I’ve said so in this space before, but I’m going to to say it again – because two new learned studies have bolstered the claim: It’s better to eat a hearty breakfast than a big supper, because you’ll burn off lots of calories during an active day. But apparently there’s more to it than that…
Not me, but reflective of where I want to be by June if my current
weight loss regimen (big breakfast) continues to yield results.
When you eat as important as what you eat
A team from Vanderbilt University has just released findings from a new study that reaffirm the standing (though contentious) theory that when you eat is as important as what you eat. Specifically, they confirm that eating a big breakfast is better for your weight loss and maintenance efforts than eating a big, heavy supper. And midnight snacks are a total no-no.
An abstract of the study report explains what they did: “The researchers monitored the metabolism of mid-aged and older subjects in a whole-room respiratory chamber over two separate 56-hour sessions, using a “random crossover” experimental design. In each session, lunch and dinner were presented at the same times (12:30 and 17:45, respectively), but the timing of the third meal differed between the two halves of the study. Thus in one of the 56-hour bouts, the additional daily meal was presented as breakfast (8:00) whereas in the other session, a nutritionally equivalent meal was presented to the same subjects as a late-evening snack (22:00). The duration of the overnight fast was the same for both sessions.”
Basically, they gave the participants the exact same food but had them eat it at different times.
The team found that the widely practised tradition of a big supper at the end of the day is out of synch with the human body’s natural body clock, your internal system regulator that follows the so-called Circadian Rhythm, based on night-day and waking-sleeping patterns. Your body clock is programmed to make you burn fat when you sleep, and to burn freshly-consumed Calories during the day. Freshly-consumed Calories are more accessible to your body for burning, so, if you have a big dinner and/or a late night snack, you’re upsetting the natural balance that would see your body burning fat overnight.
And as you might imagine, skipping Breakfast is also a total no-no.
Big breakfast eaters burn more Calories
In direct support of the study chronicled above, and of my previous contentions, a team from the University of Lübeck in Germany reports that people who eat a big breakfast brun many more Calories during their usual daily routine than those who eat a small breakfast.
Diet-induces thermogenesis is the term used by scientists to describe the burning of Calories in the body. The Lübeck team found that study participants who ate big breakfasts (but changed nothing else in their daily routines) had thermogensis levels up to 2.5 times higher than control participants who ate a small breakfast.
The study’s Corresponding Author, Juliane Richter, MSc, explains: “Our results show that a meal eaten for breakfast, regardless of the amount of calories it contains, creates twice as high diet-induced thermogenesis as the same meal consumed for dinner. This finding is significant for all people as it underlines the value of eating enough at breakfast.
“We recommend that patients with obesity as well as healthy people eat a large breakfast rather than a large dinner to reduce body weight and [help] prevent metabolic diseases.”
Told you so.
~ Maggie J.