Starting the day with a good breakfast is one of the most frequently touted health and weight management tips.
This ‘fact’ was supported by a 2002 National Weight Loss Registry (NWLR) study in the US in which 78% of people who maintained a healthy weight were found to eat breakfast. However this does not translate into breakfast being the secret of their success. Just as many unsuccessful dieters eat breakfast. A trial by Professor David Levitsky at Cornell University in New York documented the opposite of the NWLR study: people who skipped breakfast ended up eating 400 fewer Calories by the end of the day. This is not to dissuade you from eating breakfast. Far from it.
The answer, as I explain in my book NeuroSlimming, is to eat when you’re hungry, not when you think you should eat. Allow your body to guide you. If you wake up and feel hungry, eat a satisfying meal. If you don’t feel like eating, wait until you have that gnawing sensation in your stomach that tells you it’s time to refuel. If you don’t think you’ll have time to eat later because of work or other commitments, take something nutritious with you that you can eat unobtrusively when your body calls for it. If you give yourself permission to follow your body’s natural rhythms, you will find a way to make your eating fit in with your lifestyle.
Helena
