Stop Eating Breakfast

Last updated: Wed Jul 17 2024

Stop eating breakfast!

I hold to few folk mental models, but this is a hill I will, if not die on, then at least be mildly wounded on.

A couple years ago, I tried an experiment in intermittent fasting, where I only ate between the hours of 12pm and 8pm. I lost a little bit of weight, largely because I was no longer tempted by late-night snacks, but otherwise I felt basically the same as I always did. After a few months, I gave up time-tracking; I still avoid eating late at night, but otherwise I can’t say my brave experiment in biohacking was particularly life-changing.

Except.

Fasting until noon implies giving up breakfast — a decision I have never regretted and will never revert.

I eat plenty of calories during lunch and dinner, and if I didn’t have enough I would just eat slightly more in each. I don’t have to rush to eat as soon as I get up — I can take the dog on a walk, calmly steep some tea, and enjoy my morning unencumbered.

Frankly, eating in the morning just made me feel sluggish all day. I do get noticeably hungrier come noon, but that just means I appreciate my lunch more. And if I sleep in, I don’t get into the awkward position of eating breakfast at 10am and then eating lunch just a couple hours later.

And I can still eat breakfast foods! Bagel sandwiches are a lunchtime favorite in my household.

In case it isn’t obvious, this newsletter isn’t satire in the least. Avoiding breakfast is, perhaps, my heresy. Certainly, I have met few who agree, though luckily, I have one friend who is a lifelong non-breakfaster and kindly provided some of the arguments above. (Some of you can probably guess who this is.)

As always, if this newsletter bothered you, consider sending it to a friend so it will bother them too.

See you in a week or so,
Russell

PS Andor is one of the best TV shows I’ve ever seen. I am just as surprised as you are that I’m praising a Star Wars spinoff show produced by Disney, but seriously, I’d rank it right around The Last Airbender and Bojack Horseman and just below Neon Genesis Evangelion and Paranoia Agent. It has magnificently clever worldbuilding, a fiercely political plot that puts Game of Thrones to shame, and Diego Luna being a cute little ragamuffin 😭