Fit and Well Logo

Our Policies About Us Contact Us

Home > Diet & Food > Healthy Eating > Eat breakfast like a king

Eat breakfast like a king

A "Big" Breakfast is Good for Your Health

By | Updated .

checked symbolFact Checked

Fact Checked

×

All the content published in our website is fact checked to validate its accuracy.
Visit our guidelines web page to learn more about our strict processes regarding how we review our content's sources: reliable and reputable journals, media websites, universities, colleges, organizations, and professionals.
Our articles are based on scientific evidence, and the references are included in their footnotes, which are clickable links to sound scientific papers.

First published: 18. Jan.2025

Overview

Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper Adelle Davis (1904-1974), Let's Eat Right to Keep Fit (1954)

Scientific evidence supports the popular saying quoted above, that one should "Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper". A healthy, balanced breakfast compared to a heavy, high-calorie dinner is better for your health, weight, and satiety.
This article looks into the benefits of a "big" breakfast.

In this Article (Index)

avocado, fresh tomato, whole bread and boiled eggs
A balanced and healthy breakfast.

Breakfast across the ages

Breakfast goes back a long time in Western society. Homer mentions Ulysses eating the morning meal or ariston (αριστον) with a swineherder, in the Odyssey roughly 700 years BC. It consisted of "platters of cold meat, the remains from what they had eaten the day before, and he filled the bread baskets with bread as fast as he could. He mixed wine also in bowls of ivy-wood."

In Classic Greece, according to Athenaus of Naucratis, the name changed from ariston to Akratisma(ακρατισμος), a simple meal consisting of barley bread dipped in wine and maybe some figs or olives. Wine was a staple, as water was not always potable, and wine's alcohol killed the germs.

The Roman breakfast was the ientaculum that Apuleius described c.160 AD in The Golden Ass as "caseum cum pane", that is, cheese with bread. Guil and Koner reported that the Roman ientaculum consisted of "bread, dipped in wine or flavored with salt, grapes, olives, cheese, milk, and eggs. Virgil writing c.50 BC describes the breakfast of a poor Roman farmer, Simylus who bakes bread and spreads moretum on it; it is a type of pesto made from goat cheese, garlic, parsley leaves, rue, coriander mixed with olive oil, salt, and strong vinegar.

The English word "breakfast" comes from Middle English "break + fast." It was in use around the mid-1400s, having replaced the Old English words undernmete (mid-morning meal) and "morgenmete (morning meal).

In Colonial America in the 1600s, the English settlers ate bread, corn-meal mush, milk, and tea. However, by the late 1700s, they included a steak or venison and even chocolate for breakfast. (1)

In the 1800s Americans ate heavy breakfasts styled after the English and Scottish breakfasts. But after WWI, lighter breakfasts became more common, inspired by the "Continental" French breakfast of coffee, freshly squeezed orange juice, rolls, or breakfast cereals that had become more popular, this cereal differed from the modern versions as they were unsweetened, unsalted, unfortified, and mostly organic —In the mid-1920s cereal makers started adding sugar and salt to enlarge their market shares.

Edward Bernays (1897-1995) was a marketing genius who created the "full breakfast" with bacon and eggs for a client (Beech-Nut Packing) who sold bacon. Bernays got a physician to endorse the hearty breakfast concept based on the unscientific notion that the body needed it to recover the energy lost at night while sleeping. He mailed the endorsement to 5,000 doctors around the country and obtained a medical recommendation that was quickly picked up by the media and publicized nationwide. Bacon and eggs were here to stay. (2)

Daisie Adelle Davis (1904-1974), studied economics, household science, nutrition, and biochemistry. She started writing books about food and nutrition in the 1930s when Americans were suffering from the Great Depression Era.
She championed natural unprocessed foods, vitamin supplementation, and a huge breakfast with protein and meat. During the 1960s the Hippy generation embraced her teachings and she gained widespread media attention. In 1971 she endorsed the Better Way Granola leading to a surge in demand for granola (it had been popular in the past, but vanished when Kellog invented breakfast cereal in the early 1900s).

It should be clarified that Davis considered that a high-protein breakfast was better than a high-carbohydrate, sugar, and low-protein one.

She made the famous statement "Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper" in a book published in 1954; popularly considered a universal truth. It has been questioned and tested and in general, studies have tended to corroborate her idea that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

In the following section, we will look at the scientific evidence.

Big Breakfasts reduce appetite and hunger

A randomized study published in 2022 (3) compared a heavy breakfast/light dinner (Morning loaded or ML) Diet vs. a light breakfast/heavy dinner (Evening loaded or EL) diet. The 30 participants were overweight and followed calorie-reduced diets that had the same amount of calories for 8 weeks. The first 4 weeks were Morning-loaded (ML) with a 45%:35%:20% distribution of calories between breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and the other 4 weeks were an Evening loaded (EL) diet with a 20%:35%:45% energy distribution.

Both ML and EL diets produced similar weight loss and "energy burn" during the day. There were no differences in the resting metabolic rate, however, "participants consuming the morning loaded diet reported significantly lower hunger. Thus, morning-loaded intake (big breakfast) may assist with compliance to weight loss regime through a greater suppression of appetite."

Note that this study provided the same calorie intake to ML and EL diets so the suppressed appetite didn't play a role in reducing food intake, as the participants had to eat even though they were satiated. For this reason, the authors suggest that the lower hunger of an ML diet could lead to reduced calorie intake later in the day and promote greater weight loss than an evening-loaded diet.

There is evidence in other studies that calorie intake in the morning is used more efficiently than in the evening, enhancing weight loss.

Take-home point

Big breakfasts can suppress appetite and hunger later in the day promoting weight loss.

Big Breakfast, glucose, and weight loss

Richter et al. (2020)(4) investigated if eating more calories at breakfast or dinner made the body burn more energy. They measured the diet-induced thermogenesis or DIT, which is the amount of energy used for digestion and absorption of nutrients after a meal. DIT can add up to 5%-10% of the total energy burned by the body.

Their randomized trial compared subjects who ate a low-calorie breakfast with a high-calorie dinner with those eating a high-calorie breakfast and a low-calorie dinner. The subjects alternately followed one diet for 3 days, and after 2 weeks, the other diet for 3 days. The low-calorie meal had 11% of the daily calorie requirement, and the high-calorie one had 69%.

  • DIT was 2.5 times higher after breakfast compared with dinner.
  • DIT was lower after any low-calorie meal compared to a high-calorie one.
  • Blood glucose levels were higher after a high- and low-calorie dinner compared with a high- and low-calorie breakfast, respectively, which could benefit people with diabetes and prediabetes.
  • Low-calorie breakfasts compared to high-calorie breakfasts led to hunger and cravings for sweets in the course of the day.

The authors concluded that "Extensive breakfasting should therefore be preferred over large dinner meals to prevent obesity and high blood glucose peaks even under conditions of a hypocaloric diet."

The study also confirms "that a large dinner has particularly negative effects on glucose tolerance, which should be considered by diabetic patients looking to avoid blood glucose peaks."

Take-home point

A Big Breakfast can help lower glucose spikes, and help lose weight.

Skipping Breakfast is Bad for Your Health

A statistical review of 45 observational studies (5) done in 2020 showed a 48% increase in the risk of obesity and being overweight, a 31% increase in risk for abdominal obesity in those who skipped breakfast compared to those who ate breakfast regularly.

A 2021 Korean study (6) using data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys with 21,193 (9022 men and 12,171 women) participants reported that only less than 38% of young adults were regular breakfast eaters and that they had a higher risk of adverse metabolic outcomes: "breakfast skipping might lead to increased fasting glucose levels, increased blood pressure, high levels of serum TG [triglycerides], and low levels of HDL-C [high density, or "good" cholesterol]." The risk was higher in young men.

Another study (2022) (7) investigated heart disease risk, outcomes, and regular breakfast intake finding that "Overall, breakfast omission appears to be associated with a higher risk for atherosclerotic and adverse cardiovascular outcomes."

Take-home point

A Big Breakfast can help lower glucose spikes, and help lose weight.

Don't choose this (saturated fats, high-calorie content, refined carbs).

sausage, fried eggs, white refined bread
Skip this type of breakfast.

Intermittent Fasting Is Good for Your Health

A study published in 2024 (8) evaluated the available data in a review of previous studies to investigate the effects of Intermittent Fasting in any of its varieties: alternate-day fasting, modified alternate-day fasting (MADF), twice-per-week fasting diet and time-restricted eating (TRE) which involves fasting for more than 12 hours per day.

Fasting involves skipping breakfast, or in the case of TRE, having it late, which merges it with lunch and would make breakfast a high-energy meal.
The study compared the effects of intermittent fasting with a standard continuous energy restriction (CER) diet, a low-calorie weight-loss one in obese and overweight individuals.
It found that compared to the CER diet, intermittent fasting lowered waist circumference, fat mass, triglycerides, total cholesterol, low-density cholesterol (the "bad" cholesterol), and fasting insulin. It increased high-density cholesterol (the "Good" one), but, it was less effective than the CER diet to lower blood pressure.

Closing Comments

Breakfast is an important meal, and science supports the popular notion that a hearty breakfast is good for your health.

A "Big" breakfast shouldn't be interpreted as one with fried bacon, fried eggs, sausage, french toast, hash browns, a bowl of sugary cornflakes, or pancakes doused in artificial syrup. It doesn't mean consuming ultra-processed foods for breakfast, or large amounts of beef, animal protein, and saturated fats.

Instead, try a balanced diet, including whole grains, fruit, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, healthy oils, and fish protein will contribute to better health outcomes.

My idea of a healthy breakfast includes whole-grain bread, cheese, fresh fruit, unsweetened cereal (make your own with nuts, seeds, oats), probiotic yogurt (without added sugars), blanched spinach (or kale or bok choi) with tomatoes and mushrooms sauteed in olive oil, and a boiled egg or some baked salmon.

Don't choose this (added sugars, refined carbs, additives for color, flavor, aroma).

colorful sugary cereals in a bowl
Sugar Cereal is not the best choice for a healthy breakfast. Source

Instead, choose this...

yogurt, berries, granola in a bowl
Granola, yogurt, and berries make a healthy breakfast.

References and Further Reading

(1) Oliver, S. (2005). Food in Colonial and Federal America. United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Publishing. p 157

(2) Baum, S. K. (2012). Antisemitism Explained. United States: University Press of America. p 30

(3) Ruddick-Collins, Leonie C. et al., (2022). Timing of daily calorie loading affects appetite and hunger responses without changes in energy metabolism in healthy subjects with obesity. Cell Metabolism, Volume 34, Issue 10, 1472 - 1485.e6

(4) Juliane Richter, Nina Herzog, Simon Janka, Thalke Baumann, Alina Kistenmacher, Kerstin M OltmannS, (2020). Twice as High Diet-Induced Thermogenesis After Breakfast vs Dinner On High-Calorie as Well as Low-Calorie Meals. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, Volume 105, Issue 3, March 2020, Pages e211–e221, https://doi.org/10.1210/clinem/dgz311

(5) Ma X, Chen Q, Pu Y, Guo M, Jiang Z, Huang W, Long Y, Xu Y, (2020). Skipping breakfast is associated with overweight and obesity: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Obes Res Clin Pract. 2020 Jan-Feb;14(1):1-8. doi: 10.1016/j.orcp.2019.12.002. Epub 2020 Jan 7. PMID: 31918985

(6) Heo, J., Choi, WJ., Ham, S. et al., (2021). Association between breakfast skipping and metabolic outcomes by sex, age, and work status stratification. Nutr Metab (Lond) 18, 8 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12986-020-00526-z

(7) Santos HO, Genario R, Macedo RCO, Pareek M, Tinsley GM., (20220). Association of breakfast skipping with cardiovascular outcomes and cardiometabolic risk factors: an updated review of clinical evidence.. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2022;62(2):466-474. doi: 10.1080/10408398.2020.1819768. Epub 2020 Sep 16. PMID: 32935557

(8) Sun, Ming-Li et al., (2024). Intermittent fasting and health outcomes: an umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials. eClinicalMedicine, Volume 70, 102519, April 2024

About this Article

Eat breakfast like a king, A. Whittall

©2025 Fit-and-Well.com. First Published: 18.Jan.2025. Update scheduled for 18.Jan.2027. https://www.fit-and-well.com/fitness/benefits-of-a-big-breakfast.html

Tags: breakfast, diabetes, weight, health, fasting, appetite

More Articles: Read on

tomatoes and tomato sauce

Lycopene

Lycopene is a potent natural antioxidant found in tomatoes, watermelons, papayas, and pink grapefruit that prevents cancer, and heart disease, and protects your health.

More...

junk food risks

Health Risks of Ultra-Processed Foods?

Ultra-processed foods cause obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Learn the health risks of highly processed foods

More...

chocolate tablets

Chocolate's health benefits

Chocolate is nutrient-rich and packed with antioxidant polyphenols. Health benefits range from mood, depression, diabetes, heart disease, diabetes, to cancer-protective effects.

More...

Health Advice and Advertisements Disclaimer

The material appearing on Fit-and-Well.com is for educational use only. It should not be used as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

We do not endorse products or services that are advertised on the web site. Advertisers and advertisements that appear on this website are served by a third party advertising company.

Share

Our Social Media

visit our Facebook click to send us an e-mail visit our blog follow us on Instagram

Policies

Terms & Conditions

Privacy Policy

Affiliate Disclosure

Advertisement Policy

Don't Sell my Personal Information

Cookie Policy

Publishing Ethics

Editorial Guidelines

Medical Disclaimer

About

About Us

Contact Us

Accessibility

Site Map

Patagonia Wellness
Liniers 440, B1602 Florida, Buenos Aires, Argentina

E-mail: info@fit-and-well.com

Copyright © 2018 - 2025 Patagonia Wellness. All rights reserved.

Fit and Well: Health, Fitness, Diet & Food information website
Our website is a reliable source of up-to-date, scientifically proven information on health, fitness, wellbeing, diet, food, and nutrition.
Our mission: Educate and inspire with reflective evidence-based reasoning. Information and News that you can trust.

Last updated V.1