What Is A Low Carb Breakfast?

Eating breakfast can help to control your weight and give you energy throughout the day. Low-carbohydrate dieters often encounter difficulty finding foods to eat for breakfast, because typical fare of toast, cereal, oatmeal, fruit and juice is prohibited on many low-carbohydrate diets. However, there are many breakfast foods that meet guidelines for various plans such as Atkins, Zone and Protein Power.

Background

Low-carb diets limit your intake of carbohydrate foods such as baked goods, fruits, starchy vegetables, whole grains and sugar. Instead, low-carbohydrate diets recommend eating only small amounts of carbohydrates. Low-carbohydrate diets rely heavily on animal proteins such as meat, fish, seafood and eggs, as well as nonstarchy vegetables such as leafy greens. For instance, Atkins restricts carbohydrate intake in early phases of the diet to fewer than 20 g of carbs per day, while Zone suggests eating 30 percent of your calories from carbohydrates. Protein Power recommends eating between 7 and 10 g of carbohydrates per meal or snack, and fewer than 30 g of carbohydrates per day.

Theories/Speculation

In his book "Good Calories, Bad Calories," Gary Taubes suggest that limiting carbohydrates can help you lose weight because you achieve better insulin control. When you eat carbohydrate foods, your blood glucose rises in response to the sugars in the carbohydrates. As blood glucose rises, your pancreas releases insulin, which is responsible for fat storage. When insulin is present, your body stores food as fat and blocks fat cells from releasing insulin as fuel. In the absence of insulin, your body is able to burn stored fat for fuel, which results in weight loss.

Recommendations

Bacon, eggs, ham and sugar-free vegetables are all popular low-carbohydrate breakfast foods. You can scramble eggs with vegetables, hard-boil them for meals on the go, or combine them with a few ounces of cheese to make an omelet or frittata. You can also make an egg casserole known as strata. While strata typically contains bread, you can remove the bread and instead make the casserole with eggs, cream, cheese and sausage. Dieters in later stages of Atkins and Protein Power diets can also have a low-sugar fruit such as berries, or a sugar-free protein smoothie made with whey protein, a little bit of a low-sugar fruit, and some coconut milk. Zone dieters can include high-protein dairy such as sugar-free yogurt and cottage cheese with low-sugar fruits for a healthy breakfast that meets the Zone's nutritional requirements.

Research

Research has shown that low-carbohydrate diets can effectively generate weight loss. A 2010 Temple University study presented in "Annals of Internal Medicine" followed two groups of dieters for two years. The first group followed a low-carbohydrate diet similar to Atkins, while the second group followed a more traditional low-fat, low-calorie diet. After two years, both groups experienced similar amounts of weight loss, leading researchers to conclude that both types of diets were equally efficacious for generating weight loss.

Considerations

MayoClinic.com suggests that breakfast is a very important meal. It not only reduces hunger later in the day, but it also helps to set the tone for making healthy choices. Breakfast also provides energy throughout the day, which may cause you to be more active throughout the day. While the temptation is to skip breakfast, eating breakfast is a very important part of all types of diets.