Like Mom Said, "Eat Your Breakfast!"

According to the latest endocrinology research, "Starting your day with a large meal packed with both carbohydrates and lean protein, and even a small piece of chocolate, can help lessen cravings and hunger the rest of the day, which can lead to significant weight loss...." This is now being touted as The *NEW* Big Breakfast Diet.

But is this really news? I mean, the one area where all weight loss diets seem to agree (unless you are fasting or cleansing) is that you must eat breakfast. Whether it's all fruit, all raw, all fiber, all protein, vegan or full of bacon, I can't think of one popular diet that has not told its adherents to eat breakfast.

Look at the name of the meal, after all - Break Fast. You are fasting from the last time you eat before going to bed until the time you wake up. Your metabolism goes into conservation mode to handle no food or beverage intake for up to 12 hours. It stands to reason that this is a good time to eat. It gets your metabolism going, helps you wake up, and helps curb food cravings later on in the day.

And it turns out that eating food you crave first thing is best. Get it out of the way early so you can possibly burn off the calories and so you don't binge later. That's right, the Big Breakfast diet calls for "your breakfast [to account] for roughly half of your daily calories, and breakfast includes milk, 3 ounces of lean meat, two slices of cheese, two whole grain servings, one fat serving and one ounce of milk chocolate or candy."

In a recent study, the Big Breakfast eaters lost 4 times more weight over 8 months than low carb low calorie dieters even though the BBs where eating more calories. We're talking 40 pounds versus 9 pounds, so this significant. Mom was right!

Tags: weight loss, News, big breakfast diet, breakfast diet, lynda lippin