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Breakfast is Overrated

117 点作者 jeff18超过 14 年前

17 条评论

anon-e-moose超过 14 年前
This ignores all research already done on the brain and nutrition, and also common sense. Its pretty well understood that the brain runs on glucose. Now of course if you eat too much or eat shitty food, you're going to have an insulin spike and sugar crash, and if you're eating too much you probably have other health problems that aren't helping.<p>Healthy eating, good body weight, and regular exercise sharpens the brain.<p>Edit: The number of people jumping on board with this "theory" in his blog comments makes me despair for the state of nutrition and health education.<p>Learn you a physiology: <a href="http://www.fi.edu/learn/brain/carbs.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.fi.edu/learn/brain/carbs.html</a>
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wccrawford超过 14 年前
By his same logic, breakfast should be essential, provided you don't eat a large breakfast.<p>You need to be on the edge of hunger to be creative, not into full-blown hunger. Eat a small breakfast and you'll start to get hungry before lunch. Eat a reasonable lunch, and you'll start to get hungry before dinner, etc.
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pdx超过 14 年前
I found this interesting and appreciate people who think about things instead of regurgitating what "experts" say with a pompous little whine in their voice.<p>In this case, however, I wonder what is the tail and what is the dog. For me, when I'm in the zen of creating something, I can't be bothered to take time to eat. So, I am hungry when I'm creative, but I've always assumed it was an effect, not a cause.
seigenblues超过 14 年前
While i don't buy his explanation of the causal mechanism at work, he's almost perfectly described my work cycle: I'm most productive in the morning, get the usual post-lunch valley, and have a nice productivity rise after my (usually light) dinner. I'm also stick thin. It's so stark that i usually will put off lunch as long as possible, and try to schedule meetings/etc for the 3p-6pm area. I always assumed this was a side effect of being really involved, like pdx writes, but maybe i had causality backwards.<p>I know the plural of anecdote isn't data, but i'm volunteering to be a datapoint :)<p>Also, w.r.t. the eagerness to write off how half-baked Scott Adams is: There's empirical observations of a black box, and there's the attempt to explain what's inside. You might get causality backwards, or explain the correct behavior in the wrong way, but who cares if the real goal is to maximize the behaviors of the box, right? I mean, who cares if the explanation for putting off lunch is ridiculous, as long as the behaviors it explains really exist.<p>[edit to clarify -- i don't really care if his explanation is accurate. He so accurately described my mental cycles and my diet that it was interesting to read his hypothesis]
StavrosK超过 14 年前
I know he said it's not scientific, but what dreck. <i>Even if</i> the premise holds, it's more likely that creative people are too busy creating to eat...
Evgeny超过 14 年前
Not quite relevant, but I do not have a practice of skipping breakfast. I am <i>trying</i> however, once in a week or two, to fast for 24-36 hours. This is called "intermittent fasting" and has been shown to produce positive effects.<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermittent_fasting" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermittent_fasting</a> has some links to studies.
seanalltogether超过 14 年前
I don't know if this is a creativity trait, maybe more to do with addictive personalities. The addiction I feel and the lack of food I experience when I'm in a marathon coding session feels exactly the same as when I was trying to tackle some epic dungeon in World of Warcraft. Hunger would end up fueling the addictive focus I was feeling in both cases.
samatman超过 14 年前
The key may be in the casual mention of 'coffee consumption'.<p>Many creative caffeine users do their best work while all jacked on caffeine. I know I do. That's often first thing in the morning, and sometimes even before I eat. Caffeine is anorexic, as well, causing loss of appetite as part of the effect.<p>It's still a better idea to eat. Many years ago, when I took prescription amphetamines, I would force myself to eat at noon, grimly and efficiently munching down a sandwich or burrito. Otherwise I would start hating life.<p>Normally, I eat a piece or two of fruit with tea for breakfast, followed by second breakfast (often a bagel with hummus and avocado) a few hours later. This gets me through the creative rush I think Scott's referring to, without the obligatory post-lunch hard crash.
samd超过 14 年前
Breakfast <i>may be</i> overrated, pending double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled studies corroborated by multiple, independent research teams.
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VladRussian超过 14 年前
Human brain, being a very recent, and thus highly un-tuned, product of evolutionary development, is very energy inefficient machine. It consumes disproportionally significant amount of resources when it really works. Thus highly creative brain activity quickly burns through glucose and may quickly make you feel hungry (please don't mistake with a pure psychological trick of switching to snack in situations when your brain is forced to work intensely, and it tries every escape route to avoid/delay the task )
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mian2zi3超过 14 年前
This is summed up in the old adage, "The hungry hound hunts best."
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trustfundbaby超过 14 年前
I think its an interesting piece, but his leaps of logic are a bit alarming ... in a funny sort of way.<p>I just think that people who are creative or actively creating stuff don't have time to eat much or sleep for that matter.<p>Not to put myself in that category, but I often forget to eat and when I do, I wolf down my food so I can get on to more 'interesting' things ... also ... sleeping annoys me ... it seems like such an inefficient way of recharging my body/brain (inactivity for 30% of the day ... wtf?!?!), at one point I'd only get 5 hours of sleep because it felt like such a waste of time ... after having some health issues because of it, I'm closer to 6/7 now ...
radioactive21超过 14 年前
For me this is true. Again, can't speak for everyone, but for myself I eat when I am hungry, but never over eat. I dont eat breakfast unless im hungry, and I eat in moderation.<p>Not trying to yank anyone's chain, but I know people who make a huge deal out of breakfast. They make a huge meal out of it, from which they also add a large lunch and diner, and then question why they cant lose weight.
geoffc超过 14 年前
The old saying "hungry dog hunts best" sums it up as was already pointed out in another comment. The hungrier I get the sharper my focus becomes, whether it is writing code or hunting, it works!
jasondavies超过 14 年前
"Yond' Cassius has a lean and hungry look; He thinks too much: such men are dangerous." -- Shakespeare's Julius Caesar
aho超过 14 年前
Is it possible that digestion uses resources that could otherwise be used for thinking?
slowpoison超过 14 年前
I have my creativity spikes when I'm feeding on a specific source of calories - beer!
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