You're eating Real Food, and I support that in any combination that works for you...even though I, myself, wouldn't survive for more than a couple hours on your breakfast!

Interestingly, I've found most people go through a period of "OMG I can eat ALL THE BACON" when they first go Paleo. This lasts a few weeks to a month -- after which things generally settle down. I eat bacon perhaps once a week -- and often as a condiment, e.g. atop meat or potatoes, not as the central meat dish in a meal.

JS

I found some bacon in the freezer today that had been there almost a year from last Christmas, which is the only time that we eat it. I went out and bought a half dozen eggs, and ate one fried in the grease of fried bacon (a little), the bacon and some hash brown patties. Although it is was palatable and tasted good, it is highly over-rated. I can do with consuming this once or twice a year. It has been an hour since it was ingested. I am looking forward to beans, rice, and lots of greens for dinner>

Plant based foods as close to whole and unprocessed as possible is what my body craves most of the time.

J. Stanton said

Randy:

I'm glad you find that insight valuable! It's been key for me, too: some days I'm hungry and eat hugely, others I barely eat anything, I may or not be hungry at a traditional "mealtime" -- and that's fine.

JS

Yes. That's what I do. Some mornings I wake up hungry and have a mostly protein meal. Other times I go until noon with perhaps some nuts.

I'm glad you find that insight valuable! It's been key for me, too: some days I'm hungry and eat hugely, others I barely eat anything, I may or not be hungry at a traditional "mealtime" -- and that's fine.

JS

The contention isn't that Paleolithic humans never ate breakfast and always did a 16/8 IF, nor that we should do the same.

However, it seems likely, given the science and evidence we have (see Part II), that they didn't always have a plethora of food -- particularly carb-heavy food -- available immediately upon waking.  Pemmican is carbless, and nutritionally more like "dinner" than "breakfast".  Same with smoked salmon. 

(Also note that no Native American cultures for which we have any evidence are ancestral unless you're American Indian or South American, and none of them are Paleolithic.  This isn't an argument against, but I've seen too many people bringing up evidence that "Indians did X" as if that proves whether something was "paleo" or not.)

JS

Maybe pemmican was a pre neolithic food?

I agree: one of the biggest handicaps for breakfast eaters is the idea that there's such a thing as "breakfast food".  Most people would be better served eating their dinner for breakfast and their breakfast for dinner!

However, while I'm not a member of the potato cult that briefly became fashionable in Paleoland, they're reasonably nutritious as starchy foods go, and I enjoy them as an accompaniment to meat.

JS

I don't know how anyone can eat that trash.

As for me, I never have been much of a breakfast eater. I usually eat a couple of hours after I wake up, and have leftovers from dinner, or some kind of meat and eggs. I was also a graveyard shift worker for several years, and learned that it doesn't matter what you eat when. If you want to have filet mignon with truffle butter and brussel sprouts at 7 a.m., go for it. Who's to tell you that you can't?

It's amazing children learn anything at all when we do our best to make sure they're on a massive blood sugar rollercoaster all day by feeding them sugary junk -- including "hearthealthywholegrains" that digest to sugar just as quickly and have the same effects.

I'm glad you're able to give your children the advantage of real food!

Debit:

Too many people force themselves to eat in the morning because they've been repeatedly told "breakfast is the most important meal".  As for myself, I've found that eating breakfast usually makes me hungrier!  Once my blood sugar drops from breakfast I'm hungry again, whereas when I fast, hunger takes much longer to catch up with me.

JS

I think the key to minimizing early morning food craving is to minimize insulin spikes on a daily basis. In particular, avoid late meals and snacks.

There is one situation you will most likely to crave for breakfast: The morning after heavy drinking. I think what happens is that massive ethanol metabolism results in glucose depletion. Furthermore, not only you badly want to replenish your supply of glucose, but also electrolytes.

My son (age 11) actually decided the school breakfast and lunch were awful and he couldn't stay awake after eating there. My experiment went well. He now takes his own lunch (grain free) and eats breakfast at home. The key is that he had to respond to his own body and realize how the dessert breakfast and carb laden lunch affected him. Our family lives grain free. My daughter also takes her lunch and eats grain free at school.

I will do some more research. You make a good point about the historical fact that we don't really need "breakfast" when we get up. Too bad that society tempts us too often with carbs and sugar. Maybe someday they will learn.

Avenins (oat proteins) are very similar to gluten proteins, and some people get the same reactions to them that they do to gluten.

And yes, that's one of my reasons: it's easier to skip meals and simply eat to satiation than it is to try to parcel out calories in miserly little portions throughout the day.

JS