Big, Balanced Breakfast is the key to Weight Loss

A heavy breakfast packed with both carbohydrates and lean protein may help you loose weight, claims a new research. Eating a big meal in the morning lessens cravings and cuts hunger pangs for the rest of the day, which can lead to significant weight loss.

The theory was put forward by Dr. Daniela Jakubowicz, clinical professor at Virginia Commonwealth University and an endocrinologist at the Hospital de Clinicas Caracas in Venezuela.

Dr. Jakubowicz has been urging her patients to eat a hearty breakfast for the past 15 years. She tested her plan with others at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and presented the results in the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society, held this week in San Francisco.

The study involved 96 obese and physically inactive women, 46 of whom were put on a strict low-carb regimen and the rest on Dr. Jakubowicz’s ‘big breakfast’ plan – wherein the breakfast was a 610-calorie meal with 58 grams of carbs, 47 grams of protein and 22 fat grams.

When it comes to calories, the two diets were not much different. The low-carb plan had a total of 1,095 calories per day, while Dr. Jakubowicz’s diet had 1,240 calories. The major difference was that she gave half the daily allotment at breakfast, whereas the other plan had dinner as the big meal.

Four months later, the low-carb dieters seemed to be doing better as they lost an average of 28 pounds compared with the 23 shed on the ‘big breakfast’ diet.

However, many of the low-carb eaters failed to maintain their diets while others kept shedding weight and after eight months, the situation had reversed. The low-carb dieters put an average of 18 pounds back on, while the big breakfasters continued to drop pounds, an average 16.5 each.

Jakubowicz explained that when you wake in the morning, your body is prepared to look for food. Your metabolism is high, and levels of cortisol and adrenaline are at their highest. The brain needs energy right away, and if you don't eat or you eat too little, it looks for alternatives and activates an emergency system that draws energy from muscles, destroying muscle tissue in the process. When you eat later, the body and brain are still cognizant, so the body saves energy from the food as fat, she said.

Also, the serotonin levels are highest in the morning and slowly weaken as the day progresses, thus making you crave more for food. When you eat chocolates or cookies, the serotonin levels rise again and your body begins to associate good feelings with them, creating an addictive cycle, Jakubowicz said.

A heavy breakfast provides an initial energy boost that the body needs in the morning and since protein is digested slowly, you will never feel famished.

Also, a small piece of chocolate or candy helps in the morning as the serotonin levels are high and it doesn’t taste as good. The brain doesn’t get the same serotonin boost, and eventually it helps to cut down on cravings.

Dr Alex Johnstone, from the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen, said that some previous studies had suggested that while low-carb diets were a "good tool" to reduce weight quickly, they were not a "diet for life".

The upturn of lost weight in people on low-carb diets could be more a sign of the relative monotony of the two diets, rather than their ability to necessarily reduce cravings.

"It could be that it is simply easier for people on a higher-carbohydrate diet to comply with it over a longer period."