How Eating Breakfast Can Keep You Thin: Healthy Breakfast Ideas

Imagine driving all night on the interstate highway. After the eight hour drive, your car has provided you with power, lights and a mechanical system that kept you safe and got you where you needed to be. That all took energy -- energy derived from the gas you put in the car. Neglecting to fill the tank after that long night on the road will cause your car to putter and eventually stop.

Our bodies are no different -- as we sleep, our bodies work hard. The heart works to keep blood moving through our body, our brain function allows us to breathe and our hormones continue to send messages. While we sleep, we can be assured that our body will take over and we'll wake up the next morning ready to face another day. This process only works well if we feed our bodies the fuel it requires. That fuel is breakfast.

Unfortunately, many of us forget to fill the tank. Neglecting to eat breakfast means our body may start to putter (metabolism slows down to conserve energy that we still have left in the tank) which affects our brains, our energy and our overall disposition to healthy eating throughout the rest of the day. If you thought skipping breakfast was the best way to lose weight, you are unfortunately misinformed.

I tell my Lifestyle 180 participants to eat within an hour of waking up. This is important for restoring not only their glycogen stores, but can also immediately start getting the daily vitamins and minerals their body needs. There's a lot of evidence that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Why? Breakfast eaters are better able to manage their weight. They consume higher quality calories throughout the day and tend to eat more frequent, smaller meals and snacks. That, in turn, helps to keep blood sugar levels stable. Research shows that children who consume breakfast have higher levels of concentration in school and perform better on tests. Breakfast clearly affects our energy, our mind, our weight and our daily food choices. 78 percent of participants who reported their success in the National Weight Control Registry, a database of individuals that have lost at least 30 pounds and have kept it off for one year or more, reported eating breakfast every day

Follow these simple rules to get the most out of your breakfast.

• Eat only whole grains. Breakfast cereals and breads should contain 100 percent whole grain only. Avoid options that contain only refined grains.
• Fill up on fiber. Aim for 3-4 grams of fiber in your breakfast cereals and breads
• Beware Blood Sugar Sinkers. It's better to eat something rather than nothing, however, be wary of foods that will spike and drop your blood sugar levels and leave you looking for more food. Common culprits are breakfast pastries and doughnuts. These have little nutritional value and won't satisfy you for long.
• Bag the Breakfast Bar. If you like to throw a breakfast bar in your bag and head out the door, read the label first. Aim for bars that do not contain added sugars and syrups in the first five ingredients. With breakfast bars, the less ingredients, the better they are for you.
• Keep coffee healthy. Coffee has so many wonderful benefits - don't ruin it with non-dairy flavored creamers that are loaded with trans fat and sugars. Both are linked to an increase risk of heart disease. Drink your coffee black or (is there something safe they can add? Soy milk?)
• Use Protein Power. A great breakfast includes complex carbohydrates (such as?) together with a lean protein source such as skim milk or eggs. Along with the fiber, added protein will keep you satisfied for a longer amount of time.
• Fruit vs. Juice. Better to have an orange than orange juice. The orange takes longer to eat and will provide you with more satisfaction and fiber along with less sugar than its juice counterpart.
• Have a fruit or veggie with breakfast. It will help in achieving the recommended five a day suggested servings. Simple suggestions: add tomatoes or spinach to your eggs or fresh blueberries in your yogurt.

Think before you eat, will this food benefit me or hurt me? Most breakfast foods available from a drive-through window are probably not the best options. If you're on the go and too busy to eat a healthy breakfast at home, keep food at work. Good examples include oatmeal, milk and cereal, natural peanut butter and whole grain crackers, etc. The most important lesson to take away from reading this is simple: eat breakfast! Plenty of evidence exists that you'll more likely to maintain a normal body weight if you do so.

 

Follow Kristin Kirkpatrick, M.S., R.D., L.D. on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ClevelandClinic

Comments

[William Anderson LMHC]

08:17 AM on 03/30/2011

Patients previously afflicted with chronic obesity are remarkably successful in losing weight and keeping it off with "The Anderson Method", and one of the most common helps for them is the freedom to create their own eating plan that eliminates breakfast without feeling guilty about it. The reduced RMB due to not eating breakfast and every few hours is about 3% as far as I can tell from available reliable literature. That amounts to about 45 calories for most patients. To add 400-500 calories (or 1000) to the day by eating often, in order to "save" 45, is a poor decision. In fact, most clients with a long history of weight struggle report having gained weight and developed a habit of eating more when they have tried to lose weight by adding breakfast after they had developed habits of not eating breakfast. Please feel free to contact me for more information, read my book, "The Anderson Method", and learn more about my work at TheAndersonMethod.com .

[CardioE2]

01:32 PM on 03/18/2011

Less sugar intake, less weight gain and more sustained energy.
Less sugar spikes, less LDL cholesterol oxidation (pollution) and inflammation in the arteries,
much better for blood pressure!

Low glycemic throughout the day . . . it is a lifestyle and very cardio friendly.

Low glycemic (no weight gain) Oat & Pineapple Breakfast Cookie recipe(s)
http://www.ForHerHeart.org/heartrecipes.aspx

[Vickster]

11:55 PM on 03/07/2011

If I ate the breakfast that Ms. Kirkpatrick recommends I'd spend the rest of the day feeling itchy, bloated and suffering from a bad case of ennui. I do best with a breakfast that's full of fats and protein. Some days that means two eggs over-easy, fried in lard and served with sauteed mushrooms or fried potatoes to mop up the yolk. Or an omelette made with home-made goat cheese and whatever greens, nightshades or fungi may be on hand. When I'm feeling decadent and berries are in season, I'll start the day with berries and cream served with my home-made lamb or venison sausage or some other meat. And I always add a dollop of goat's milk to my coffee.

Too much citrus in my diet gives me hives, corn is the only grain that doesn't give me bloat and soy gives me the blahs. Not the blues. The blahs. There's a difference.

[Nutritarian]

12:45 PM on 03/09/2011

Geez if I ate all that saturated fat I'd be chewing a few aspirin and calling 911.

[Vickster]

11:47 PM on 03/09/2011

I come from a long line of folks who eat tons of saturated fat and live well into their eighties and nineties. It's the diet that works best for me. Of course, this is only breakfast. Lunch usually consists of raw vegetables and fruit with a little cheese or yogurt in the summer, or leftover soup during the winter months. (I make a big pot of soup at least once a week in the winter.) Dinner usually consists of a serving of meat with two or three vegetables on the days when I don't make a fresh pot of soup.

Besides, it's beginning to look like carbs are the real culprit where heart disease is concerned.

[HealthyYou]

05:08 PM on 03/07/2011

People who eat a larger breakfast to stay healthy are not eating a grand slam from Denny's. They may be eating more at that meal than at others and it is probably fruit, whole grains, low fat dairy, etc. Then the rest of their day is also filled with healthy food options. Eating a "big" breakfast is said relative to the other meals of the day, and it's healthy foods. Check out this fantastic blog for easy health tips to get you and yours healthier this year: http://blog.mydiscoverhealth.com/

[freethinker-52]

03:57 PM on 03/07/2011

a little education never hurt anybody:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfsT-qYeqGM

[Vickster]

11:20 PM on 03/07/2011

But a little misinformation can be quite dangerous.

The actual China study doesn't support the book called 'The China Study'.

[IMDATRAINER]

01:37 PM on 03/07/2011

Breakfast is such an important meal and cereals of the past were plain ol' garbage. Some still are in fact. But, if you look closely you can find some really great choices that you can even use as snacks, toppings on yogurt, or as croutons in salad.

http://www.angrytrainerfitness.com/2011/01/top-10-breakfast-cereals/

[DrP]

10:59 PM on 03/05/2011

Eggs, eggs, eggs. Maybe a little bacon (minimally processed)
Pork belly is amazing (uncured bacon, basically). A little piece of that will keep you satisfied all morning.
Forge the carbs..they will just cause a crash and hunger by mid-morning. The worst thing to have is fruit juice..just a glass of sugar water and the sugar is fructose, which is a big health no-no.

[freethinker-52]

08:58 AM on 03/06/2011

bacon is almost poisen. pure fat.you should eat no sugar cereal covered with fruit and use soy or rice milk.

[DrP]

11:18 PM on 03/06/2011

Cereal by definition is sugar...all digestible carbs metabolize as glucose, which is sugar.
Those of us with insulin-resistance can't utilize glucose and it stores as fat, causes high blood sugar and insulin levels, and on and on. Read the science.

[DrP]

11:18 PM on 03/06/2011

Explain in what way bacon is poison?
My body can't metabolize carbs, so I guess they are "poison" to me.

[LovingFit]

10:37 PM on 03/05/2011

I agree, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I always make home made protein bars for breakfast and I eat them with two eggs and a cup of coffee. It is good to plan every meal of the day because they are all equally important.

[smilinggreenmom]

10:06 AM on 03/05/2011

I love breakfast so much! Oh my, it must be my fav meal of the day LOL! I do try and eat healthy whole grains and usually include a smoothie too! Yum :) I use to be a cereal eater but now I just love a warm breakfast oh, and of course my coffee too which I put vanilla soymilk into rather than cream! Great tips!!!

[DrP]

10:59 PM on 03/05/2011

Healthy - grains
An oxymoron

[DrP]

11:19 PM on 03/06/2011

Use cream It is amazing and won't raise your blood sugar.

[babybelle]

09:13 AM on 03/05/2011

I drink a glass of water when I get up.
Then set the timer for 60 minutes and excersise.
Then breakfast.
Works for me ! :)

[BangkokTrainer]

06:20 AM on 03/05/2011

Breakfast is essential. I've posted some awesome recipes for breakfast at The Fitness Library

[Nutritarian]

07:43 PM on 03/04/2011

Sounds decent, but skip the skim milk(sat fat still very high), replace it with almond milk or have a Jack Lalanne special(egg whites only). No coffee either, green tea(loose leaf dragon well or maybe a very good grade sencha).

My usual breakfast during the week is steel cut oats, blueberries, chia seed or flax with crushed unsalted raw almonds or sunflower seeds. Weekends and heavy workouts, I drink a cruciferous juice(kale, cauliflower, watercress, apple, carrots,broccoli) when I put in over 5 miles running or have a soccer game. I usually fill up on beans and ocassionally some fish as protein after a heavy work out.

[DrP]

11:01 PM on 03/05/2011

#1: How is skim milk high in saturated fat? (it is actually high in lactose, a sugar, and that's why I would skip it)
#2 Why is saturated fat to be avoided?

[Nutritarian]

12:08 PM on 03/06/2011

#1 Still too much fat in even skim milk there's much more filling and healthy things to drink.

#2 Saturated fat? Are you serious?

[Repubnomore]

05:37 PM on 03/04/2011

I don't think this article made a very good case for why it's important to replenish your glycogen stores in the morning.

When glycogen stores run low, your liver recruits glycogen from the triglycerides stored as body fat. This is not the most efficient way to restore glycogen, so both your mental and physical acuity suffers. Having a breakfast high in whole grains replenishes the glycogen stores quickly and efficiently. Adding whole fruit with fiber - not fruit juice - also provides quick glucose for energy.

If you don't require breakfast and don't suffer from sluggishness, it's quite possible you have amply loaded your glycogen stores before bed or your body is accustomed to converting stored fat back into energy. Neither of these is particularly optimal for heart health, as you may be elevating your triglyceride levels in the process.

Elevated triglyceride levels are a key contributor to heart disease. Triglycerides carried "back and forth" in your blood stream (excess sugar in your diet, recruitment of fat back into glycogen) are believed to be the source of inflammation and arterial plaque buildup. It's wise to avoid eating patterns (eating large meals late at night / excess sugar consumption) that elevate triglyceride levels.

Just a tip from a heart attack survivor...

[Fred Butters]

03:01 PM on 03/04/2011

More advice to eat whole grains? Why do we need those again?

[dsws]

02:08 PM on 03/04/2011

We store enough glycogen for about a day, so unless we fasted all afternoon and evening (or engaged in glycogen-depleting endurance exercise) there's still plenty on hand when we wake up. We don't need to stock up on vitamins right away either: they stay in the body much longer than overnight. As long as your intake of vitamins is adequate over the course of a week or so, you're fine (for vitamins, anyway).

When you eat does matter, just not for the reasons stated here.