High Fiber Relatively Low Carb Cereal

Written by Tim Moore


In the last few months, I've reordered some of my daily habits. Some of this is due to time constraints. Well, actually, a lot of is due to time constraints. And what I'm referring to there is that I don't eat out nearly as much because of time factors. However, that's a good thing. It is incredibly amazing to me how many calories restaurant food is packed with. And it doesn't really matter, in most cases, what kind of restaurant we're talking about: fast food, chain, upscale. Calories, calories, calories is what you get, far more than what your body needs on a daily basis.

Anyway, I've been changing habits. For a long time, I've been walking about three miles a day to get more calories expended. Also, its just nice to be outside in the mornings before the summertime humidity kicks up and the sun gets oppressive. I've also been eating oatmeal and cereal for breakfast. That's what I really wanted to blog about in this post.

I was shocked at how many grams of carbohydrate some of the cereal brands have. And I only really realized how large the numbers were when I looked at the cereal brands that I'm currently eating, which I think are great.

The first is Kashi honey toasted oat cereal. Fairly tasty with 25 grams of carbs, five of which is fiber. The second is Puffins, by Barbara's bakery, a brand I have only seen so far at Food Lion. I get the cinnamon flavor of Puffins and I think it tastes pretty good. Per serving, Puffins has 26 grams of carbs and six grams of this is fiber.

The thing I like about cereal is that its a great zero cholesterol breakfast, before you get to the milk of course. But it's also fairly low in total calories, milk included, and it fills you up. Compare that to the typical sausage and egg laden breakfast at a pancake house or at a fast food drive-through.



Definition of Calorie
Simple ways for cutting calories
COUNTING CALORIES VERSUS EXERCISE TO LOSE WEIGHT ?
Anaerobic Exercise (including Sprinting, Weight Lifting, and Bodybuilding)
Limit Your Daily Calories and Lose Weight
Skipping breakfast to cut calories. Recommended?

Scientists Find Eating a High-Carb Breakfast Promotes Long-term Weight Loss

Written by Sandra Emmi


There may be truth in the old adage, “Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper.”

A recent study conducted at Virginia Commonwealth University found that women who eat substantial breakfasts that include carbohydrates lose more weight, and keep it off longer, than those who follow high-protein, low-carb diets.

The research, which was headed up by Dr. Daniela Jakubowicz of the Hospital de Clinicas in Venezuela, showed that women who consumed about half their calories at a breakfast of protein and carbohydrates experienced less food cravings throughout the day, and were satisfied with smaller portions of food at lunch and dinner.

The results of this research were not what you might expect, given all of the research over the past few years demonizing carbohydrates and blaming them for the increase in cases of diabetes, heart disease, and obesity.

Although those on high-protein diets lost slightly more weight than those who ate a big breakfast initially, by eight months the high-protein group had gained most of the weight they lost back. Yet the high-carb breakfast group not only kept off the weight they lost, they actually continued to lose weight. The surprising result: Women who ate high carbohydrate breakfasts lost over 20 percent of their total body weight, while those on the strict low-carbohydrate diets lost only 5 percent of their total body weight despite the fact that the low-carb group consumed fewer calories each day.

All participants in the study were obese and did not exercise, so activity levels had no affect on their individual outcomes.

Veggies and fighting aging

The following article just backs up what we've always been told since we were kids. Eat your veggies. And for good reason. According to the USDA's Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, increased veggie consumption can help "ease the effects" of aging in a number of ways, ranging from reducing the risk of various diseases, lessening the severity of certain impairments, and even preserving our cognitive abilities as we age (memory, learning, etc).

As the article states, increased veggie intake can help ward off a number of illnesses that seem to currently run rampant through our society, including hypertension and diabetes, as well as some of the impairments that they, themselves, lead to such as stroke and heart attack.

Personally, none of this is surprising in the least. Veggies add fiber to a diet which helps reduce cholesterol. Veggies are also a great low carb alternative to processed carbohydrate food (type II diabetes) and can be packed with fantastic micronutrients.

The Veggie Factor

Restricting Carbs Changes Liver Processes

Most Americans will agree: restricting carbohydrates is a good way to lose weight. Take out the bread, pastries and other high carbohydrate foods and the weight drops off. Regardless Americans have been increasing their consumption of carbohydrates and restricting fat intake. Most people look at fats to determine what they will eat and choose low fat options, even if this means high carbohydrates.

Subsequently, obesity is higher than it has ever been and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is becoming a major health issue. Even small children are being hit with this disease. If not treated right away, it can lead to cirrhosis, fibrosis and inflammation of the liver, which oftentimes leads to a liver transplant. Usually the disease can be reversed by eating healthy, exercising and losing weight.

Jeffery Brown of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center put together a study to find out the difference in metabolism when people eat low-carbohydrate diets, low-calorie diets, and balanced diets. Previous studies had suggested that a high-carb diet could lead to fatty deposits in the liver.

For the study, fourteen people with a body-mass-index (BMI) between 25 and 35 were chosen, along with 7 healthy subjects with a BMI less than 25. They split the fourteen subjects with a 25 to 35 BMI into two groups and had them follow either a low-calorie diet or a low-carbohydrate diet for two weeks. The other seven subjects with a healthy BMI followed their regular, healthy diet. All subjects had to undergo an overnight metabolic study assessing the metabolic pathways of the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA cycle) and the hepatic glucose production cycle.

What they found was that the weight healthy group with a BMI of under 25 who ate carbs as a normal part of their diet had enough energy to create glucose formation through the TCA cycle. Those who restricted their carbs did not.

The researchers found that a low-carbohydrate diet modifies hepatic energy metabolism and creates a dependence on lactate and amino acids for glucose production by the liver, instead of the liver using glycerol. A low carbohydrate diet also caused the liver to create more glucose with lactate or amino acids – increasing the rate of glucose formation. Unfortunately, they did not measure the amount of fatty acid that was delivered to the liver.

They also found that all groups had similar hepatic glucose production. While the healthy group and the low calorie groups maintained glucose production levels normally, the low carb group maintained the same by increasing glucose using amino acids and lactose.

The study was reported in the November 2008 issue of Hepatology.

The researchers suggest that this shift in glucose metabolism could be helpful to those who have NAFLD and need to dispose of hepatic fat. More studies are planned to measure fatty acid deposits and more.

Big Breakfast = Small Waistline?

Well, mom was right. She always told me to eat a nice big breakfast in the mornings, followed by a lighter lunch and dinner, to keep my weight down as I got older. I always wanted to do the opposite. Now researchers are saying that a large breakfast, followed by a lighter lunch and dinner, is the recipe for weight loss. The older I get, the more I found out that mom was right about a lot of things. I’m not sure I like it.

The study involved 96 obese, physically inactive women and consisted of two diets: low carb and big breakfast. The low carb diet consisted of only 1,085 calories per day, most of which came from protein and fat, while the big breakfast diet allowed 1,240 calories, with a lower portion of fat and more protein and carbohydrates.

In addition, those on the low carb diet made breakfast the smallest meal of the day, while the big breakfast dieters made breakfast the largest meal of the day. The big breakfast looked a little bit like this in terms of calories:

Breakfast: 610 calories

Lunch: 395 calories

Dinner: 235 calories

This information is nice, but I really wish they would have told us in their research what people ate for breakfast. Most people I know can eat a big breakfast, but the contents of that breakfast may not be so healthy.

Four months into this diet, it appeared the low carb group was winning. They had lost around 28 pounds, while the big breakfast eaters had only lost 23.

Eight months into the diet the tables had turned! The low carb dieters had gained about 18 pounds back and the big breakfast eaters had continued on to lose an average of 16 pounds more.

I wonder if this was due to the low carb dieters cheating because they were hungrier. The study doesn’t say, but the researcher who conducted the study, Dr. Jakubowicz from Virginia Commonwealth University, did say that the big breakfast people reported feeling less hungry.

I have to say that when I eat a bigger breakfast I tend to feel full most of the day and can lose weight easier. Unfortunately, breakfast time is not when I am feeling the most hungry. I can be happy with coffee and a small breakfast bar or small bowl of cereal. Many mornings I can go without it altogether, except for the coffee. I do notice that by lunch time I am ravished and instead of grabbing a light lunch, I want something hearty and fulfilling. Since I’ve skipped breakfast, I feel justified to eat more calories and heavier food for lunch. I also eat it quicker because I’m so hungry.

This all makes sense to me. I might even tell mom I read about this. Then she can say, ‘I told you so!’