The first reason is that people who eat breakfast are much less inclined to snack throughout the morning.  For example, if you had a good breakfast of fruit and low-sugar cereal in the morning, your chances of visiting the vending machine at work around 10:30am diminish significantly. 

Of course, as you recall from our previous discussion on eating more frequently, this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t eat something between breakfast and lunch. 

It simply means that, since you won’t be extremely hungry at 10:30am (because you skipped breakfast), you’ll be less inclined to eat anything that you get your hands on; such as a nice donut that your co-worker was kind enough to offer you. 

In other words, by starting your day in a nutritious way, you’ll have more control over what you eat throughout the day.

The second reason is more aligned with metabolism-boosting.  Studies have shown that metabolism slows during sleep, and doesn’t typically get going again until you eat.  

Therefore, starting the day with breakfast is like kickstarting your metabolism.  You’ll actually burn more calories throughout the day, simply by eating breakfast (hey, who knew?!).

Remember: as you eat your breakfast, control both the portion and the contents.  You don’t want to eat to the point of complete fullness; because, remember, you want to eat throughout the day and you won’t be able to do that if you’re stuffed.  

At the same time, beware of high-fat breakfasts.  Studies have shown that high-fat breakfasts, such as those that include bacon and sausage, not only deliver lots of calories (there are 9 calories for every gram of fat, as compared to 4 for every gram of carbohydrates and proteins, respectively). 

But they also can make you very hungry again, very soon!  So in addition to having ingested a lot of fat (and hence a lot of calories), you’ll typically find yourself rather ravenous again in a few hours. 

Alternatively, breakfasts that are high in fiber take longer to digest, and thus, the body won’t be hungry again for a while. 

This is something to bear in mind; and it may explain why many people who eat breakfast find themselves painfully hungry by lunchtime; it’s not their “overactive metabolism” at work; it’s the high fat content, which has been swiftly digested.