There is an old saying that circulates among foodies: Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper. The saying is meant to encourage folks looking to stay healthy or lose a little weight by taking the bulk of their calories in the morning and burn those calories throughout the day.

This might be true to some extent.
The literal translation of the word “breakfast” came about in the 15th century and meant a break from the fasting period since your last meal of the prior evening.

Sounds about right to me.
I mean, if my last meal was at 7 the evening before and I get ready to start my day at 7 the following morning, that is 12 whole hours since food has crossed my lips.

Today for breakfast I shall eat like a king (King Henry VIII for sure).
Seriously, if it’s been 12 hours, serve me up some eggs over medium, bacon, grits and a side of hash browns covered with diced ham and grilled onions.
Don’t forget the toast and it better be buttered.

Nothing wrong with having that bacon cheeseburger in the morning instead of midday. Hey, it has all the staples of most breakfast meals. There are bread, bacon and fries instead of hash browns, but potatoes are potatoes aren’t they? And there is nothing stopping you from topping that burger with a poached or fried egg, so there you go.

Then there are the days where I might take more of an untraditional approach to my morning meal. There is nothing — and I mean nothing — set in stone that says you must start your day with eggs. I have found that two slices of leftover meat-lovers pizza will do at times. However, if you are going to go Italian, nothing beats morning spaghetti with meatballs. Toss in some garlic toast, and the meal is complete.
Anything goes for breakfast because, according to that saying, you have all day to burn the calories away.

Get creative and have at it.

I can recall when I had yet to make it to the grocery store, and all I had in the fridge and cupboard were two slices of cheese, two slices of bread, some butter, a little bit of Captain Crunch Cereal and maple syrup.

I took the two slices of bread and topped them with the two slices of cheese and then closed it up like the beginnings of a grilled cheese sandwich. I put the Captain Crunch in the food processor and ground it up fine.
I melted some of the butter and poured it over the cereal and then pressed my sandwich into the mix, making sure it coated both sides of the bread evenly. I put the remaining butter in a pan and grilled my sandwich.

I topped that with the maple syrup, and it was the best grilled-cheese-Captain-Crunch- French-toast-breakfast-sandwich-thingy I’ve ever had.

Think about it. During your waking hours, there is no way you are going to go 12 hours between meals.
Your stomach would growl in the middle of a business meeting. You start feeling lightheaded the minute you smell your co-worker’s meal heating in the microwave. You scroll through Facebook and every other post has a quick five-minute recipe for a bacon-and-cheese tater-tot pie.
OMG – YUM! Who thought of that? They are geniuses.

So make breakfast count.
It’s go big or go home on this one.

I must admit the breakfast-like-king, lunch-like-prince thing has yet to do anything for my waistline. But maybe that’s because when I think of lunch like a prince, I think about Prince Harry or Prince William.
They seem to eat pretty nice meals from what I’ve seen, so maybe they are not the prince examples I should be following.