Friday, March 2, 2012




As highly unlikely and mind-boggling as it sounds, researchers are saying that having a low calorie diet which includes dessert for breakfast will help you lose weight. Isn’t that hard to believe? Well, the New York Times has published this controversial article to inform readers with the latest research and receive their input on this topic. 

According to the March issue of the journal Steriods, scientists randomly chose 144 obese individuals between the ages of 20 to 65. The men were exposed to a low-carbohydrate diet providing 1,600 calories whereas the women had to consume 1,400 daily calories. The only main difference between their diets was that some individuals received a "high-carbohydrate, protein enriched breakfast with a choice of cookies, chocolate cake or ice cream." Who would refuse a delicious homemade peanut butter cookie for the most important meal of the day?

At the initial 16-week period, the average weight loss for each group was about the same. It was around 32 pounds. However, the participants that ate the dessert demonstrated more competent at keeping the weight off. Over the 16-week follow-up, people on the dessert-with-breakfast diet lost an extra 13 pounds on average, while the others regained back the lost pounds.

The following results are supported by measurement of the blood levels of ghrelin, a hormone that tells the brain when the body needs to be fed. The higher the levels of ghrelin, the bigger the appetite one has. Scientists found that the participants on the dessert regimen retained lower levels of ghrelin and reported considerably higher levels of fullness.

This suggests that the participants that ate a large breakfast which included dessert had fewer cravings during the day. It kept them fuller and so they were less likely to indulge throughout the day which allowed them to maintain weight loss. In any event, if you get a sweet tooth early in the morning, I am not going to stop you. 

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