Nutrition Unscrambled

Bite Into Breakfast and You May Also Take a Bite Out of Diabetes

By Anna Shlachter, MS, RD, LDN
April 30th, 2012

Today’s blog post is written by Allison Fischer, Dietetic Intern at Loyola University.

Enjoy!

By now you have most certainly heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. There are many benefits to eating breakfast – positive impacts on learning and memory, increased likelihood of meeting daily nutrient intake recommendations, lower BMI, and avoiding weight gain. Another study area is relationship between breakfast consumption and decreased risk of Type 2 Diabetes (TD2).

A recent study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition examined the relationship between eating patterns and T2D risk in men. Almost 30,000 health professionals were followed twenty years and provided information regarding their medical histories, lifestyles and health related behaviors. Their diets were assessed according to reported foods eaten and dietary patterns based on when and how often they ate daily. Diet quality was reflected as a prudent diet (increased fruit, vegetable, fish, poultry, and whole grain consumption) or a Western diet (increased red and processed meats, French fries, high-fat dairy, refined grains, sweets, and dessert consumption). This information was then synthesized to evaluate health habits and diabetes risks.

Out of all the men in the study, 83% consumed breakfast. These men generally had healthier lifestyle factors – slightly lower BMIs, smoked less, exercised more, better diet quality, consumed less alcohol and more cereal fiber, and drank less coffee. After adjusting for age, there was a 50% greater risk for T2D in men who did not eat breakfast versus the men who did. This was significant even after adjusting for other dietary and T2D risk factors. Even after adjusting for BMI (well known to correlate with T2D risk), skipping breakfast resulted in a 21% greater risk. The most significant increased risk came from skipping breakfast and having a Western dietary pattern, than for each factor separately.

While there is still work to be done to better understand the link between breakfast and diabetes, here is just one more reason to encourage getting the day off to a healthful start. Be sure to fill your plate with healthy foods, including a quality protein, fruits or vegetables, low or no fat dairy and complex carbohydrates. Fuel yourself for a healthy day and a healthy future!

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Breakfast Around the World – What’s on “Their Plates”

By Anna Shlachter, MS, RD, LDN
March 23rd, 2012

I recently read a Today’s Dietitian article that discussed Best Breakfasts From Around the World and loved to see that eggs are a common breakfast food in other countries.  One key difference is the foods the people in other countries eat with the eggs- the eggs have great company-healthy and colorful plates in many instances.

Interestingly enough many of these breakfasts around the world follow MyPlate concepts, but appear to be more balanced than the US breakfast.  I could envision many of these “plates” to easily be half full of vegetables, with a great protein source like eggs, along with fruit, dairy and whole grains. 

Breakfast around the world tends to include foods that we, in the US, may not see as common breakfast foods, but are overall quite healthy!  Thanks for the RDs who gave their first hand experiences of the most important meal of the day across the world.  We could learn much from these other countries.  As I leave you today, I challenge you with the phrase:  “Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper.” Adelle Davis

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Happy 1st Anniversary to Nutrition Unscrambled

By Anna Shlachter, MS, RD, LDN
January 12th, 2012

We hope you’ve enjoyed our blogs and found the information useful in your practices and even perhaps your own lives.  Marcia mentioned some of the trends for 2011 in her blog post and I wanted to share some other exciting highlights.

So now I am asking you, our readers:  What do you want to know more about in 2012?

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Interesting Headlines: Cereal? Cookies? Oh,What’s the Diff and What’s in Your Kitchen

By Anna Shlachter, MS, RD, LDN
December 16th, 2011

Two headlines in the past week are great reminders to include eggs to start your day!

Bittman’s cereal article states “Every parent of a child born in the US since 1950 knows the difficulty of getting that kid to eat a breakfast of real food.” I sadly concur that there is truth to this statement, especially the part about real food.

The article references a recent document from the Environmental Working Group. One of the sections basically shows the comparison that many children’s cereals have higher sugar content than “junk food desserts”. My recent blog highlighted the 3rd International Forum on Food and Nutrition with the theme “The Importance of a healthy Diet During Childhood” where the issues of high sugar and food advertising were discussed-refer to Dr. Lustig and Dr. Nestle’s presentations and my blog post for more information, if you haven’t checked it out.

We do know that consumption of sugar is higher than recommended in the US. The Executive Summary for the Dietary Guidelines reports that sugars contribute an average of 16 percent of the total calories in American diets. Kids and adults alike consume much more than this average. It is also recommended that for most people, no more than about 5 to 15 percent of calories from solid fats and added sugars can be reasonably accommodated in the USDA Food Patterns, which are designed to meet nutrient needs within calorie limits. The AHA Scientific statement on Dietary Sugars Intake and Cardiovascular Health lists the following health concerns with high sugar intake: insulin resistance, higher caloric intake, high blood pressure, high triglycerides and cholesterol, chronic hyperinsulinemia and low intake of vitamins, minerals, and fiber:

On the other hand the blog titled “What’s in Your Kitchen” reports that 9 out of 10 houses have eggs in their refrigerators. So what’s is the link? People already have a great breakfast food at their fingertips. Eggs are an inexpensive, convenient, quick, and healthy breakfast food (with varying amounts of naturally occurring essential vitamins and minerals). Another perk-they don’t have sugar. With the sugar concerns, why not consider encouraging eggs as a great breakfast food. For that matter, they can be a great anytime food! They don’t have to be difficult or time consuming to make. Remember to check the American Egg Board website for recipes. Here are some 3 minute breakfast recipes (maybe slightly longer than pouring a bowl of sugary cereal, but with great benefits).

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Happy Thanksgiving from ENC

By Anna Shlachter, MS, RD, LDN
November 22nd, 2011

We wanted to take a moment and thank our readers! We are thankful to be able to educate and work with each of you.

Last week I blogged about eating around the holidays, so I thought I’d send a gentle reminder about not skipping breakfast by providing you with great egg breakfast recipes. If you haven’t made breakfast plans, there are plenty of ideas here! Even health professionals who understand the importance of breakfast need to be reminded not to skip breakfast on those days where we are busy (preparing for our “feast”).

Remember to get moving! Take a walk with the family, play football outside or even get active with WII. My gym is actually open on Thanksgiving morning and they are having a “Get Pumping” class.

Everyone have a safe and healthy Thanksgiving and don’t forget to take some time and reflect on what you’re thankful for!

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The “Most Important Meal of the Day” is NOT so Important to Some Consumers

By Anna Shlachter, MS, RD, LDN
October 14th, 2011

A recent NPD Morning MealScape 2011 study discussed that 31 million Americans still skip breakfast. This is a huge opportunity for health professionals. The public has heard (us) and the media talk about the benefits of breakfast, but this has not motivated much change in consumption. What can we do differently to help facilitate change? One approach that I have seen incorporated in other behavior change models is to discuss the risks of not eating breakfast. Example: Children who do not eat breakfast may perform worse in school or people who do not eat breakfast consumer MORE calories throughout the day. Would this make an impact?

Among children, the incidence of skipping increases as children age with 13-to-17-year-olds having the highest incidence (14 %) of skipping breakfast. I again think it is like any other habit-breakfast should become part of a lifestyle. I feel strongly that it starts with parents showing a child at a young age that breakfast is important for the whole family. Perhaps everyone cannot sit together at breakfast, but focusing one everyone eating breakfast to start their day is important.

Of reasons not to eat breakfast “not being hungry” is one that the participants reported. It would really be interesting to see how much and how late these individuals consumed other meals. Also if you incorporate breakfast as a habit it would become second nature to eat the morning. I personally have to eat soon after I wake up or I am not a happy camper. Another reason is the “time” aspect and I would challenge those people to find 3 minutes to make a microwave coffee cup scramble.

The study also discusses that 3/4 of the people eating breakfast are doing it at home, but the others are eating away from home. The quick service restaurants could build on the groups eating away from home as well as sparking interest in those not eating breakfast at all. Why not offer an egg sandwich on a whole wheat bread/bun with a side of fruit instead of a hash brown? Perhaps breakfast skippers that feel they feel they do not have time at home, might consider this option if it were a healthier one? However on the other hand, I must say that those who eat on the run because they feel it takes too much time should consider how much time is spent at the drive-thru (bet it is about the same or more than the 3 minutes to make scrambled eggs). Of course perception is everything.

So what can we do to continue to promote breakfast consumption? Easy healthy recipes? Showing the time factor can be met? Focusing on the risks? Continuing to promote it as the “most important meal of the day” and hoping it takes hold?

Here is a breakdown of the adults in the study-as you can see males skip more often.
Percent of Adults, By Gender, Who Skip Breakfast * percent of individuals who are up, but don’t eat or drink anything in the morning prior to 11 am
Males Females
18-34 years old 28% 18%
35-54 years old 18% 13%
55+ years old 11% 10%
Source: The NPD Group/Morning MealScape 2011

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PROTEIN AT BREAKFAST: The most important part of the most important meal

By Marcia Greenblum, MS, RD
June 17th, 2011

Hi Readers!  Today we have one of our Registered Dietitian Advisors, Keith Ayoob, blogging.  Enjoy!

~Marcia

You’ve heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  It’s true for everyone, and especially for kids.  There’s also plenty of science to back it up.  Kids who eat breakfast do better in school.  They also miss fewer days from school and are more likely to have a normal body weight. 

Many adults skip breakfast and even when they don’t, their breakfast tends to run more towards coffee and a roll and butter.  Not much protein at all and that’s how they’re starting their day, setting themselves up for a possible crash mid-morning and real hunger pangs by lunch, which may also be skipped. 

Biggest complaint about not eating breakfast is a lack of time.  As a nutritionist working with families and kids, honestly, I have a rough time with this one.  Breakfast is just too important to dismiss casually like that.  Funny – parents cringe at the thought of their child going to bed without eating dinner but they often have no problem with a child who skips breakfast.

This needs to change, but so does the way we think of breakfast in general.  Research on adults has shown that people tend to eat about two-thirds of their protein at dinner and only about 10% of it at breakfast.  That’s a concern, because the first meal of the day should contain at least as much protein as the dinner meal.  Not to say that people should be eating more protein overall, just spreading it out more evenly.  A third of your day’s protein should come at breakfast.  There’s evidence showing that people will utilize protein more efficiently, that is, for muscle growth and repair, if protein is more evenly distributed.  About a third of a day’s supply at each meal would do it. 

Protein: nature’s appetite regulator

Protein tends to help you feel full and satisfied, less hungry.  It does this in two ways: by blunting the rise in blood sugar and by staying in your stomach for longer, because it takes the body longer to digest it. 

I have a hectic life, too.  I don’t always know when I’m going to get to lunch but I’m sensitive to hunger pangs like anyone else.  As long as I get enough protein in the morning, the timing of my next meal can be a bit more flexible – as it may need to be. 

Recommendations are for between 10-35% of your calories from protein, so it’s not likely you’ll get too much protein, especially if you think of just shifting some of your protein from dinner to breakfast.  Aim for leaner protein foods to keep calories reasonable. 

 My favorites at breakfast

Cereal is often a typical at breakfast food and you don’t have to give it up to get more protein.  Indeed, whole grain cereal is a good way to get fresh fruit and low-fat milk into your diet and you need these foods.  I think of this breakfast as only a start however.  That’s right.  Add at least an ounce of lean protein to kick this breakfast into full steam.  Here are some of my favorite protein-boosting breakfast foods:

  • Hard-cooked eggs.  A total go-to food.  They’re fast, easy, and give me great protein and nutrition in the morning.  I keep a bowl in the fridge at all times and it’s a top-notch grab-and-go protein boost.  Yes, they’re absolutely OK every day.
  • Non-fat Greek yogurt.  Another great lean protein food, just pricier.
  • Low-fat cottage cheese.  It’s not “girl food”.  Check the label.  It’s protein-loaded and ready when you are.
  • Leftover dinner.  Not a big meal, just add that leftover chicken drumstick or slice of roast beef.

If you add one of the above to your usual bowl of cereal/fruit/milk, you’ll not only stay full for longer, you’ll get protein when your body actually needs more of it – first thing in the morning. 

- Keith

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Protein and Breakfast

By Marcia Greenblum, MS, RD
April 22nd, 2011

Like most registered dietitians, I struggle to keep up with scientific developments. So much is controversial and hard to discern the effects of independent variables. I attended the “Great Debate” held years ago at USDA in Washington D.C. where the high carbohydrate diet pattern and the low carbohydrate diet pattern were hotly debated. Poor Dr. Atkins who saw the value of a lower carbohydrate intake in his patients was ridiculed for not having published his clinical findings. However, when the successful findings supporting a low carbohydrate intake began to be published doubters still doubted the findings. I think he was on the right track but the real story is low carbohydrate, high quality protein.

 It is easy to feel comfortable supporting the benefits of a high protein breakfast. Susan Dopart in her blog suggests that eating a strong protein breakfast within an hour of waking up can increase your metabolic rate, lower insulin resistance and stabilize blood sugar for the rest of the day. One thing I know from personal experience is that eating an adequate amount of high quality protein at breakfast keeps me from being hungry much longer than the bagel or cereal breakfast I had been consuming daily.

 This is very useful when I am traveling for business or exhibiting at conferences and can’t be sure when I will be able to take a lunch break. I am not insulin resistant but have a family history of diabetes and I can feel when my glucose levels are low. High quality protein like that in eggs, milk, cheese and yogurt is my way of keeping an even temper and focus on my activities and preventing myself from eating too many calories or undesirable foods that lack nutrients. This was also demonstrated by researchers at University of Connecticut in a study of  “Eating protein-rich eggs for breakfast reduces hunger and decreases calorie consumption at lunch and throughout the day” published in the February 2010 issue of Nutrition Research. Researchers found that men who consumed an egg-based breakfast ate significantly fewer calories when offered an unlimited lunch buffet compared to when they ate a carbohydrate-rich bagel breakfast of equal calories. Ratliff, J., Leite, J.O., de Ogburn, R., Puglisi, M.J., VanHeest, J., Fernandez, M.L. (2010) Consuming  eggs for breakfast influences plasma glucose and ghrelin, while reducing energy intake during the next 24 hours in adult men. Nutrition Research, 30, 96-103.

 I think it’s time to move on from the high carbohydrate dogma that dietitians were trained to promote and see the value of high quality protein especially at breakfast both for the satiety it provides and the muscle synthesis signaling that helps maintain muscle mass.

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Give Eggs the Company they Deserve

By Marcia Greenblum, MS, RD
March 7th, 2011

When observing focus groups around the country which included physicians, nurses, dietitians and personal trainers it was interesting to see how these health professionals viewed eggs and dietary cholesterol.  Most health professionals felt eggs were a healthy food choice especially compared to available alternatives. In fact, it was often heard that eggs got a bad rap and they did not feel that the food deserved to be the icon of indulgence. What we heard is that eggs offered many valuable nutrients lacking in their patient’s diets and suggested an egg is a better choice than sweetened cereals, breakfast bars or donuts. What concerned most health professionals were what other foods people choose to eat with eggs. They generally agreed that eggs need to choose new friends and could be considered healthy if they weren’t accompanied by the saturated fat and sodium found in other breakfast foods. This striking misperception is often exemplified in restaurant menus that list egg white omelets accompanied by high fat and high sodium bacon or sausage with white toast as the healthy choice, giving the impression that egg yolks are the unhealthy element.

 In fact, scientific research has shown that the egg yolk supplies about 40% of the high quality protein in an egg important for muscle building and retaining muscle especially when aging or losing weight. The yolk is also known as a naturally good source of vitamin D, lutein and choline, all nutrients that are needed for health. What makes eggs especially healthy is that they can be a great vehicle for eating vegetables and whole grains that supply many other important nutrients making an egg breakfast done right a great way to start the day. To me, the recent research that showed eating eggs at breakfast did indeed keep one satisfied for longer than an isocaloric bagel breakfast confirmed that eggs at breakfast is the healthiest choice to make.

~ Marcia

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Eating morning protein keeps you fuller longer

By Mitch Kanter, Ph.D.
February 25th, 2011

We’re all creatures of habit, and most of us tend to fall into a rut a meal time. Particularly at the breakfast meal. When you’re tired and sleepy it’s easy to go with the patterns you’re familiar with, and if getting up in the morning, pouring a cup of coffee and reaching for the breakfast cereal is your general routine, you’re not alone. But maybe you should take more time to think about your meal choices, particularly if you’re trying to cut calories. Did you know that a recent British Journal of Nutrition study indicated that when subjects were on a lower calorie weight loss diet they tended to eat fewer calories at lunch when they consumed a higher protein breakfast? Or that subjects who drank skim milk in the morning rather than fruit juice ate 200 kcals less at lunch (Am J Clin Nutr 2009)? Or that overweight subjects lost 65% more weight when they habitually ate an egg-centric breakfast than peers who ate a high carbohydrate breakfast of equal calories (Int J Obesity 2008)?   

If you know the literature in this area, none of this should be overly surprising in light of the fact that many studies suggest that protein is more satisfying than carbohydrate or fat. So it stands to reason that a higher protein meal in the morning might prompt you to eat less at subsequent meals. But high carb, sugar laden foods (think donuts and Pop Tarts) have been staples of the American diet for some time because they taste good, and they’re convenient. Good reasons to indulge, but poor choices if your waistline and your health are priorities. Something to think about next time you wake up in a fog and you head to the cupboard for the “old standbys.” Sometimes change is good, and changing your breakfast eating habits can yield positive results.    

- Mitch

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About

Nutrition Unscrambled  is written by nutrition experts with the Egg Nutrition Center, which is funded by the American Egg Board. It is monitored and maintained by the public relations agency of record. The mission of the Egg Nutrition Center is to be a credible source of nutrition and health science information and the acknowledged leader in research and education related to eggs. For more information, click here.

About the Bloggers

Mitch Kanter, Ph.D. is the Executive Director of the Egg Nutrition Center. For more information about
Mitch, click here.
Marcia Greenblum, MS, RD is the Senior Director, Nutrition Education at the Egg Nutrition Center. For more information about Marcia, click here.
Anna Shlachter, MS, RD, LDN is the Program Manager, Nutrition Research and Communications at the Egg Nutrition Center. For more information about Anna, click here.

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All information provided within this blog is for informational and educational purposes only and it is not to be construed as medical advice or instruction. Please consult your physician or a qualified health professional on any matters regarding your health or before making changes to your diet or health behaviors.

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