Breakfast like a king

When I was racing back in Kentucky, I learned a secret that has been of great help to me over the years.

"Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a servant, and dinner like a popper"

A high carb, big breakfast will fuel you through the day and keep you feeling satisfied.

Lunch should be smaller but still have some carbs.

Dinner should be the smallest meal and it should be low carb and high fiber (big salads).

The logic for this diet, particularly for an athlete is that you put the right types of fuel into your body at the right times. What good are carbs right before bed? You do not need carbohydrates to sleep, so if your body does not convert them into energy it will convert them to glucose and then fat. Eating big early in the day also kick starts your metabolism, particularly when combined with a workout.

This has been a good diet for me over the years (when I have had the discipline to follow it).

Yesterday, Chad sent the following article to me and I think it has some merit.

Big Breakfast Helps Weight Loss

(Ivanhoe Newswire) – You’ve heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Now piling an extra helping on your plate may actually help trim your waistline.

New research from Venezuela and Virginia Commonwealth University shows eating a big breakfast filled with carbohydrates and protein then eating a low-carb, low-calorie diet the rest of the day can help you lose weight and keep it off.

Researchers compared their new diet with a strict low-carb diet in 94 obese women who were not physically active. Both diets were low in fat and total calories but had carbohydrates distributed differently.

On the very-low-carb diet 46 women ate 1,085 calories a day with 17 grams of carbohydrates, 51 grams of protein and 78 grams of fat. Breakfast was the smallest meal – participants were allowed 290 calories, seven grams of carbohydrates and 12 grams of protein.

The 48 women on the “big-breakfast diet” had 1,240 calories a day – 46 grams of fat, 97 grams of carbohydrates, and 93 grams of protein. They ate a 610-calorie breakfast with 58 grams of carbohydrates, 47 grams of protein and 22 fat grams. Lunch had 395 calories (34, 28 and 13 grams of carbohydrates, protein and fat, respectively); dinner had 235 calories (5, 18 and 26 grams, respectively).

After four months, results show the women on the low-carbohydrate diet lost an average of about 28 pounds. Those on the big-breakfast diet lost nearly 23 pounds on average. But after eight months, the low-carb dieters regained an average of 18 pounds, while the big-breakfast group kept losing weight, dropping another 16.5 pounds. Women on the new diet lost more than 21 percent of their body weight, compared with 4.5 percent in the low-carbohydrate group.

Researchers say the big-breakfast diet works because it makes you feel fuller and reduces cravings for sweets and starches. It boosts your metabolism and keeps it up all day long.

SOURCE: The Endocrine Society’s 90th Annual Meeting in San Francisco, June 2-15, 2008