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RETIREMENT

BIG BREAKFAST AIDS WEIGHT LOSS

A hearty breakfast is the key to staying slim

Wednesday June 18,2008

EATING a hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs is the key to staying slim, research has found.

Starting the day with a meal packed with carbohydrates and protein not only helps shed the pounds but keeps them off too.

Researchers found that eating well first thing then watching the carbs and calories during the rest of the day will keep you trim.

It comes as Britain is gripped by an obesity epidemic.

Scientists compared the “big breakfast” diet with a strict low-carb weight-loss programme.

They studied 94 obese, inactive women and found that low-carb dieters initially lost more weight. But the “big breakfast” group continued to lose weight while those on the strict diet regained almost all their weight loss.

Nutritionist Angela Dowden said: “A big breakfast every day might be impractical but you are more able to deal with hunger pangs later and eat less overall.

“The ideal breakfast is scrambled eggs on wholegrain toast with juice or grilled bacon, sausage, scrambled egg, mushrooms and tomatoes. It must be low-fat, high-protein, grilled not fried.”

Dr Daniela Jakubowicz, from the Hospital de Clinicas in Caracas, Venezuela, who led the study compared 46 obese women on an ordinary low-carb diet and 48 on the “big breakfast” diet.

The latter ate 1,240 calories a day with 46 grams of fat, 97 grams of carbohydrates and 93 grams of protein.

Breakfast totalled 610 calories, lunch 395 calories and dinner 235.

The low-carb group ate 1,085 calories a day with 78 grams of fat, 17 grams of carbohydrates and 51 grams of protein.

Breakfast was just 290 calories.

Dr Jakubowicz, who presented her findings last night in San Francisco, said: “A very low carbohydrate diet exacerbates the craving for carbohydrates and slows metabolism. After a short period of weight loss, there is a quick return to obesity.”