The Real Scoop on Breakfast and Losing Weight

You make a simple decision every morning that has a significant impact on your health.

 

The decision about what to have for breakfast… or whether to have breakfast at all.

 

Maybe you’ve heard that eating breakfast is important to maintain your health and energy. But  you’ve also read articles that say you should just eat when you’re hungry, so if you’re not hungry in the morning you should skip breakfast.

 

To add to the confusion, recent articles like this one in the New York Times have questioned whether eating breakfast is really a good option for weight loss. It does that by referring to an article in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that concluded that there are many (poorly designed) studies that show an association between skipping breakfast and obesity but do not establish a causal relationship.

 

After reviewing these studies and many more and adding in my clinical experience I have distilled down the important information that you can act on. Here’s the scoop.

 

1. Breakfast matters. According to this recent research article, when you eat more of your calories for breakfast than you do for dinner and stick to a moderate-calorie diet (1400 calories) you will:
   • lower your blood sugar and insulin (that means less insulin-resistance)
   • decrease ghrelin and increase satiety (meaning you’ll be less hungry)
2. If you want to lose weight and the only change you make is adding breakfast, not surprisingly, you won’t succeed. You need to combine a NUTRIENT DENSE*  breakfast with decreasing the size of dinner (and intake of snacks).
3. What you eat matters. Foods that spike insulin will never help you lose weight: toast, cold cereal, waffles, pancakes, fruit juice. These should be avoided.

 

If you follow these simple steps you will lose weight. Adding exercise is essential to KEEP the weight off.

 

A common response from patients I’ve recommended this to has been, “But I’m not hungry in the morning.” Most of the time this indicates an underlying problem with digestion or elimination. When someone has chronic constipation (moving your bowels less than once daily) it frequently results in no morning appetite.

 

Once you have made the switch to have more nutrient-dense foods in the morning and a smaller dinner you will feel more alert, more energy and probably lose those stubborn 10 pounds.

 

If you would like to learn more about how my Functional Nutrition approach can help resolve issues around weight and digestion click here to schedule a free phone consultation.

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*NUTRIENT DENSE means whole, unrefined foods like veggies, eggs, meat, fruit, some whole grains.