Have you ever heard someone say "breakfast is the most important meal of the day" or explain to you why it's vital to start the day with a healthy breakfast? It seems that this meal, for many of us, is necessary for our day to start well, but is it really that important?

The word "breakfast" comes from "breaking the fast (禁食期)" — the idea of ending the period in which we don't eat during the night. The regeneration process that takes place while we are sleeping consumes some of our natural food reserves in our bodies. Breakfast gives us an opportunity to replenishthose reduced stores of things like protein and calcium. So, in that way, a healthy breakfast makes sense.

There are also many studies which seem to relate a state of obesity(肥胖) to skipping breakfast. In fact, it leads many health experts to conclude that a healthy breakfast not only regulates but also loses weight. In a U.S. study, 50,000 people were observed over seven years, and those who ate a healthy breakfast were found to have a lower BMI, which seems to suggest that breakfast may indeed help people maintain a healthy weight. 

But it might not be as simple as that. Some experts, like Alexandra Johnstone, professor of the University of Aberdeen, suggest those who skip breakfast might be less aware of healthy diets, and people who eat breakfast might have a healthier lifestyle overall — exercising and not smoking, for example. And with the popularity of intermittent (间歇的) fasting to lose weight, there may also be some benefits to skipping breakfast. Intermittent fasting can improve blood sugar control, insulin sensitivity, and lower blood pressure. 

So, while breakfast has its benefits, it might not be the most important meal. It seems that a healthy lifestyle with a balanced diet might be more important for us than just one single meal.