BREAKFAST FOODS

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How Do They Affect Your Weight Loss Program?

Breakfast foods are by and large one of the healthiest items available in the average grocery store, and one of the most helpful in a weight loss program. A large variety of cereals (both hot and cold) dominate the selection. It's up to us to choose the right items. And, as we shall see below, choosing the right items is easy if we follow a few simple rules.

Breakfast Foods
Cold Cereals:

As far as Cold Breakfast Cereals are concerned, here are the ground rules:

1. The lower the sugars, the better! The content of sugars is indicated on the nutrition label (under 'Carbohydrates'), along with the content of fiber. In fact, the entire art of picking the right cereal resides in this one number. A content of sugars up to 6-7 grams per serving is acceptable. Of course, there are certain cereals with sugars as low as 1 gram (e.g., toasted whole grain oat Cheerios from General Mills). These cereals can be served with skim milk and sweetened to taste with a zero-calorie sweetener (such as Splenda). The taste is in my opinion indistinguishable from that of cereals with higher sugar content. Other examples of cereals beneficial for weight control are:
   • Multigrain Cheerios (6 grams of sugars per serving)
   • Corn Chex (3 grams of sugars per serving)
   • Crispix Rice and Corn (3 grams of sugars per serving)
   Note: All of the above-mentioned cereals are from General Mills.
   Beware of the fancier cereals with added frosting, raisins, yogurt, honey, cinnamon, chocolate, etc – this simply spells higher sugar content (i.e., higher glycemic index and glycemic load).
   You may notice that cereals with higher content of sugars still bring in a similar number of calories per serving as cereals with lower content of sugars. As such, you may argue: "What do the sugars matter?"
   Don't be deceived, they matter! Foods with higher sugar content (higher glycemic index) cause an abrupt increase in our blood glucose level, which leads to higher secretion of the hormone insulin. Insulin, in turn, leads to fat formation and fat storage in our body. Insulin also promptly removes glucose from the bloodstream, causing an abrupt decrease in glucose levels which evokes the sensation of hunger. In conclusion: Foods with high glycemic index predispose to weight gain and cause hunger at shorter intervals after eating. So, a cereal containing 20 grams of sugars per serving is apt to cause more hunger and weight gain than a cereal containing 6 grams of sugars per serving. This occurs even if the two cereals contain the exact same amount of calories. It's all about how those calories are distributed in the cereal. The less calories come from sugars (versus other types of carbohydrates), the better for weight control purposes.



2. The higher the content of fiber in a cereal, the better. A fiber content of 3 gram or higher per serving is acceptable. Also, if you see both 'Dietary Fiber' and 'Soluble Fiber' listed on the nutrition label, this is an advantage. (For instance, the toasted whole grain oat Cheerios from General Mills contain 3 grams dietary fiber and 1 gram soluble fiber).
   More about fiber here



3. The content of saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol in your cereal should be zero. However, this won't be a major criteria in your search, since nowadays it's difficult to find a cereal that doesn't satisfy this condition. All the nutrition labels I've looked at faithfully indicated 'zero' for all these components.
   One word of caution, however: If you really want to be sure there are no bad things in your cereal, read the list of 'Ingredients' at the bottom of the nutrition label. Make sure the words 'partially hydrogenated vegetable oils' are not there. Partially hydrogenated vegetable oils are equivalent to trans fats, which are highly harmful to health. Incidentally, I have come across cereals that indicate 'trans fats zero' in the upper part of the label, and then list 'partially hydrogenated vegetable oils' under 'Ingredients'. Arguably, it may be an insignificant amount, but there is no way of telling for sure! And if you're consuming a cereal on a regular basis, you probably want to make sure there are no trans fats in it.
   Note: Finding 'vegetable oils' listed under 'Ingredients' is ok. What you don't want to see are the words 'partially hydrogenated'.




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4. When choosing your cereal, always look for 'Whole Grain' products. They bring in a higher amount of fiber and have a lower glycemic index than refined (enriched) products. Most of the time, if a cereal is made with whole grain, this is readily advertised on the package. If that's not the case, look at the ingredient list: If you see 'whole wheat', 'whole corn', or 'wholemeal' as the first ingredient, this is a whole grain product. Conversely, terms such as 'enriched' or 'bromated' may indicate the products lacks whole grain.
   Another way of identifying whole grain products is by the content of dietary fiber. If the content of dietary fiber is high, the product is most likely made with whole grain.
   Besides fiber, whole grain brings in antioxidants, essential aminoacids, vitamins and dietary minerals with important health benefits. Supplying these products to our body is vital during a weight loss program.



5. Use fat-free milk with your cereal. It is almost 50% lower in calories than regular milk, for virtually the same taste.

Breakfast Foods
Calorie Considerations:

Breakfast Foods
Hot Cereals:

Hot Cereal is another great way of having breakfast. The grocery store selection here is dominated by 'Quaker Oats' and other equivalent brands. All of these are whole grain products, which bring in a reasonable calorie number and sugar amount. Many of these products presently advertise 'Reduced Sugar'. Typically, one serving of such a hot cereal product brings in about 120 calories, zero grams of saturated fat, and about 4 grams of sugar (which for weight control purposes couldn't be better).

My suggestion would be to purchase the individual packet containers (at least in the beginning) - they are easier to prepare and give you an idea of the recommended portion size.

Breakfast Foods
Snack Bars:

Note: If one bar doesn't satisfy your hunger, you can always have two. In fact, a good breakfast should bring in at least 200 calories, so as to control hunger throughout the morning.

Breakfast Foods
Pancake Mixes:

Pancake mixes are another item found in the cereal aisle. Let me state right away this can be a diet killer. If the serving size is not respected, or if regular syrup is added, a sizable number of calories may be ingested. To illustrate, a pack of 'Aunt Jemima' pancake mix should make about 20 servings. Each serving is said to contain about 160 calories (for the dry mix alone) and 6 grams of sugars. To this calorie count you have to add the other ingredients used for preparation, i.e. milk (hopefully fat-free), eggs (hopefully egg beaters) and oil (hopefully a small amount). This makes for 3 small pancakes. And now comes the real killer: Maple Syrup. Regular Maple Syrup is simply atrocious: 1/4 cup contains 210 calories and 36 grams of sugar. Even light Maple Syrup brings in 100 calories and 21 grams sugar per 1/4 cup. Fortunately, there's a ray of hope: Fat-free Maple Syrup (the one I found was from 'Log Cabin') brings in only 35 calories per 1/4 cup. Comparing with the above, there is no question which one you should use.
In conclusion, a 'cautious' pancake breakfast is likely to bring in about 300 calories. All in all, this is still a reasonable amount. An indiscriminate pancake breakfast, however, may bring in anywhere from 500 to 1,000 calories, which is unacceptable for a weight control diet. When ordering pancakes in a restaurant, be aware this is calorie number you're likely to ingest.
The same principles apply to Waffles, Crepes, French Toast, etc. Prepared at home with low calorie ingredients and consumed in reasonable portions, they make for borderline acceptable dishes. In restaurant portions, however, they are a sure way to pack on the pounds. In conclusion, I would qualify pancakes and the like as questionable breakfast foods, especially in a weight control diet.

Note: All calorie counts are approximate.

We hope the information on this page sheds some light on the importance of healthy breakfast foods, and makes it easier to choose the right breakfast foods for your weight loss program.

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