By Elaine Carlson

"When I think back
On all the crap I learned in high school.
It's a wonder
I can think at all."

Just the other day I thought of Paul Simon's hit "Kodachrome" when I was reading "Weight Loss Myths" in "TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) Magazine."

The first myth it attempts to demolish is on the importance of breakfast for a succesful weight loss efffort. It claims that people who skip breakfast don't have any greater chance of overeating during the day than people who eat that meal.

Being told that something I had grown up thinking was as true as 2 + 2 = 4 is a myth had a big effect on me. Paul Simon's lyrics were on my mind all day.

"When I think back/ On all the crap I learned in high school/ It's a wonder/ I can think at all."

Could "TOPS" be right? Could something "I learned in high school" be just a myth? I decide to look online. I pull up the first hit on my search for "The Importance of Breakfast."

"Breakfast kick-starts your metabolism, helping you burn calories throughout the day. It also gives you the energy you need to get things done and helps you focus at work or at school. Those are just a few reasons why it's the most important meal of the day. (Lisa Hill "Breakfast: Is It the Most Important Meal?" WebMD April 22, 2021 "Medically Reviewed by Christine Mikstas, RD, LD").

That quote lays out the gist of what I was taught in my high school's Home Economics class. And not just there. Once a doctor told me breakfast is the most important meal. He went on to repeat a saying I had heard before --- "Eat breakfast like a king. Lunch like a prince. And dinner like a pauper."

Lisa Hill does a lot of swaying back and forth. She asserts just how important breakfast is. She seems to have no doubts on that subject. Then as soon as she is finished with that sentiment she advances the opposite viewpoint.

She states, "Researchers have found that on average, people who eat breakfast are thinner than those who don't."

Next she says, "A recent study compared weight loss among people who ate breakfast with those who didn't. The meal didn't make any difference."

What gives? Does she really think eating breakfast is important? Then why after so confidentally advancing that argument does she go on to suggest it doesn't matter if you eat or don't eat breakfast? And without even throwing in an "on the other hand."

The line "Medically Reviewed by Christine Mikstas, RD, LD" is in the credit line. Is is possible that Mikstas is responsible for the Lisa Hill's swaying back and forth so much? Yep that is what I think.

I suspect Hill wanted to write an article on the importance of breakfast. Because most likely that was what she was sure was true. Because that is what she "learned in high school." If so her idea for an article was all set. But then Mikstas told her she had to put in the current thinking (research) on the subject.