Now that it's clear that breakfast is the second most important meal of the day after lunch, it's time to decide who should eat what and how much.

Fasting at night

Not only in Maharishi Ayurveda, but also in modern nutritional science, great importance is attached to fasting at night. Sleep depth, regeneration, rejuvenation and detoxification of the body are enormously promoted by an empty stomach overnight. Modern research on the subject of "autophagy" (self-cleansing) shows how important it is to keep the digestive system free overnight for the processing of waste products (ama). The longer the break from eating at night, the more effective the night-time detoxification will be.

Nutrition works particularly well in the morning

During the Kapha time of the day (sunrise to around 10 a.m.), the 7 body tissues can be built up particularly well. All measures to strengthen the body tissues work particularly well in the morning. So if you want to strengthen your blood, muscles or bones, you need to feed during the Kapha time. However, fat and connective tissue are also well nourished during the Kapha period. If you want to lose weight, you need to make sure you eat particularly lightly during the Kapha period, and be especially careful with sugar and short-chain carbohydrates. Weight loss should also be stimulated by exercise during the Kapha period.

Breakfast for the Vata type

The Vata-emphasised body type is slim and bony. Food intake in the morning is essential to prevent loss of body substance and performance.

Vata is cold and dry by nature. That is why a warm breakfast is important. Because of the dryness, sufficient fat in the form of butter, ghee or high-quality oils should be included in the diet. The flavours sweet, sour and salty, the qualities warm, oily and heavy balance Vata.

This is how I prepare a Vata breakfast:

Soupy or mushy preparations such as warm muesli or porridge contain these qualities and are therefore particularly recommended. It is important that the cereals used are well cooked. It is not enough to simply pour warm water over cereal flakes. The cereals used must be well cooked, as must the fruit and/or vegetables used in the porridge. Spices that aid digestion, such as aniseed, fennel, cinnamon and turmeric, improve the digestibility of soup or porridge.

If the digestive system is strong, milk should be used as the basis for the breakfast porridge; if the digestive system is weak or if the child is intolerant to milk or lactose, it should be replaced with plant milk.

If there is little time available, toasted bread with honey or vegan spreads is also a good alternative.

Pitta dominance

Pitta people usually have an athletic, muscular physique. They have the highest need for nutrients because they burn a lot of energy. If they have strenuous tasks to complete in the morning, they absolutely need breakfast to prevent an energy slump. However, inner heat and impulsiveness require cooling elements in breakfast.

This is how I prepare a pitta breakfast:

The flavours sweet, bitter and tart calm pitta, as do the qualities oily, cool and heavy. Cereal porridge can be cooked in water instead of milk and enriched with a little yoghurt or curd cheese (quark, cream cheese) for consumption. Cooling spices such as coriander and cardamom or turmeric are recommended, as well as fresh kitchen herbs such as mint, marjoram and oregano.

Kapha dominance

The Kapha body type tends to be overweight and weak in digestion. These people tend to put on weight even if they eat a restricted and conscious diet. This is why breakfast only makes limited sense for people with Kapha tendencies and overweight, and only if physically strenuous professional or sporting activities are planned. If mental activities predominate, Kapha types should forgo breakfast and only have a warm drink to get the metabolism going in the morning.

This is how I prepare a Kapha breakfast:

For predominantly mental activities, simply prepare a hot drink. If breakfast is taken to support physical activities, the flavours pungent, bitter and tart are important, the qualities light, warm and dry should dominate. This can be achieved, for example, by enjoying crispbread or well toasted bread with a little butter and some honey or savoury spreads with a hot drink.

Timing of breakfast

The most important prerequisite for being able to process food well is a strong feeling of hunger. That's why you should only eat breakfast when you feel this strong hunger. This is very often not the case in the first 1-2 hours after getting up. Breakfast should be postponed until then.

The Ayurvedic texts recommend extensive morning rituals: dental and body care, oil massage, exercise. If you go to bed early enough the night before, it should be easy to get up early enough to spend more than an hour on the morning rituals and meditation. If you do this, you will also notice that you feel hungry by the end of these activities. Depending on the predominant dosha, you should then either only drink warm or eat a suitable light breakfast.

"How much should I eat at breakfast?"

It is advisable not to fill your stomach completely at all meals. This is particularly important at breakfast, i.e. during the Kapha time of the day! Any excess increases the possibility of Kapha in the body going into overdrive. This can lead to tiredness, mucus and metabolic disorders.

Keep an eye on lunch at breakfast and only eat enough (or a little) so that you feel a strong feeling of hunger at lunchtime before you go to the table!

Schoolchildren

Many schoolchildren are not hungry in the morning. Should they be urged to eat breakfast? From an Ayurvedic point of view, it is better to send them to school after a hot drink and give them a (warm) breakfast. Pupils can eat this during the first break. This ensures that there is already a good feeling of hunger and that breakfast does not lead to tiredness but to performance.

Summary

According to Ayurveda, the most important meal is lunch, with breakfast coming in second place. Dinner should only be eaten if you are very hungry or if there is a risk of losing weight. And this should be as early as possible, preferably between 17:00 and 19:00.

Only eat breakfast if you are really hungry! And only eat enough so that you are really hungry again at lunchtime!