Hungry? Try '2nd Breakfast'

That cereal bar you scarfed down on your way out the door this morning was, well, perfunctory and all, but now your stomach is growling hours before even the most liberal definition of lunchtime. What to do? Time for second breakfast, reports the AP in a look at our evolving morning mealtime. "It's breakfast in stages," says one industry expert. "They'll eat something at home, then stop at Starbucks or a convenience store for coffee and maybe a little snack."

It's a shift from previous generations that might have sat down over pancakes and eggs or skipped the breaking of the fast altogether, and it's driven both by time constraints and the conventional wisdom that more and lighter meals are healthier. And the food industry is responding, with companies such as Quaker Oats, Jimmy Dean, and even McDonald's boosting their breakfast-like snack offerings to include breakfast bars, mini breakfast sandwiches, and smoothies. "I don't really feel like I eat breakfast anymore," says one 20-something. "It's just a bunch of snacks and then dinner." (More breakfast stories.)