Most of us know about the importance of eating a healthy breakfast for weight management but now scientists have proved that not only is breakfast important for those who want to lose weight, the bigger the breakfast the better.

Researchers from the Hospital de Clinicas in Caracus, Venezuela, looked at how breakfasting habits affected the weight of almost 100 young, obese women. They found that those who ate around half of their daily calories first thing lose more weight in the long term than those who start the day with a small breakfast. And they are less likely to pile the pounds back on again. It is thought that eating a meal packed with healthy protein and whole grains helps cut cravings for sweet and starchy foods later in the day as well as boosting metabolism, or fat burning.

 

This study isn’t the first to make a link between a healthy, hearty breakfast and weight loss. Earlier this year a study of thousands of British women and men found that those who ate the biggest breakfast put on the least amount of weight over a five year period. Researchers concluded that skipping breakfast starves the body of nutrients and prompts it to store more of lunch and dinner as fat, whereas consuming more food at breakfast gives the body time to digest food more efficiently.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 1st, 2008 at 3:50 am and is filed under General Health, Healthy Living, In the News, Nutrition and Healthy Eating, Weight Loss. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.