Big Breakfasts May Boost Long-term Weight Loss Success
By Hugh C. McBride
Venezuelan researchers have discovered that eating a big breakfast may be a crucial component of successful long-term weight loss and maintenance.
Working in conjunction with scientists from Virginia Commonwealth University, a team from the Hospital de Clinicas in Caracas determined that the potential for long-term success is dependent upon a dieter's ability to increase her feelings of fullness while minimizing cravings for carbohydrates. Eating a large, carbohydrate-rich breakfast appeared to quash these cravings, the researchers found, thus allowing dieters to follow a low-carb, low-cal meal plan the rest of the day.
"Most weight loss studies have determined that a very low carbohydrate diet is not a good method to reduce weight," the study's lead author, Daniela Jakubowicz, MD, said in a June 23, 2008, article on the ScienceDaily research news website. "[An extremely low-cal diet] exacerbates the craving for carbohydrates and slows metabolism. As a result, after a short period of weight loss, there is a quick return to obesity."
The 96 women who participated in Jakubowicz's study were divided into two groups: one that was limited to a 1,085-calorie, strictly low-carb diet, and one that was put on a 1,240-calorie, "big breakfast" plan.
Four months into the study, the women in the low-carb group had lost an average of 28 lbs., while the big breakfast group averaged a 23-lb. loss. But by the eight-month mark, the average low-cal dieter had regained 18 lbs., while the big breakfast-eaters had lost an average of 16 additional pounds.
Jakubowicz, who said she has been advising patients to follow a big-breakfast program for more than 15 years, said that one of the other reasons the program is healthier than a strict lo-carb approach is that participants can benefit from the fiber and vitamins found in fruit.
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