No.94, Tuesday, 10th. March 2026

I feel slightly better today and have, despite a filling dinner yesterday, lost a little weight, which always makes me feel good. Yesterday was one of those days where I had nothing to eat until after 5 o’clock, a circumstance that generally results in weight loss and a greater feeling of wellness the following day.

It is interesting, and perhaps also a little disturbing, how mantras like ‘breakfast is the most important meal of the day’ take hold and encourage us to eat first thing in the morning. And there is nearly always a veiled gentle threat sitting behind the slogan, as if some pretty unpleasant misfortune will come to those who do not follow this sage advice.

Like so much medical advice, it is all too often a one-size-fits-all approach that I would like to think we are moving away from. The definition of a ‘high’, ‘normal’ or ‘low’ blood pressure or any number of other metrics is based on statistics. There is a range and there are outliers. We are all different. Surely the days of holistic medicine that treats each person as an individual cannot be too far off?

Anyway, there is far more to this matter than I am suggesting here in my short morning thoughts. I very rarely have breakfast. In general I break my fast at roughly 1 o’clock in the afternoon. I tend to eat when I feel hungry rather than when a clock tells me it is time for dinner. But then, I have the luxury of being retired and therefore no commuting or overpaid managers telling me I must have lunch between 1 and 2. I am allowed to be myself.