You’ve no doubt heard breakfast is the most important meal of the day, whether it takes the form of avocado toast, a plate of eggs, a buttered bagel, or a handful of Cheerios snatched from the cereal box as you’re sprinting out the door. But what if your stomach doesn’t seem to have gotten the message that it’s time to eat?
Many people face that dilemma, Lizzy Pope, PhD, RD, an associate professor and director of the undergraduate dietetics program at the University of Vermont, tells SELF. “It’s not abnormal or unique to not feel hungry in the morning,” she says. In a small 2020 study of 193 adolescents published in the journal BMC Nutrition, researchers found that only 32% reported eating breakfast all year round, for reasons that included—you guessed it—exactly that.
Right off the bat, let’s get one thing straight: If this describes you, your lack of a.m. appetite isn’t necessarily major cause for concern, but there are a few reasons you might not wake up feeling famished. Maybe you’re less sensitive to hunger cues, according to Dr. Pope. Perhaps you’re experiencing fluctuations in certain hormones, whether due to stress, the timing of your menstrual cycle, or even a hard morning workout. (For example, epinephrine, a.k.a. adrenaline, and estrogen can act as appetite suppressants, while progesterone and testosterone might have the opposite effect, Dr. Pope says. And vigorous exercise can blunt the hunger hormone ghrelin for a few hours afterward, as SELF reported previously.) Or maybe you just ate a lot before you went to bed. (However, any sudden shift in appetite could be worth discussing with a doctor or dietitian, Dr. Pope adds.)
So depending on your biology, routine, and lifestyle, not feeling hungry in the morning might be natural for you. But here’s the twist: Even if you don’t have much of an appetite right after crawling out of bed, it’s still an excellent idea to try to eat something soon after waking up—ideally within an hour or two, Anna Maria Merz, MS, RD, a registered dietitian at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, tells SELF. “It doesn’t need to be a huge, fancy breakfast. It can just be even a snack,” she says.
There’s a few reasons for that recommendation. First, a morning meal helps kickstart your metabolism for the day, so your body has the energy it needs to tackle the tasks at hand, according to Merz. Second, it can supply important nutrients, Dr. Pope says. For example, some breakfast foods—think chia pudding, fruit salads, or eggs scrambled with veggies—are rich in fiber, a type of carb that has many digestive benefits, she says. Third, it can prevent you from feeling overly hungry later on, according to Dr. Pope. Finally, eating in the morning can help keep your blood sugar more stable throughout the day, which can ward off “that feeling of crashing after a meal,” Merz says. Plus, if you have a medical condition like diabetes or use medication that needs to be taken with food, it may be extra important for health reasons to eat early, says Merz.
