This article has been Fact-Checked by Kendall Kennedy MS, RD, RYT
People like to say that breakfast is the cornerstone of a healthy diet. So what do you need to eat for breakfast when trying to lose weight?
Do we even need breakfast for optimal weight loss?
Is breakfast really the hero of weight loss?
More and more research points toward breakfast not being as important as was thought before. However, for some people breakfast might be crucial.
Are you up for the no-breakfast challenge?
If we were all people with an iron will, not eating breakfast would probably benefit us. Unfortunately it’s not as easy as that.
Some of us can just skip breakfast in the morning and not feel any extra hunger. They just stroll throughout the morning without feeling any different. If you are one of those people you might want to consider skipping breakfast.
However, another group of people becomes extremely hungry when they don’t eat breakfast. The damage of that arrives at lunch. The extreme hunger can lead to overeating during lunch and dinner.
These foods should never be in your breakfast
Whatever way you go, there are some foods you should never eat during breakfast. The reason is that these foods just make you more hungry throughout the day, partly because of their spiking of your blood sugar.
The foods you should avoid are “traditional” breakfast foods like cereal, pancakes, muffins, donuts,croissants… Basically anything that is high in refined carbohydrates.
What foods are part of a great weight loss breakfast menu?
The perfect weight loss breakfast makes us feel full for a long time, gives us plenty of micronutrients, and doesn’t contain too many calories. And who wants to spend hours in the morning preparing their food…
Fiber for your breakfast
Fiber is a great idea to incorporate if you’re looking to get healthier and drop some pounds in any meal including breakfast.
Firstly, fiber is very good at reducing your hunger because it fills up your stomach without adding a lot of calories to your diet. It also decreases the amount of calories you take in from other foods eaten at the same moment.
You can find fiber mostly in plant-based foods like vegetables, fruit, berries, nuts, whole grains, oats, quinoa, whole-wheat bread, spelt, etc.
Protein for your breakfast
Eating some protein is a great habit for your first meal of the day.
Protein also tends to make you feel fuller with a limited amount of calores. Enough protein is also key to preserve your hard earned muscles that are burning calories for you.
Fats for your breakfast
Many people raise their eyebrow when you talk about eating fat in a weight loss context but the right kinds of fats can be very helpful. In general, fat is considered to be a filling macronutrient for the calories it contains.
Besides that, healthy fats also offer a wide variety of health benefits.
Some examples of healthy fats include avocado, walnuts, flaxseeds, hemp seeds, chia seeds, etc. These contain omega 3s and polyunsaturated fatty acids that, on top of a wide variety of health benefits, can help slow down digestion
Carbohydrates for your breakfast
Carbohydrates in themselves are not that important for your breakfast. They tend to contain a lot of calories compared to how filling they are so it’s easier to eat too many calories.
You can have some unrefined carbohydrates like for example oats but do stay away from the previously mentioned refined carbohydrates.
Diet breakfast ideas
So here are some great diet breakfast ideas.
Eggs are an extremely great addition to your breakfast and diet in general. They contain a ton of micronutrients and protein. Some people fear the high cholesterol content but studies seem to agree more and more that eggs should be a main pillar in every good diet.
Next is any meat of your liking. You can choose some lean meat like chicken if you are worried about the slightly higher calorie content of let’s say bacon.
Then again, pretty much any kind of fiber. It might feel a bit weird at first to eat vegetables at breakfast but you’ll get used to it. If you absolutely can’t stomach it that early in the day you can also opt for some tasty berries, melon or other pieces of fruit.
What about vegetable shakes, blends or juices?
We’ve all seen the clips of people throwing 20 vegetabels in a blender and smooshing out a weird-looking green juice.
Those juices can be a great addition of micronutrients to your diet. However, due to their fluid texture they are not very filling. So if you don’t get hungry after only drinking some juice you can skip breakfast and keep the juice for lunch or dinner.
But important, fruit juices are extremely bad for your weight loss and health in general. Fruit juice has the sugar content of soda. Even though it still contains some vitamins you should avoid it.
Conclusion
What to eat for breakfast when trying to lose weight is not as secret for you anymore. You now know breakfast is not essential for weight loss.
If you do decide to have breakfast choose foods that are filling and get you your micronutrients.
