Breakfast Breakthroughs
Justin Thacker MS, RD, LD, ACSM-HFS, CES, USAW, CSCS
If you are like many people I typically given nutritional counseling advice too you are either:
1) Skipping breakfast
2) Eating a granola bar, power bar, balance bar, etc.
3) Eating cereal (even whole grain!)
4) Eating other whole grains like oatmeal, bagels, toast, etc
And you also may have something else in common with them. You are unsatisfied with your weight loss goals and your current body fat percentage.
Our nutritional philosophy is summarized in 4 distinct principles:
Quantity: in short-calories in vs. calories out…
Quality: in short-a calorie, is not a calorie, is NOT a calorie!
Frequency: in short-meal frequency is important.
Timing: in short-the time at which you eat and what you eat can give you radically different effects.
This article addresses a bit of all of those…
So here is a freebie. 99% of the time I advise people to eat eggs for breakfast (eggs and berries). There are some exceptions to this but this is the most common recommendation for fat loss and muscle gain. Instead of me rambling on for 20 paragraphs as to why, here is some nice research connecting the dots for me:
”A new study demonstrates that eating protein-rich eggs for breakfast reduces hunger and decreases calorie consumption at lunch and throughout the day. The study, published in the February issue of Nutrition Research, found that men who consumed an egg-based breakfast ate significantly fewer calories when offered an unlimited lunch buffet compared to when they ate a carbohydrate-rich bagel breakfast of equal calories.(1) This study supports previous research which revealed that eating eggs for breakfast as part of a reduced-calorie diet helped overweight dieters lose 65 percent more weight and feel more energetic than dieters who ate a bagel breakfast of equal calories and volume.(2)”
“There is a growing body of evidence that supports the importance of high-quality protein in the diet for overall health and in particular the importance of protein at the breakfast meal,” said Maria Luz Fernandez, Ph.D., study author and professor in the department of nutritional sciences at the University of Connecticut. “We examined two typical American breakfasts, and the participants’ self-reported appetite ratings reveal that a protein-rich breakfast helps keep hunger at bay.”
“A test of 20 overweight or obese volunteers discovered that those given an egg for breakfast, rather than cereal, felt less hungry come lunchtime, and consequently consumed less at an ‘all-you-can eat’ buffet.
Researchers at the Pennington Biomedical Research Centre in Louisiana, US, found those given an egg had significantly lower levels of ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates appetite, in their blood three hours after breakfast.
They also had significantly higher levels of another hormone, called PYY3-36, which signals we are full.
Dr Nikhil Dhurandhar, who led the study, said: “This study shows that diets with higher protein quality may enhance satiety, leading to better compliance and success of a weight loss diet. (3)”
The benefits of protein for weight loss and lean mass gain is no secret. This study not only helps to de-demonize eggs but further illustrate why protein is used NOT for just muscle recovery and lean mass gain, but as a means to control hunger and appetite.
And now for some even BIGGER implications that transcend eggs alone that may make some of your heads explode. Yes, this one is on mice but I assure you this action is the same in humans…as the researcher even notes.
“A study published in the International Journal of Obesity, examined the influence exerted by the type of foods and specific timing of intake on the development of metabolic syndrome characteristics in mice. The UAB research revealed that mice fed a high-fat meal after waking up had normal metabolic profiles. In contrast, mice that ate a more carbohydrate-rich diet in the morning and consumed a high-fat meal at the end of the day saw increased weight gain, adiposity, glucose intolerance and other markers of the metabolic syndrome.
Studies have looked at the type and quantity of food intake, but nobody has tested whether the timing of what you eat and when you eat influences body weight, even though we know that sleep influences body weight,” said study lead author Molly Bray, Ph.D., professor of epidemiology at the School of Public Health at UAB. Bray said the research team found that fat intake at the time of waking seems to turn on fat metabolism very efficiently and also turns on the animal’s ability to respond to different types of food later in the day. The first meal you have appears to program your metabolism for the rest of the day,” said lead study author Martin Young, Ph.D., associate professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases at UAB.
This study suggests that if we take a carbohydrate-rich breakfast it would promote carbohydrate utilization throughout the rest of the day, whereas, if you have a high fat breakfast, you have metabolic plasticity to transfer your energy utilization between carbohydrate and fats.(4)”
Now, if you are a high performance athlete training hours per day at HIGH intensity this would not be a bad thing per se. But, as stated at the beginning of this article we are talking about body fat and body fat percentage. Which is directly correlated to health and performance.
Bray and Young said the implications of this research are important for human dietary recommendations. Humans eat a diet that is rarely uniform throughout the day and the capacity needed to respond to changes in the quality of the diet.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I am not telling you to go eat lumps of fat for breakfast. I am simply persuading you strongly to drop all the starch and grain if your goal is fat loss. Unless you are going to practice that it is (football, soccer, volleyball, etc.). Or maybe even before going to perform some high intensity exercise, but of course that depends on what your goals are. Choices of eggs and proteins are great and you do not need to be overly fearful of the fat content in some of these foods. That is NOT an invitation to go on a high fat diet. Eggs and berries…eggs…and …berries.
1) Ratliff, J., Leite, J.O., de Ogburn, R., Puglisi, M.J., VanHeest, J., Fernandez, M.L. (2010) Consuming eggs for breakfast influences plasma glucose and ghrelin, while reducing energy intake during the next 24 hours in adult men. Nutrition Research, 30, 96-103.
2)Vander Wal, J.S., Gupta, A., Khosla, P., Dhurandhar. (2008). Egg breakfast enhances weight loss. International Journal of Obesity, 32, 1545-1551.
3) Vander Wal JS, Marth JM, Khosla P, Jen KL, Dhurandhar NV. Short-term effect of eggs on satiety in overweight and obese subjects. J Am Coll Nutr. 2005 Dec;24(6):510-5.
4) Bray MS, Tsai JY, Villegas-Montoya C, Boland BB, Blasier Z, Egbejimi O, Kueht M, Young ME. Time-of-day-dependent dietary fat consumption influences multiple cardiometabolic syndrome parameters in mice. Int J Obes(Lond). 2010 Nov;34(11):1589-98. Epub 2010 Mar 30.
