Sweets for Breakfast?

- POSTED ON: Feb 11, 2012

                                        

Yesterday in Facebook, I came across a cite to the following article.
I haven't checked out the underlying research, 
and I don't plan to experiment with this idea,
because I've already had a lifetime
of unsuccessful experimentation wth it.

Still, it's an interesting article, 
and I see it as one more example
of how different each of us can be, and
that the same things don't work for everyone.



"10 February 2012

Attempting to avoid sweets entirely can create a psychological addiction to these same foods in the long-term, explains Daniela Jakubowicz, professor at Tel Aviv University’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine, who led the study.

Over the course of a 32-week-long study, participants who added dessert to their breakfast - cookies, cake, or chocolate - lost an average of 40 pounds more than a group that avoided such foods, the journal Steroids reports.

What’s more, they kept off the pounds longer. A meal in the morning provides energy for the day’s tasks, aids in brain functioning, and kick-starts the body’s metabolism, making it crucial for weight loss and maintenance, according to a Tel Aviv statement.

And breakfast is the meal that most successfully regulates ghrelin, the hormone that increases hunger, explains Jakubowicz. While the level of ghrelin rises before every meal, it is suppressed most effectively at breakfast time.

These findings were based on 193 clinically obese, non-diabetic adults, who were randomly assigned to one of two diet groups with identical caloric intake - the men consumed 1,600 calories daily and the women 1,400.

However, the first group was given a low carbohydrate diet including a small 300 calorie breakfast, and the second was given a 600 calorie breakfast high in protein and carbohydrates, always including a dessert item (i.e. chocolate).

Halfway through the study, participants in both groups had lost an average of 33 pounds per person. But in the second half of the study, results differed drastically.

The participants in the low-carb group regained an average of 22 pounds each, but participants in the group with a larger breakfast lost another 15 pounds each.

At the end of the 32 weeks, those who had consumed a 600 calorie breakfast had lost an average of 40 pounds more per person than their peers.

Jakubowicz conducted the study with Julio Wainstein and Mona Boaz from Tel Aviv and Oren Froy of Hebrew University Jerusalem."


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Existing Comments:

On Feb 12, 2012 wrote:
I find this astonishing. First of all, that participants could average 40 lbs. MORE! But then again, if some were gaining weight back, it doesn't mean as much. This also sounds so DANGEROUS to me. And I can't believe how many people on Spark I've read comments from who say that if they eat a high carb breakfast, they are more likely to get hungry. However, I've often thought that was all in their heads, or rather, that they might have urges to eat, but not hunger. So the 600-calorie breakfast was the only difference? The group with the dessert breakfast at the same low carb foods the rest of the time? Are they saying the second group actually stuck to its calorie requirements but gained weight? or are they saying the bigger, sweeter breakfast helped participants stay with the diet? Won't change what I'm doing now. I still prefer having a bigger dinner and the routine has to fit in with my life preferences. Then again.... did it have to be a real dessert item? Peanut butter on toast with a smear of jam won't work?


On Feb 12, 2012 Dr. Collins wrote:
             Ho oolala. This doesn't sound in any way dangerous to me. All foods consist of some combination of proteins, fats, carbs. Sweets are no different. Whether it is honey on toast or a jelly donut or a piece of candy, the body is going to break them down and process them the same way, and my great grandparents ate biscuits and jelly or toast and honey or donuts or fried pies for breakfast. This is not an eating plan i prefer, but it seems to work for some people.


On Feb 12, 2012 Dr. Collins wrote:
Oh, I looked it up and this was an extra paragraph on another site. "Though they consumed the same daily amount of calories, “the participants in the low carbohydrate diet group had less satisfaction, and felt that they were not full,” she says, noting that their cravings for sugars and carbohydrates were more intense and eventually caused them to cheat on the diet plan. “But the group that consumed a bigger breakfast, including dessert, experienced few if any cravings for these foods later in the day.” It's still amazing to me that people did not crave sweets later in the day after starting the day with them, but the evidence is there, at least in this study. I wish I felt hungrier in the morning. So they're saying that even though ghrelin is lower and hunger is lower, it is still recommended to eat more? Still, this hasn't passed the 2-5 year maintenance test. It's hard to find a study that does.


On Feb 12, 2012 Dr. Collins wrote:
             There are no perfect research studies involving food and/or weight-control. They just don't exist. And different research projects appear to "prove" different things. Each one just serves to give support to a specific way of eating ... but all of them seem to give support to differing ways. Each of us has to find what works for us. What works for you don't necessarily work for me, and vice versa. And there are other ways that wouldn't work for either of us, but will work for someone else.

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