What are the disadvantages of brunch?

November 6, 2025 •

4 min read

According to a study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, regularly eating breakfast later in the day is linked to a higher risk of cardiovascular diseases. For all its social appeal, this statistic highlights a potential drawback that many people fail to consider when thinking about the disadvantages of brunch.

Quick Summary

This article explores the downsides of brunch, including negative health impacts like disrupted eating schedules and overeating, significant financial costs, and social stressors related to waiting and a chaotic dining atmosphere. It also discusses the potential for lower food quality and compromised nutritional balance.

Key Points

Health Impacts: Brunch can disrupt your body's circadian rhythm, leading to inconsistent meal times, fluctuating blood sugar, and poorer digestion.
Overeating Risk: By combining two meals, brunch often encourages overeating and can cause you to consume excess calories and unhealthy fats.
High Cost, Low Quality: Many restaurants use brunch as a way to charge premium prices for simple, low-cost ingredients, sometimes relying on less-skilled kitchen staff.
Nutritional Imbalance: Brunch menus often favor indulgent, high-calorie options over nutrient-dense foods, potentially leading to nutritional deficiencies over time.
Social Pressure: The trendy brunch scene can create social stress due to long wait times, crowded environments, and pressure to capture a perfect, social-media-worthy experience.
Potential for Waste: Some chefs use brunch to repurpose leftovers from earlier in the week, meaning the food isn't always as fresh as diners might assume.
Alcohol Risks: 'Bottomless' alcoholic brunches can encourage excessive, rapid drinking, leading to health risks like dehydration and alcohol poisoning.

The Hidden Health Costs of a Leisurely Brunch

While brunch is often seen as a harmless weekend treat, its effects on your health can be surprisingly negative. Disrupting your body’s natural eating rhythms and often consisting of high-calorie, low-nutrient foods, brunch is more than just a late breakfast.

Disrupted Eating Schedule and Metabolism

Your body operates on a circadian rhythm, an internal clock that regulates many biological processes, including metabolism. Eating a large meal like brunch significantly later than a typical breakfast time can throw this rhythm off balance.

Cortisol spikes: Skipping breakfast can increase cortisol levels, which can then boost your appetite and affect sleep quality.
Blood sugar roller coaster: A sugary, high-carbohydrate brunch can cause a sharp spike in blood sugar, followed by a crash, leaving you feeling tired and sluggish later.
Poorer digestion: Eating a heavy meal after fasting all morning can be a shock to your digestive system, leading to discomfort and poor nutrient absorption.

Nutritional Deficiencies and Overeating

Brunch menus are often filled with indulgent, high-calorie options like pancakes, eggs benedict, and fried potatoes. While delicious, these choices often lack the nutritional balance of a standard breakfast and lunch.

Calorie overload: By combining two meals, many people end up consuming a higher total number of calories than they would with two separate, balanced meals.
Unhealthy cravings: Overeating at brunch can leave you hungrier later, leading to more cravings for unhealthy food and further disrupting your eating habits.
Nutrient gaps: Missing the nutrients from a standard, balanced breakfast and lunch can result in overall nutritional deficiencies.

The Financial and Social Downsides

Beyond the physiological effects, brunch can also be a surprisingly costly and stressful social endeavor. The 'experience' often comes with a hefty price tag and significant inconveniences.

Overpriced and Overrated

Many restaurant insiders suggest that brunch is a "cash grab" for restaurants, with significant markups on simple ingredients. Cheaper ingredients like eggs and flour are sold for a premium, often with lackluster execution.

Inflated beverage costs: 'Bottomless mimosas' often contain low-quality sparkling wine and juice, with the price inflated to cover perceived value.
Mediocre food quality: With top chefs and staff often taking weekends off, brunch shifts are frequently manned by less experienced cooks, leading to inconsistent and subpar food quality.

The Social Stress of Brunch Culture

The atmosphere of a popular brunch spot is not always the relaxing experience it's made out to be. The crowds, noise, and pressure to capture the perfect moment for social media can be overwhelming.

Long wait times: Trendy restaurants often have long waits, even with reservations, adding stress and cutting into your valuable weekend time.
Chaotic environment: Bustling settings with loud music and chatter can be distracting and less peaceful than a quiet meal at home.
Pressure for performance: From dressing up to getting the perfect photo, the pressure to conform to a social media aesthetic can undermine the simple pleasure of a shared meal.

Comparison Table: Brunch vs. Balanced Weekend Eating


Feature	Traditional Brunch	Balanced Weekend Eating
Meal Timing	Irregular; often late morning	Regular, consistent timing (breakfast + lunch)
Nutritional Quality	Often high in calories, fats, and sugar	Focus on balanced macro- and micronutrients
Cost	Typically expensive, high markups	Low to moderate, often homemade
Atmosphere	Potentially noisy, crowded, and stressful	Calm, peaceful, and controlled
Health Impact	Can disrupt metabolism and digestion	Supports stable energy and digestion
Culinary Experience	Often mediocre, limited creativity	Can be highly customized and fresh

Making a More Mindful Choice

Brunch can sometimes feel like an obligation rather than an enjoyable experience, forcing you to overspend and overeat. There is no shame in acknowledging that the hyped-up, costly, and health-disrupting nature of brunch may not be for you. Choosing a quiet, homemade meal with fresh, high-quality ingredients can be a much more relaxing and rewarding way to spend a weekend morning. By understanding the full picture of the disadvantages of brunch, you can make a more informed decision that aligns with your health and financial goals.

Conclusion

While brunch has cemented its place as a weekend ritual, it's important to recognize its downsides. The meal can throw off your body's rhythm, lead to overconsumption of unhealthy foods, and come with a hefty price tag and social pressures that detract from the experience. Acknowledging these issues empowers you to choose a dining experience that is genuinely more satisfying and beneficial for your overall well-being. Whether you opt for a home-cooked meal or a different outing, a mindful approach can make your weekend mornings truly enjoyable.

Optional Outbound Link: To learn more about the effects of meal timing on your health, check out this informative article on meal timing from The European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.

Frequently Asked Questions

Brunch can contribute to weight gain by encouraging overeating due to a large, combined meal. Menu items are often high in calories, fats, and sugars, which can lead to consuming more calories than you would with two separate, balanced meals.

By shifting your meal times significantly later, brunch can disrupt your body's natural circadian rhythm. This can cause spikes and crashes in blood sugar and negatively affect your metabolism and energy levels throughout the day.

No, brunch is often not a financially responsible choice. Restaurants typically mark up simple breakfast ingredients significantly for brunch menus, making the cost-to-value ratio poor. Many prefer more affordable home-cooked meals.

Some chefs dislike working brunch shifts and more experienced staff often take weekends off. This can result in less experienced cooks preparing the food, leading to inconsistent and lower-quality meals.

Yes, for some, the crowded, noisy environment and pressure to perform for social media can be stressful rather than relaxing. The pursuit of the 'perfect' brunch can lead to anxiety and dissatisfaction.

In most cases, 'bottomless mimosas' are not a good deal. Restaurants often use low-quality sparkling wine and juice to cut costs, and the price is inflated to appear like a bargain. They also encourage excessive drinking in a short period.

To avoid the disadvantages, you can prepare a homemade brunch with healthier, more balanced ingredients. Alternatively, consider making an early breakfast and a later lunch, or seek out quieter, less commercialized dining options.