Extreme Makeover: Breakfast

Good old Mom was still right when she said "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. To maintain a healthy weight and jump-start your metabolism, breakfast is a 'must do',  so don't think cutting out that meal will help  you cut calories and lose weight faster. Studies have proven that skipping breakfast triggers our bodies to fight "starvation" by holding on to its fat; and really, many us us just overeat later in the day when we skip breakfast.

But, what we choose as our breakfast can make an enormous difference in how we feel and how we lose - or don't lose - weight.

This used to be my typical breakfast:

a small container of yogurt, a banana and orange juice.  I thought I was making good choices; after all I was getting protein, vitamin C, calcium, and potassium, right?

Well, yes. But I was also getting very hungry an hour later, and I felt tired too.
Why? Well my "healthy breakfast" had almost 300 calories - which isn't bad - but the kind of calories I was consuming had no filling or "staying power". Here's why:

Banana = 72 calories, 18 grams carbohydrate ( 10 grams sugar) and 2 grams fiber
Orange Juice = 110 calories, 26 grams carbohydrate (22 grams sugar)
Activia yogurt = 110 calories, 19 grams carbohydrate (17 grams sugar) and 4 grams protein

So my 300 calories served me 63 grams of carbohydrates - nearly 50 of them sugars! Note that the fiber content is a measly 2 grams from the banana.  Basically the meal I chose to start my day - started it all right  - but put me on a fast blood sugar high, that soon plummeted leaving me feeling hungry and tired, and often craving something sweet!

I have spent quite a bit of time as the facilitator of  the diabetes support group and know a little bit about carb counting as a means of keeping blood glucose levels steady, so I realized my high sugar breakfast choices - even though I wasn't adding sugar from the sugar bowl to anything -were probably doing me harm.

I set out to make over my breakfast to give me the results I really wanted.  I wanted more energy, nutrition per calorie, low sugar content and higher fiber. Fiber is a power nutrient for many reasons: it fills you up, it digests slowly, promotes a healthy digestive tract, and can help lower cholesterol and weight! Protein fuels muscles and provides energy.

So now I alternate between two breakfasts:
Some days I have an egg with low-fat cheddar cheese on a whole wheat English muffin.
Other days I eat a very high-fiber cereal like Fiber One with unsweetened Almond Breeze milk.
I may add an orange, apple or raspberries, but I now only have whole fruit instead of juice.

Here's the difference nutritionally:

Egg sandwich + orange day:  258 calories, 36 grams carbohydrate ( 11 sugar), 9 grams protein ( 1 gram saturated fat) and 6 grams fiber
Fiber One and raspberries day:  150 calories,  28 grams carbohydrate ( about 1 gram sugar), 2 grams protein, 16 grams fiber

Quite a change!

My new breakfasts are lower in calories, and could easily be adjusted up to 400 calories - and in fact, I may add a spoonful of low-sugar peanut butter to make sure I get enough protein on the cereal day, but now I am full and feel satisfied for several hours after eating breakfast; I can tell my blood sugar is behaving in a normal way, my weight and waist are easier to maintain and my energy level is better. I usually have a snack mid-morning of either nuts or string cheese, and then I am fine until lunch. 

My old breakfast had foods that are good ones by themselves. But combined, they gave me more sugars at one meal than I normally had in a day.  My "extreme makeover" has worked for me, and my hope is that it will prompt you to take a look at how you are starting your day.