Breakfast habits and your waistline

What are the worst breakfast foods and habits for your waistline?  MSN lists 37 of them in their article 37 Worst Breakfast Habits for Your Waistline.  We won’t review all 37 but let’s review some of them and add some other ideas for a healthy breakfast.  In the article they mentioned a book that actually focuses on breakfasts and belly fat, called Zero Belly Breakfasts.  
  
1.   Eat Breakfast – so many people skip breakfast thinking that is a good way to cut calories.  But then by 10 AM they are hitting the snack machines because they are hungry.  So eat breakfast every day.  The National Weight Control Registry  notes that 78% of people who lost weight and kept it off, ate breakfast every day.   

2.   Focus on Protein – To lose weight and keep it off, a lot of research has shown that adding protein to your breakfast can help keep weight off.  Why?  Because protein has “staying power” it stays with you longer so you aren’t so hungry mid-morning.  The National Weight Control Registry found that 80% of people who successfully lost weight and kept it off, ate a high protein breakfast.  Protein also doesn’t spike your blood sugar and helps keep your blood sugar levels stable for up to 3 hours after breakfast.  Eat This, Not That! Has some suggestions for high-protein breakfasts:
a.       Eggs – a great high-quality protein to start your day with.  Make some egg frittata muffins and freeze them to enjoy at breakfast.  My sister makes up a batch of 12 frittatas.  And then saps them in the microwave to have a hot frittata for breakfast.  They are also good to bring to work and put in a microwave to sap a frittata or two hot for lunch. Or, enjoy some scrambled eggs made with milk.

Scrambled eggs made with milk

b.       Low fat Yogurt – also a high-quality protein and a good way to add calcium, vitamin D and probiotics to your day. Greek yogurt has more protein but regular yogurt has more calcium per serving.
Yogurt
 c.       Peanut Butter – put some peanut butter on a whole grain English muffin or whole grain bagel.
d.       Low fat cottage cheese – so many people seem to have forgotten about cottage cheese. Add some frozen or fresh berries, add some cinnamon.  
Cottage Cheese with fresh fruit
e.       Low Fat or Skim Milk – a glass of skim mill has only 90 calories and provides 8 grams of high quality protein.
3.   Black Coffee is good, coffee loaded with creamers and sugar, not so good.  If you want to add something to your coffee, skip the creamers and choose some almond milk, soy milk, or low-fat milk.  My older daughter adds 2% low-fat milk to her morning coffee.  This is one way she adds milk to her day and adds calcium, protein and vitamin D to her day. 

4.    Energy drinks – not the best choice to start your day.  One would think energy drinks would energize you for the day.  But many energy drinks are loaded with sugar.  Drink the coffee, have some hot tea but skip the energy drinks. 

5.   Skip the Fast Food Breakfast or choose some healthier options.  Who doesn’t enjoy an Egg McMuffin for breakfast?  A nice treat but enjoying fast food for breakfast several times a week can add a lot of extra calories.  If you are going out for fast food breakfasts, check out Best & Worst Breakfast Sandwiches.  The Egg McMuffin is a better choice at 300 calories. And it provides a good amount of protein.  Subway offers a good Egg & Cheese sandwich at 360 calories.  Choose the whole grain bread to boost the nutritional value.  Panera offers a Breakfast Power Sandwich on Whole Grain bread.  About 340 calories.  Dunkin Donuts offers something besides the morning donut.  Choose the Ham, Egg, and Cheese on an English Muffin for 280 calories.

Enjoy breakfast this week.  Whether eating at home or out, add some protein to your breakfast.

Source:  37 Worst Breakfast Habits for Your Waistline, Zero Belly Breakfasts, high-protein breakfasts, egg frittata muffins, Best & Worst Breakfast Sandwiches  Image sources:  Scrambled eggs, yogurt, Cottage cheese

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