereals changed. They were no longer as healthy as they claimed. Now they had much more processing, more sugars, but nobody questioned whether they were healthy or not, and the concept has been passed from parents to children as if it were an absolute truth. The reality is that today’s breakfasts often look more like desserts in disguise than balanced meals.
And now?
There is no conclusive evidence that breakfast improves physical or mental performance, nor that skipping it causes hunger or worse weight control. In fact, people who practice intermittent fasting skip it. The real key is not whether you eat breakfast or not, but what you eat when you do.
Universal truths
One of the big lessons of modern nutrition is that there are no rules that work for everyone. Every body is different and every routine is different too. Turning breakfast into an obligation has created more confusion than benefits, especially when it is associated with unhealthy products.
Marketing
The reality is that it is not only cereals that live off breakfast. There are countless fast food chains that have also found a market niche there. Mornings are stable routines, and if you manage to make someone always have breakfast with you…
So remember, the most important meal of the day is not breakfast. It is not a scientific truth, it is a cultural belief rooted across generations. Everything depends on the habits you repeat day after day. If you truly believe that breakfast is the solution, listen to your body and prepare a breakfast that is truly healthy and rich in protein.