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All that healthful eating we’ve been talking about starts with a good breakfast, so this week you’ll learn why it’s so important and how to put one together in no time. We’ll cover more tips to trim calories, build on your walking program, and make use of your food record.
Rush! Hurry! Go! There’s no time for breakfast!
Hey, not so fast! A little planning will help you get a balanced morning meal lickety-split. You may wonder why you should eat breakfast when you’re trying to lose weight. It’s simple; skipping meals causes people to overeat. Eating breakfast is a critical strategy for weight loss and the prevention of weight regain, though many who skip breakfast have the misguided notion that it saves them calories. Many of those who are certain that they are not eating more calories overall when they skip breakfast really are. Among participants in the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR)—a listing of thousands of people who have lost at least 30 pounds and kept if off for at least one year—78% eat breakfast every day. Additionally, eating breakfast is associated with healthier cholesterol levels, better insulin sensitivity, and greater intakes of several vitamins and minerals, including potassium, calcium, iron, and vitamin C.
If you’re worried that eating in the morning will raise your blood glucose, you’ll be delighted to see how eating may actually push those morning numbers down. Morning blood glucose levels are largely regulated by hormonal factors and the actions of your liver. While sleeping, your cells use up the glucose from your dinner or evening snack, so the liver sends more glucose into the blood. Often in type 2 diabetes, the liver doesn’t recognize that there is ample blood glucose available, so it sends more out. Eating a food with carbohydrate tells the liver that you are no longer fasting, so it stops releasing extra glucose.
Breakfast in a Scramble
• Start your day with a piece of fruit, if the thought of eating in the morning makes you queasy. Eventually add other food groups.
• Get organized the night before.
— Pack a peanut butter and banana sandwich and a cup of low-fat milk to go.
— Measure out dry cereal and store it in the refrigerator with a cup of low-calorie yogurt and a plastic spoon to take with you.
— Prepare your own trail mix of dry whole-grain cereals, dried apricots, dried cherries, and other favorite dried fruits. Pair with a cup of yogurt, or if you want to avoid more carbohydrate, grab a tiny container of cottage cheese, or a cheese stick to round out this speedy breakfast.
• Keep a few meal-replacement bars and drinks on hand for when all else fails. Keep some at home and at work.
— Pick those with at least 3 grams of fiber, 10 grams of protein, no more than 3 grams of saturated fat, and about 250–400 calories. See Week 13 for more information about meal replacements.
• Make a smoothie with nonfat Greek yogurt and frozen fruit. Eat it at home or take it with you. See the recipe for Mixed Berry Smoothie in the Appendix.
• Stock up on dry and cooked whole-grain cereals. If you prefer long-cooking oats, prepare several servings at once. Store the
leftovers in the refrigerator in serving-size containers.
• Early in the week, make several hard-boiled eggs. In the morning, grab one, along with toast or fruit or both.
• Scramble eggs with diced peppers and onions. Wrap them in a tortilla or place between two halves of an English muffin.
• Combine any three food groups such as grains, lean meat, and fruit, if you don’t like traditional breakfast foods,
• Eat last night’s leftovers.
Cheryl S’s Story
Eating behavior expert Brian Wansink, Ph.D., author of Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think We Eat (Bantam Dell, 2006), argues that on average Americans eat about 30–35% more than they think they do. Even the most aware individuals eat about 20% more than they realize. If you think you aren’t influenced by the size of a dish, you probably are, he says. When nutrition science professors and graduate students were given various sizes of ice cream scoops and bowls to serve themselves at a party, those with the larger dish served up to 127 more calories compared with those with the smaller dish. That amount increased further when they had both the larger dish and the larger scoop. Even students and professors who know lots about food and what they are eating can be misled!
If the size of a dish can trick you into eating more, it can also trick you into eating less. Apply this concept to all aspects of eating and drinking. Will it be more satisfying to eat a 4-ounce steak on a 12-inch dinner plate or on an 8-inch salad plate? On the bigger plate, the steak looks