Diet: What To Eat For Breakfast

Eating breakfast improves your chances of achieving a healthy weight. A study in the "Journal of Adolescent Health" from 2006 found that breakfast skipping increased as children transitioned into adulthood and correlated with increased weight gain. Almost 80 percent of members of the National Weight Control Registry--a group of more than 5,000 people who have successfully lost and sustained significant weight loss--report eating breakfast daily. You should not eat just anything for breakfast, however. Choose the right kind of food to support your weight loss goal.

Misconceptions

Some people think they can save calories by skipping breakfast and spur weight loss. Skipping meals actually causes your body to react as if it is starving--the metabolism slows down to conserve calories for survival, warns MayoClinic.com. Breakfast jump-starts your metabolism for the day and helps prevent you from becoming so uncontrollably hungry that you overeat at lunchtime. In the August 2009 issue of the journal "Obesity," researchers from the University of Southern California at Los Angeles found that youths who skipped breakfast regularly had a greater amount of visceral fat than breakfast eaters.

Components

A diet breakfast should feature a protein and a healthy carbohydrate. A serving of protein helps to keep you feeling full, reduces cravings and leads to a lower daily calorie intake, reports a study in the "International Journal of Obesity" in July 2010. Choose lean proteins such as turkey bacon, ground turkey, whey protein, nonfat Greek yogurt and cottage cheese. Healthy carbohydrates include whole grains, fruits and vegetables, compared with refined flour and simple sugar products such as doughnuts, muffins and other pastries.

Eggs

Eggs make a good diet breakfast because they can help accelerate weight loss when included as part of a low-calorie meal plan. A study from Saint Louis University published in the "International Journal of Obesity" in October 2008 showed that after eight weeks, people who ate two eggs for breakfast experienced a 16 percent greater reduction in body fat and a 34 percent greater reduction in waist circumference than people eating a bagel containing the same number of calories. If you are concerned about cholesterol, Harvard Health Publications notes that only a small amount of the cholesterol from eggs actually passes into the bloodstream and that you should be more concerned about intake of saturated and trans fats.

Considerations

If you do not have time to cook, you can still enjoy a healthy, diet-friendly breakfast. Cold cereal that is high in fiber can help you reduce your waist size, as reported by researchers from Provident Clinical Research in Illinois in a February 2010 issue of the "Journal of the American Dietetic Association." Two servings of ready-to-eat oat cereal daily, as part of a reduced-calorie meal plan, helped improve cholesterol levels after just 12 weeks. Traditional breakfast foods do not have to be the focus of your morning meal---eat leftovers from last night's grilled chicken and brown rice stir fry or grab some string cheese, a few slices of deli turkey and a serving of whole grain crackers.

Sample Meals

Be creative with your breakfasts so they remain enjoyable and part of your daily routine. Go for an egg white omelet with black beans, salsa and a whole wheat tortilla. Try pureeing low-fat cottage cheese and Greek yogurt together with strawberries and a teaspoon or two of honey to create a breakfast pudding. Whole grain toast with nut butter and sliced apples is easy, quick and satisfying. Make your own turkey sausage by mixing together garlic, lean ground turkey, finely chopped onions, dried Italian seasoning and fennel seeds. Enjoy a bowl of old-fashioned oats with soy milk, dates and flaxseed.