Go Ahead, Eat a Big Breakfast
Hard to believe, but there could be a benefit to loading up your breakfast plate.
Besides helping you eat less later in the day, a big breakfast might also help you lose weight. But you have to be smart about it.
Load Up to Slim Down?
Okay, so you can’t completely overdo it at breakfast and hope to drop pounds. But when obese dieters ate a big 600-calorie breakfast of healthy protein and carbs (think scrambled eggs, diced turkey, whole-wheat toast, and a banana), they lost significantly more weight than dieters who ate only half that much. Why? Researchers speculate that eating a large balanced meal in the morning helps stymie carb cravings later in the day — especially if you’re cutting carbs and calories in an effort to slim down.
Do it daily. Your goal is to make it a daily, automatic habit. The reward? You can kiss late-day low blood sugar and sugary snack cravings goodbye — permanently.
Do it sooner rather than later. For the best results, eat breakfast within an hour or so of waking up — even if you’re not hungry. Morning-time low blood sugar produces a brain chemical designed to mask hunger pangs — but can cause sugar cravings later in the day.
Make it complex. We’re talking complex carbohydrates here (whole-grain cereals, steel-cut oats, high-fiber fruits, etc.) The fiber keeps blood sugar on an even keel and helps you feel full longer.
Power it with protein. Protein slows digestion, helps prevent spikes and dips in blood sugar, and can even give you a dose of depression-fighting tryptophan. DesMaisons recommends that you get a third of your daily protein at breakfast.
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:18 am
[...] Victor Caballero wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptHard to believe, but there could be a benefit to loading up your breakfast plate. Besides helping you eat less later in the day, a big breakfast might also help you lose weight. But you have to be smart about it. Load Up to Slim Down? … [...]
September 5th, 2008 at 10:00 am
[...] Ahead, Eat a Big Breakfast by Brick [...]