When it comes to losing weight, we often think of the common recommendations: exercise more, eat less, consume more fruits and vegetables, and get enough sleep. But there’s an important aspect of dropping excess pounds that often gets missed – breakfast! Simply by consuming a balanced, healthy breakfast each day, you can actually increase your likelihood of successfully losing weight.

What Does Your Breakfast Look Like?

For many people, breakfast may mean grabbing a cup of coffee as you race out the door or scarfing down a bagel as quickly as possible. Others may choose to skip breakfast altogether because they think they are saving calories.

Although these approaches do save calories and time, they may not be saving your waistline. Growing evidence suggests that eating breakfast every day may play a significant role in losing weight and keeping it off.

The Power of Breakfast

According to data from The National Weight Control Registry, the majority of “successful losers” – individuals that have maintained a 30-pound minimum weight loss for a year or more – eat breakfast on a daily basis.

Two studies published in The Journal of the American Dietetic Association supported the importance of eating breakfast for losing weight. Even though these studies were funded by cereal companies, it is agreed that the underlying message still confirms the correlation between breakfast and weight loss.

In another study, researchers analyzed the diet and exercise habits of a group of 4,200 individuals. It was found that individuals who consumed breakfast on a regular basis were also more likely to exercise consistently. Also, women who ate breakfast on a regular basis tended to consume fewer calories throughout the day.

Consuming food early on helps prevent “starvation eating” from happening later in the day. Additionally, it can help jump-start your metabolism. When you skip breakfast, it’s actually like a 15 or more hour fast for your body. This may prevent the proper enzymes (the ones needed for metabolizing fat and losing weight) from being produced.

More Reasons to Love Breakfast

Research has found that consuming breakfast on a regular basis is crucial for metabolism, weight maintenance, and overall good health. Recently, this evidence has been growing even stronger. A new study, published in The Journal of Physiology, found that regularly consuming breakfast had a direct effect on how fat cells function in the body.

It was discovered that these fat cells were affected by changes in gene activity involving insulin resistance and fat metabolism. Even if breakfast increases an individual’s total calorie intake for the day, these calories may be offset by the other energy-burning benefits that breakfast offers. The findings also suggest that consistently eating breakfast may help decrease an individuals risk for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.

To complete the study, researchers asked 49 individuals between the ages of 21 and 60 to either consume breakfast or fast until mid-day on a daily basis for six weeks. Those participating in the breakfast group were asked to consume a minimum of 700 calories by 11 a.m., with at least half of these calories needing to be consumed within two hours of waking. Participants could select the breakfast foods they wished to consume, with most people opting for popular breakfast choices such as toast, cereal, and juice.

Researchers kept track of the participant’s metabolisms, cardiovascular health, body composition, and metabolic health both before and after the study. Biopsies were also taken of each participant’s fat cells in order to track the activity of almost 50 different metabolism-related genes. The body’s response to alternating insulin levels was also monitored.

Results showed that individuals of an average weight that consumed breakfast actually lowered the activity of genes associated with insulin resistance. Consuming breakfast also seemed to boost the amount of sugar that cells could take up. This could lead to increased protection against chronic illnesses such as diabetes over time.

It’s important to note that obese participants did not experience the same results. The higher the body fat percentage of a person, the less their fat cells would respond to insulin. However, at least one fat gene linked to fat burning was more active in obese participants that consumed breakfast compared to the fasting group.

Fasting seemed to raise the activity of inflammatory genes, but only in obese participants. This means that it may be best for breakfast guidelines to differ depending on the weight of the individual.

Since study participants consumed breakfasts high in carbohydrates, researchers were unable to determine if protein-rich breakfasts would produce identical results.

Fast, Healthy, and Easy Breakfast Ideas

A cereal with a high fiber content (at least 3 to 5 grams per serving) can serve as a fast and healthy breakfast option. It is important to remember that if you are not used to a high fiber diet, be careful not to overdo it at first. A sudden overload of fiber when you weren’t used to eating much can lead to digestive distress.

Although processed, sugary cereals are not an ideal breakfast option, most experts agree that it is still “better than nothing”. Skipping breakfast altogether may lead to binging on even worse foods later on because you are completely starving. If you are in an absolute pinch, you could mix some sweetened cereal with unsweetened cereal to decrease the sugar content a bit. Or you could take unsweetened cereal and mix it into something that contains a bit of sugar, such as low-fat pudding or yogurt.

One of my favorite appliances to use to create a delicious and relatively healthy breakfast is the air fryer. The air fryer is terrific for creating a vegetable omelette or a healthy frittata. It’s by far my favorite appliance to use to make any kind of delicious egg dish. Air fryers are also great for keeping the calories off, since they are a great alternative to deep frying. Studies show that once consumers purchase an air fryer, their deep frying consumption decreases dramatically, a great way to slim that waistline. There are a lot of really good options for air fryers these days, and the price has come down dramatically over the past few years as well.

Smarter Breakfasts Made Simple

Even though it seems that any breakfast is better than no breakfast, it isn’t hard to make sure that the breakfast you do eat is a healthy one. Many nutritious foods can be kept on hand and thrown together quickly to create a satisfying, healthy breakfast. Consider stocking up on the following ingredients to make fast, easy, healthy breakfasts:

• Whole wheat or sprouted toast with mashed avocado and a boiled egg on the side

• Oatmeal with fresh or frozen berries, unsweetened shredded coconut, raisins, milk, cinnamon, etc.

• Bananas spread with nut butter

• Toast with nut butter or sliced bananas

• A smoothie made with a combination of fruits, veggies, protein, and healthy fats (for example – yogurt, ice, frozen berries, avocado, and greens blended together can make a delicious, healthy, portable breakfast)

• A high-quality, low sugar protein shake made with clean ingredients

• Veggie omelette with a side of fresh fruit

• Small tortilla with sliced up strawberries and nut butter

Fast Food – The Best Choices When You’re On the Go

Fast food certainly is quick and easy, but it isn’t known for being healthy. Fortunately, healthier fast-food choices do exist. Watch for options such as oatmeal bowls with fruit or nuts, egg and cheese sandwiches on flatbread with veggies, fruit and yogurt parfaits, spinach and feta wraps, or a breakfast sandwich made with a whole-grain Engish muffin, egg, and low-fat cheese.

Final Thoughts

Who knew that eating more could be the key to losing weight? Making sure you consume breakfast on a regular basis could be the boost you’ve been needing to reach your weight loss goals. If you’ve been too busy to eat breakfast, hopefully, some of the options above will help show you that a fast, healthy breakfast is possible. Bon appetit!