India's great freedom fighter and father of the nation Mahatma
Gandhi had survived 21 days of complete starvation from Sept.18 to Oct. 8 in 1924.
He only took sips of water during
fasting. Gandhiji undertook 17 fasts during India's freedom struggle. Irom
Chanu Sharmila, the Iron Lady of India's northeastern state of Manipur, is the
world's longest hunger striker. She
began her hunger strike on Nov.2, 2000, at the age of 28. She is continuing it.
History has recorded many such great personalities, who went on a hunger strike
for number of days.
The question resurfaces again - How long can a person
survive without food? Regardless to say factors like weight of the body,
genetic characters, immune power and past medical history, a person can live
without food between 28 days to 40 days.
So, what's harm in skipping just one meal of the day i.e.
breakfast? Breakfast is the first meal of the day. Hence, it is referred to as
‘breaking the fast’ – from the absence of food. Human body gets glucose from a
breakfast meal to power its vital organs and maintain a healthy weight.
Breakfast used to be believed as an important meal of the
day. Now some studies reveal that breakfast is just a meal. There is no harm in
skipping a breakfast. With size-zero
trend fast catching up among youths, they prefer to consume less and don't
bother to go without breakfast. They tend to believe that a heavy lunch is more
than enough to keep body fit and healthy.
Scientists
at Cornell University claim that going without breakfast a few days a week is beneficial
in reducing weight. They also downplay the popular belief that skipping
breakfast will make you eat more (undesirably more) in the lunch or subsequent meals.
Researchers
at the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition say that each person is different
with regard to their unique biochemistry, genetics, activity program, and
personal tendencies. So taking or
skipping breakfast is a personal thing. There is no harm in skipping it. There are certain breakfast menus, which should
be avoided. These foods will not benefit you in any way.
Breakfast
does not boost body's metabolism process. Indeed there are various studies
suggesting that fasting increases your metabolic rate slightly. It doesn’t manage
blood sugar well. It also increases hunger.
Even
though certain researches support skipping of breakfasts, most of the empirical
studies strongly insist that human beings should take a healthy and hygienic breakfast
for several strong health reasons. However, taking a bad breakfast will only
harm your body. The benefits of taking
good breakfast are as follow:
First
of all, a healthy breakfast motivates you to develop an inspiring diet habit.
Secondly,
a proper breakfast will make you feel energetic, smarter, leaner and
productive. Skipping breakfast or eating bad breakfast means you are
potentially inviting threats to your body!
Thirdly, breakfast and body weight are co-relational.
To maintain a standard health, a good breakfast is essential. Indeed a person
can skip lunch and take something healthy snacks in the afternoon, if he/she
has taken proper breakfast.
Fourthly,
your body gets energy boost.
Fifthly,
a healthy breakfast makes your day better. It enhances your mental concentration.
On a other hand, a bad breakfast or unhygienic road side breakfast will make
you feel dull throughout the day because a breakfast has its direct impact on
lunch and other subsequent meals.
Sixth,
breakfast helps you to reduce decrease your LDL cholesterol. However, you need
to be cautious on what you are taking in breakfast.
In
the end, we can say that skipping breakfast is better than taking bad
breakfast.
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