Breakfast While on a Diet

If you're "battling the bulge" by making dietary changes, you're not alone. Sixty-eight percent of adults in America are either overweight or obese, according to 2008 statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Many of these individuals invest time, effort and money into dieting and weight loss products. If you're one of them, starting each day with a healthy breakfast can provide a reasonable way to enhance your efforts and your overall health.

Myths

Since weight loss typically requires eating fewer calories than the amount your burn through activity, surpassing breakfast may seem a reasonable idea. On the contrary, people who skip breakfast and eat fewer times throughout the day tend to carry more weight than people who eat a nutritious breakfast and four or five additional meals or snacks, according to the Weight-control Information Network. Skipping breakfast can increase daytime hunger and lead to overeating later. Restricting calories by skipping multiple meals may also reduce your metabolism. While carbohydrates have gained a bad rap as a result of low-carb diet popularity, severely restricting carbohydrates poses health risks and rarely leads to long-term success. Incorporating complex carbohydrates, such as whole grains, into your breakfast and other meals, according to WIN, is a healthier option.

Optimum Foods

The foods you choose at breakfast time may be as important as not skipping it. MayoClinic.com recommends balanced meals rich in fiber, nutrients and lean protein, and a modest amount of healthy fat. Valuable sources of fiber include whole grain breads and cold cereals, oatmeal, low-fat bran muffins, berries, bananas, pears, beans and broccoli. For lean protein, enjoy nonfat or low-fat milk, yogurt or cottage cheese, egg whites, tofu or lean meat. Heart-healthy fat options include peanut and almond butter, avocados, canola oil, olive oil and salmon. Try an egg white and veggie omelet served with fruit salad or oatmeal made with skim milk and topped with fresh raspberries and slivered almonds. For a healthy breakfast on the go, prepare a smoothie consisting of low-fat milk or yogurt, fresh or frozen berries, sliced banana and ground flaxseed.

Foods to Avoid

Keep saturated fat and trans-fats to a minimum, since they are linked to obesity and heart disease. Breakfast foods rich in unhealthy fats include bacon, sausage, egg yolks, butter, doughnuts, pastries and fast food breakfast sandwiches and hash-browns. Refined carbohydrates, such as added sugars and enriched flour, provide calories, but few nutritional benefits and leave less room in your meal for fiber and nutrient-rich fare. Common sources include jelly, jam, pancake syrup, buttermilk pancakes, white bread, coffee cake, frosted doughnuts and croissants. Choose whole fruit over juices, which provide more calories and less fiber, most often. To cut fat and calories from your morning coffee, replace heavy cream with skim milk and sugar with stevia -- a calorie-free, plant-based sweetener.

Long-Term Benefits

Eating a healthy breakfast during the weight loss process and thereafter may provide multiple benefits. A study published in "Obesity" in 2002 examined the breakfast habits of 2,959 individuals who had maintained at least 30 lbs. of weight loss for a year or more. Researchers found that 78 percent of them ate breakfast regularly and only 4 percent reported never eating breakfast. Participants who ate breakfast reported slightly more exercise than non-breakfast eaters. In other words, a strong link stands between a healthy breakfast routine and maintaining weight loss. And eating breakfast may boost your physical activity routine. Managing your weight healthfully is linked with reduced risk for heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and certain forms of cancer and may elongate and improve the overall quality of your life.