What is the minimum that qualifies as a breakfast?
If I have milk in my coffee, does that count?
What if I have a whole glass of milk in addition to my cup of coffee?
Is it breakfast if I add a piece of toast too?
Where is the line between not-breakfast and breakfast?
When it makes you full.
Depends on what you mean by breaking your fast. If that includes drink, then coffee/milk/juice counts, otherwise, the first bite of toast qualifies.
For me, breakfast is a meal and therefore needs to include actual food (or a food-like substitute). A cup of coffee, even with bourbon in in, does not make the cut.
I broke my elbow one morning after coffee but before food.
I was told that black coffee with no cream or sugar counted as “clear liquids” and I could have surgery.
So based on that, I’m going to say milk in coffee counts as a sorry little breakfast.
It’s possible you could find some level of intake after a nighttime “fast” at which your body shifts gears; eat less than that caloric amount, or some adjusted amount of fats, carbs or protein, and your body doesn’t change digestion or metabolism mode. Go past it, and it does.
This would differ from the religious/ethical notion of a fast, in which the smallest bite or sip taken deliberately is a “breaking.”
I was always taught that the key element to breakfast was that it was fast and simple. Something you could prepare while being barely awake and get you out the door fast (making a fast break). As noted above, coffee is a clear liquid so it doesn’t count. A minimal breakfast to me would be coffee and a piece of fruit or a bowl of cereal (hot or cold). Most people also recommend some protein, in which case I’d go for a bagel with peanut butter and coffee. YMMV.
I can see this breaking fast into IMHO territory.
Yes some protein is always a good thing as I think it gives you power for the day. Fried eggs with a little bit bacon and a nice cold glass of orange juice. Breakfast shouldn’t be too heavy. It should be easy to digest. Too heavy can be detrimental and could lose its beneficial effect instead.
To my grandpa, a typical breakfast was a Camel and a newspaper.
That must have taken forever to cook! :eek:
You need at least one serving of carbs, along with some sort of protein (milk works) so your blood sugar doesn’t crash once the carbs are metabolized (which happens relatively fast, as I understand).
Stock response: Breakfast - Wikipedia
What it boils down to is do you desire to eat/drink something just to break your night time fast, or a meal that offers nutrition and healthy benefits not just for the day but for sustaining your life? 
The USDA School Lunch program might help here (even for adults):
http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/breakfast/AboutBFast/bfastfacts.htm
PDF Warning - http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/breakfast/expansion/benefitsbreakfast.pdf
Are you asking random metaphysical questions, or did you have a point where you had to decide what was breakfast? This is important for us to know in order for us to give useful answers. Example: my mother thought a sip of water and half a slice of bread was “food”, as in, “Take this medicine with food.” As the paramedics took her away, they asked me, “Did she take her medicine with food?” And I took some time to explain to them how she defines “food”, so they could make a useful understanding of the topic for their purposes. Are you asking the question so you can make a similar argument as my mom? I don’t want to be the one whose advice puts you in the hospital because you left some of the set up out.
Well, that’s not really a definition of breakfast so much as it’s a definition of surgical requirements.
I’ve always wondered why having a donut or other pastry, with or without coffee or tea, is considered having breakfast. To me, a pastry is not a meal, or even a portion of a meal. It’s a dessert or a snack, and must be treated as an extra, not as an essential. A bagel with cream cheese counts as a meal, though.
Definition of breakfast? Something ingested early in the day or whenever you get up. If that’s a glass of water, that’s breakfast.
There have a few studies lately where they talk about the impact of eating breakfast.
How did they decide if someone had eaten breakfast or not?
If I want to get the purported benefits of eating breakfast, what counts?
It used to be Hostess Cupcakes and a bottle of Pepsi. Alas, the cupcakes are no longer with us.
This is where planning ahead is so important. You cook the camel the day before and slice it, cold, for breakfast.
This is wrong. The “fast” on “breakfast” has nothing to do with speed. “Fast” means to go without food.
I’m not gonna get factual answers here am I?
If I start a new thread, I’ll get in trouble.
ah well.