If you’re on a diet, you may want to start adding dessert to your morning meal. A new study found that when dieters ate a carbohydrate-rich, protein-packed breakfast that included dessert, they had less hunger and cravings throughout the day and were more successful at keeping off lost weight.
Researchers at Tel Aviv University’s Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, Israel put nearly 200 nondiabetic obese adults on one of two low-calorie diets:
One group received a low-carbohydrate diet, featuring a 300-calorie breakfast with only 10 grams of carbohydrates. The other group ate a 600-calorie breakfast with 60 grams of carbs, which included a small sweet, such as chocolate, a doughnut, a cookie or cake. Both diets contained protein at breakfast, but the “dessert with breakfast diet” had 45 grams of protein, where as the low-carb diet only had 30. Both diets contained about 1,600 total calories for men and 1,400 for women.
Four months later, both groups lost an average of 33 pounds per person. Then, everything changed. In the last four months of the study, the low-carb dieters regained an average of 22 pounds each, while those who ate the dessert with breakfast lost another 15 pounds, the authors reported.
Surprised? Daniela Jakubowicz, MD, the study’s principal investigator, believes the results are due to a combination of factors: The higher protein content which reduced hunger; the combination of protein and carbs which increased satiety; and the dessert which decreased cravings for sweet, starchy and fatty foods.
You can only go so long on a low-carb diet. Sometimes it’s best to indulge in your cravings, and allow yourself something sweet – even if it is at breakfast!
