Jeremiah Farias (00:00.398)
Is breakfast the most important meal of the day or should we skip it if we’re looking to improve our blood sugar regulation? Are there any concerns that come from skipping breakfast or practicing intermittent fasting for those with type 2 diabetes or without it? In this video, I answer this question.

Hey everyone, my name is Jeremiah Faris. I’m a registered dietician and I’ve been researching health and wellness for over a decade now. My specialty is helping those suffering from blood trickiness regulation issues, things like type two diabetes, pre -diabetes and low energy levels. There’s a lot of confusing information out there when it comes to improving or reversing conditions like type two diabetes or blood trickiness regulation. Breakfast, eating or whether to skip breakfast is one of those topics that…

People can easily make a case for or make a case against it. In today’s video, we’ll go over four things. First, what does the research say about skipping breakfast in those with type 2 diabetes? Two, is there research on intermittent fasting in those with type 2 diabetes? Three, are there any concerns when it comes to skipping breakfast or practicing intermittent fasting for those in the general population and for those with type 2 diabetes?

And four, how can we practically apply this information today? The first study we’re gonna look at found that skipping breakfast in those with type two diabetes resulted in poor glycemic control and glycemic variability. This means they experienced high blood sugars and very low blood sugars. And this is not something you want whether you have type two diabetes or not, you want fairly stable.

blood sugars, you’re gonna see normal increases and decreases throughout the day as you eat. But when one that had past type diabetes tends to skip breakfast, they experience highs and lows, and this can result in feeling very poor, again, for anyone. So that’s what the first paper found.

Jeremiah Farias (02:08.622)
The next two papers are looking at the risk of type 2 diabetes in those that skip breakfast. And what they found was skipping breakfast was associated with a significant increase in developing type 2 diabetes later on in life. Both of these studies are observational. They’re epidemiological studies. So they can’t infer causation. So it doesn’t mean that skipping breakfast causes

diabetes, they just noted that if you skip it, you may be at increased risk of diabetes. And as we go over some other studies and other information, it may make sense why skipping breakfast could increase one’s risk of developing diabetes in the future. The next study we’re going to look at is on the topic of intermittent fasting. I think it’s first important to define intermittent fasting. Intermittent fasting is an umbrella term.

It includes three types of fasting or eating techniques, if you will. And so the intermittent fasting includes something called five two, where one is fasting for two days and they eat normally for five days. And then you have alternate day fasting, which is what it sounds like. You’re eating one day fast in another. And then there’s something called time restricted eating.

TRE for short. This is what people are often referring to when they say intermittent fasting. They’re eating for eight hours during the day and they’re fasting for 16. So 16, eight is a very common timeframe and distribution that people often go to. So for the sake of this study, they’re looking at time restricted eating. And so that’s what I’m referring to and specifically late time restricted eating.

because there’s early and there’s late. Early is where you’re eating breakfast and you’re stopping your last meal basically at 6 p And then late is what people that skip breakfast often practice. So the study that we’re gonna be looking at, the participants ate from 12 p till 8 p and they fasted from 8 p till 12 p the next day. So what did this study find?

Jeremiah Farias (04:35.95)
They were looking at assessing weight loss. A common recommendation for those with type 2 diabetes is to lose weight. You see reduction in weight. You tend to see improvements in blood sugar values like fasting A1C and fasting blood sugar. And so what did this study find? They did see a slight reduction in A1C and a slight reduction in fasting blood sugar. This study was done over a six month period of time.

The slight improvements, I would argue, are not that impressive. And so, that’s how I see this paper and the data, but I’d love to hear your guys’ thoughts and takes. While there is a slight reduction, over a six -month period, I would have expected a lot more of an effect. I want to take a quick break from reviewing the studies and first ask,

How are you guys liking this information? What questions do you have? Please let me know down in the comments and I’d be happy to answer them, whether it’s in the comments or by creating a future video on your questions. I also wanted to share this free guide that I created. It’s titled, Five Steps to Improving Your Blood Sugar Metabolism. In this guide, you’ll find a lot of great practical information that you can begin implementing now and start experiencing some beneficial effects.

In this guide, it’s gonna go over protein, what types of protein, how much protein to have, the types of fats that one should consume and avoid, and then preferred sources of carbohydrates, along with some other great information. You’ll be able to download this guide by visiting the link that I’ll put in the description. We’re now at our third point. And this is, are there problems with intermittent fasting or skipping breakfasts for both the general population,

and for those with type 2 diabetes. So I have three primary concerns with intermittent fasting or skipping breakfast. And the first concern is intermittent fasting doesn’t always take into consideration the quality of one’s diet. It’s simply reducing how many hours you’re eating and compressing that window.

Jeremiah Farias (06:59.854)
And the idea is by compressing your eating window, you reduce calories, you reduce calories, and this may put you in a caloric deficit and can maybe help facilitate weight loss, fat loss, which can potentially lead to better health markers. So with just compressing your eating window, one still may be eating highly processed food and not necessarily changing the quality of their diet, which I believe is a really important piece.

in experiencing long -term health. So that’s my first concern. The second concern is connected with the first. Because there’s a lack and can be a lack of food quality and attention put to food quality, you may not be getting optimal macronutrients, which are protein, carbs, and fats. You may also not be getting optimal micronutrients in your diet, like vitamins and minerals. And in a previous video, which I’ll link to,

I review the importance of certain micronutrients in optimizing and being required for oxidizing or using glucose in the cell. And in that video, I highlight how I believe diabetes, type 2 diabetes, is a result of impaired cellular energy production. So glucose is going into the cell, but the cell can’t use it because of a

number of different factors. This can include micronutrient deficiencies. So while people may experience some short -term improvements with a reduction in A1C, reduction in fasting blood sugar, even weight loss, in my experience, working with people and helping people that are coming from a intermittent fasting background, they experience results in the short run, but in the long run,

their issues returned, or they have a worsening of other health issues that come about. So that’s the second issue that I wanted to review and concern. And my third and final concern is intermittent fasting is a stressor. And again, in the previous video, I reviewed how stress in pairs,

Jeremiah Farias (09:24.974)
the ability of the mitochondria to produce energy. And we want to optimize that. And how it does this and how it can do this is intermittent fasting can increase levels of cortisol in the body. Cortisol is essential. We do need it. But like with anything, we want an optimal balance of cortisol, optimal ideal levels of cortisol. Too much of anything is

can easily become a bad thing. And so there are studies looking at intermittent fasting and levels of cortisol in the blood. And right around, I’ll pull up this slide and this chart, right around 12 hours, cortisol begins to increase above baseline levels. Cortisol will impair that cellular energy production within the cell, its ability to oxidize glucose,

and its ability to turn things like glucose and fats into ATP, which is energy. The body uses cellular energy. The last thing that I wanted to highlight with intermittent fasting, because it is a stressor, there’s another study that experienced or observed a loss in lean tissue, which was a loss of muscle tissue, but other tissue that I argue we don’t want to lose.

we want to maintain our muscle mass as much as possible. And this study found a significant reduction in lean tissue during the trial. And so cortisol not only impairs the cell’s ability to use energy, create energy, it also breaks down muscle tissue to increase glucose levels. And so,

I argue we want to avoid that reliance on stress hormones to maintain blood sugar levels, which is what cortisol is doing. But those are the three things, the three concerns that I have when it comes to intermittent fasting. So if you haven’t already guessed, I don’t believe that one should skip breakfast. I’m not a fan of those trying to improve their diabetes or just try to improve their health overall.

Jeremiah Farias (11:47.982)
that they should skip breakfast. Instead, this leads me to practically what should we do? Balance meals at all meals, at least three, sometimes an individual might eat more, but at least three meals starting with a well -rounded breakfast is what one should aim for. If you’re not eating breakfast, you may not feel hungry, and that’s normal.

to see you know, those elevations and stress hormones that people can rely on and they feel good on, they suppress appetite. So even starting with something small, a small portion of protein, a small portion of carbohydrates at the start, and then slowly add from there is a great place to begin. And what you’re working towards is having an optimal amount of protein at that meal.

carbohydrates, maybe some high quality fat, and then some non -starchy vegetables. So the protein, you can aim for around a palm size of protein, accounting for the circumference and the thickness of your palm in a free guide that I mentioned before, and I’ll mention again, it talks more specifically about the amount of protein, but just to keep it simple, you can use your hand as that guide for carbohydrates, focusing on some fruits.

tubers like potatoes, sweet potatoes and squashes. Those are by and large the preferred carbohydrates that one should be consuming, especially when you have type two diabetes, but there can be other ones that in the future one can experiment with, but those come with fiber, with phytonutrients and with tons of vitamins and minerals. And so having that, and then with fat, again, depending on your protein source, you might have enough fat in there.

but if there’s not, say you’re using a lean protein source, you can add a little bit of ghee or butter, something like that to cook either your protein, your carbs or your non -starchy vegetables. And that leads to the non -starchy vegetables, whichever you prefer, whichever you tolerate. They don’t result in any gastrointestinal distress, include those. It’s the protein with the fat and the non -starchy vegetables.

Jeremiah Farias (14:07.758)
that slow down the release of the carbohydrates into the bloodstream. You don’t need to avoid carbohydrates. It’s finding the, and focusing on the right types, right quantity with where you’re at in this moment and increasing based on tolerance, based on needs. And so that’s what I would advocate for to begin. And so the carbohydrates with those other macronutrients, the protein, the…

fats and the non -sturgie vegetables slow the release of blood sugar, lead to more stable blood sugars, gets you off to a great energy level day and stable blood sugar day. Also, those carbohydrates at breakfast shut off the stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, which we want to do. We don’t wanna be relying on those stress hormones. I’ll create a video in the future highlighting that these stress hormones drive

insulin resistance and they drive blood sugar dysregulation and type 2 diabetes. So that’s the last and final point that I wanted to bring up. To summarize, we went over the research looking at skipping breakfast and the effects it has in those with type 2 diabetes and how even skipping breakfast can increase the likelihood of one developing type 2 diabetes.

We also reviewed what intermittent fasting does and the benefits it can potentially have for those with type two diabetes. We then looked at and reviewed the concerns that might come or that I personally have when you skip breakfast or you’re practicing that intermittent fasting, whether you have diabetes or you don’t have diabetes.

And last, some practical things that we can do, what a breakfast, a well -run breakfast might look like. As I mentioned in the middle of this video, I have a free resource that you can download. Again, it’s titled, Five Steps to Improve Your Blood Sugar Metabolism. It’ll review information on protein sources, how much protein to have, ideal carb sources, preferred fat sources, the issues with some of these polyunsaturated fats that can easily slip into our diet, and what sort of negative consequences they can…

Jeremiah Farias (16:29.166)
result in and much more. If you’re wanting to download that, the link will be in the description. I also want to let you know that I offer coaching and I provide a free 30 minute discovery call for those that are interested in exploring, working with me. In that call, we’ll review some of your health goals and then how I can assist you in reaching those goals. I am credentialed by a few insurance companies.

I’ll also include a link not only to schedule the discovery call, but a link to assess whether or not I accept your insurance and you can use your insurance to work with me. Let me know what questions again, you all have in the comments. Let me know if there are future topics and what future topics you’d like me to make videos on and speak on in the future. If you like this video, I would appreciate you giving it a thumbs up.

even sharing it with someone that you believe would enjoy it or benefit from. Also, to ensure that you don’t miss any future videos, be sure to subscribe. I’ll be releasing videos every week moving forward. I hope you all have a wonderful week and take care.