Your breakfast can keep you trim & healthy....

Today's post: Friday, 12-19-2008

People who eat breakfast are known to be healthier than people who don’t. They tend to perform better at work and, if in school, they learn more.

Women who eat breakfast are better able to lose excess fat and keep it off or NOT gain it to begin with than women who don’t.

Other than people who eat only junky treats such as donuts and nothing else for breakfast, both these things are even true for people who eat less than ideal breakfasts. Small breakfasts with a multivitamin or ham and eggs and a piece of buttered toast and coffee are better than NO breakfast at all.

Now, this week, a study was reported that men who eat a “healthy” lean breakfast with “low caloric density” also are better able to lose excess fat and keep it off or NOT gain it to begin with compared with men who eat no breakfast or a fatty one. (Just eating breakfast of any kind is less effective in keeping fat off for men than it is for women.)

We know that eating meat from grain fed animals gives you too much fat, too much saturated fat, too many omega 6 oils, & too few omega 3 oils. And, eating farmed fish; and often eating, meat from such grain fed animals tends to expose you to pesticides, herbicides, & other industrial chemical pollutants that are bioconcentrated in the fat.

Separately we know that refined grains, high fructose corn syrup, too much of even whole grains, sugar, and soft drinks & artificial sweeteners tend to make you fat when you ingest them. So keep them all out of your breakfasts!

And, we know that a moderately high protein, high fiber food profile helps keep you lean because eating foods high in protein and fiber tend to help keep you feeling full and not hungry the longest.

The lowest caloric density is in unstarchy, often green vegetables. So including them at breakfast in some way will help keep your overall breakfast low in caloric density even if you eat some fatty or oily food too.

Lastly, we know that your body tends to process carbs and whole grains best at breakfast compared with the rest of the day. So breakfast tends to be the best meal for whole grains and fresh fruit.

1. Right now, far too many workplaces make things like donuts, pastries, candy, cookies, soft drinks, home-made treats, junky snack foods, &/or birthday cake available at work in some way. And women tend to be more tempted by such things than men or be in a group of women who eat them and think it’s normal. They also tend to spend more time in their office than men. So, if a woman goes to work on no breakfast, guess what happens to her fat loss plans? She is too often too hungry to resist. This makes gaining fat easy; & taking it off difficult for women who don’t eat breakfast.

But if she eats breakfast and knows better, she is far more likely to pass or only have a very small amount on some days of the treats she most likes. So, for women, eating breakfast tends to result in being less fat.

(This is my guess as to why even less than perfect breakfasts help women stay trim better than they do for men.)

2. Breakfast items to avoid or avoid at least 6 days a week or 28 days a month:

Any commercially baked pastry, bagels, packaged cereal made from refined grains – particularly those with sugar added; any jam or jelly or syrup with high fructose corn syrup (unfortunately, right now, that’s virtually all of them sold in most grocery stores), any toast or waffles or pancakes made from refined grains, and fatty meats from grain fed animals.

Go real easy on sugar and butter and cheese as well.

3. Here are some healthy breakfast ideas:

a) Wild caught shrimp, crab, lobster, halibut, and salmon tend to have far fewer pollutants and saturated fat than other kinds of protein. And though salmon is fattiest, it has the most omega 3 oils.

So a “stew” or chowder with abundant vegetables (sliced or chopped carrots, green peppers, celery, &/or diced broccoli florets -- and diced onion); a good bit of one or two of these healthier protein sources; and NO milk, cream, cheese, or potatoes would work.

b) A soup with a small bit of low sodium miso; mushrooms; oriental spices such as ginger or garlic etc; some kind of edible seaweed such as wakame; and a good bit of one or two of these healthier protein sources would work. You could try half shrimp with their tail scales removed for half; and canned, and wild caught Alaskan salmon for half, for example.

c) Scrambled eggs, shrimp, and abundant sprouts works well. I’ve had it; and it’s delicious. And, if you can get them, using broccoli sprouts would make it super good for you. You can also add diced onion for more flavor.

d) I’ve never had it; but the Korean dish Kimchi is so good for you it’s a superfood. And, it’s a fermented, spiced cruciferous vegetable dish. In Korea it’s a traditional breakfast food.
Since it is quite spicy, following it with some just cooked, wild caught salmon with milder spices sounds as if it would be a good breakfast.

e) A small dish of cooked, old fashioned style oatmeal, two eggs fried gently in extra virgin olive oil; and a whole chilled and peeled kiwi fruit would make a good breakfast.

f) ONE piece of toast made with whole grain or sprouted whole grain bread with no bad ingredients, a small bit of high quality butter added AFTER the bread is toasted and with a bit of home-made marmalade made with real sugar and organic oranges; a piece of grilled steak from a cow fed only grass and hormone free that’s had all the visible fat trimmed off and allowed to have any fat drained off as or just after it’s cooked, with lots of onions – perhaps sautéed in extra virgin olive oil, and some chilled, trimmed strawberries would work.

g) A blender drink with a commercial “green drink” powder from vegetables, Jarrow whey powder that has no Stevia, some nonfat yogurt, and some fresh or thawed frozen organically grown blueberries and some water or 1% lowfat milk would be good. And, if you had all the ingredients ready and could do most of the clean up after you get home from work, it could be extremely fast – plus you could drink it while you watched or listened to the news or read your paper.

Flavor, high nutrition fresh fruits, health OK protein foods – particularly wild caught fish and eggs from pasture fed chickens if you can get them, vegetables, and minimal whole grains PLUS NO refined grains, only occasional whole grains, and as many vegetables as you can manage is the formula I recommend.