Breakfast remains the most important meal of the day -- even if you're on a diet. People who eat breakfast everyday tend to control their weight better than non-breakfast eaters, reports H.R. Wyatt of the University of Colorado. But that doesn't mean you can start your day off with bacon and white toast and expect the weight to come off. Choosing healthy foods for breakfast while on a diet can help you shed those extra pounds and keep them off.
Whole Grains
Whole grains like granola, oatmeal and whole wheat toast are ideal breakfast foods for someone on a diet. The fiber in whole grains keeps you feeling full so that you don't "cheat" on your diet and indulge on a calorie-rich snack later in the day. Including oatmeal in your low-calorie diet boosts weight loss and reduces high cholesterol levels, reports E. Saltzman of Tufts University. In the May 2001 "Journal of Nutrition," Saltzman noted that dieters who ate oats every day lost an average of 9 lbs. over an 8-week period and decreased their total and "bad" cholesterol levels significantly.
Fruit
Starting the day with fresh fruit like bananas, apples, melons and berries will help get your day's dieting adventure off on the right foot. Fresh fruits have a low energy density. Energy density measures how many calories a food contains compared to its weight. Eating foods with a low energy density allows you to enjoy a high volume of foods without consuming too many calories, MayoClinic.com states.
Yogurt
Low-fat dairy products like yogurt and milk are convenient breakfast choices that can accelerate the amount of weight you lose while dieting, states D.R. Shahar of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. In a paper published in the September 2010 "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition" Shahar found that dieters who ate dairy tended to lose and maintain the weight loss better than people who seldom ate dairy.
Eggs
Some dieters shun eggs as a breakfast option as they are rich in fat. This is a mistake, according to J.S. Vander Wal of Saint Louis University. In a study found in the August 2005 "International Journal of Obesity" Vander Wal notes that overweight adults who had eggs for breakfast lost 60 percent more weight than those who dined on bagels.
References
- "Obesity Research": Long-Term Weight Loss and Breakfast in Subjects in the National Weight Control Registry
- "Journal of Nutrition": An Oat-Containing Hypocaloric Diet Reduces Systolic Blood Pressure and Improves Lipid Profile beyond Effects of Weight Loss in Men and Women
- MayoClinic.com: Energy Density
- "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition": Dairy calcium intake, serum vitamin D, and successful weight loss
- "International Journal of Obesity": Egg breakfast enhances weight loss
Member Comments