Weight Loss Tip #18: Eat Breakfast

Yes, it seems that mom and our kindergarten teachers were right on this one. A recent study showed, for example, that teens who ate breakfast were on average 5 pounds skinnier than those who skipped breakfast, in spite of the breakfast eaters consuming more total daily calories (source). I have my theories about why this is the case.

First, would anyone not eat for 8-10 hours during the day? I'd hope not! It would kill a person's metabolism, which would slow to a crawl. However, when we don't eat in the evenings or during sleep, we are starving our bodies and our bodies react by slowing the rate in which calories are burned. It is vital that we feed our metabolism first thing in the morning rather than waiting until lunch.

Second, I'll bet that eating breakfast helped the subjects avoid pigging out later in the day. When our bodies are famished, we tend to eat more.

Third, those morning calories are more easily burned off than calories consumed in the evening. Finally, the people in the study probably had more energy and thus more activity.

I can see why people would want to skip breakfast; I used to do it all the time. I'd say coffee was enough or I didn't have time. Plus, many times in the morning, we just don't feel like eating. And, many of us associate breakfast with eggs, bacon, doughnuts, and other pretty unhealthy items. However, we can't survive on coffee (even if I wish we could), it's important to eat something even if it's small, and breakfast can and should be healthy. I typically eat yogurt, fruit, oatmeal, or occasionally eggs. If you take a multi-vitamin in the morning, make sure to include a little fat to help some of the vitamins absorb.

What are some breakfast foods to eat? I like the following:

Oats
Fruit
Yogurt
Non sugar covered, high fiber cereal
Eggs