When most people think of what they have to do in order to lose a substantial amount of fat, they imagine exhausting workouts, making salad your staple dish and feeling hungry all the time. In reality, this approach fails much more often than it succeeds. The more you feel like you are struggling, the more reasons your brain thinks of to avoid the action. In reality, just because something is hard, doesn’t mean it works. I’ve seen plenty of people lose a very substantial amount of fat, just by making simple changes to their eating habits and then sticking to them. I’ve also seen plenty of people buy a gym membership, throw away all the unhealthy foods in their fridge and try to make a big change in order to lose weight, only to give up in a week or two.
In this article, we will discuss a simple diet change that can skyrocket your weight loss, boost your metabolism and give you fast and noticeable weight loss results – simply changing your breakfast from a high-carbohydrate one to a high-protein one.
The Breakfast Most People Have
Almost everyone these days has a high-carbohydrate low-protein/low-fat breakfast. In fact, the healthier a breakfast looks, the higher in carbohydrates it usually is. When most people think of a healthy breakfast, they imagine oats with fruit, like the picture above. Unfortunately, this combination has a high glycemic index, is very high in carbs and contains very little protein. As a result, it slows down your metabolism and forces your body to store a certain amount of the carbohydrates as fat. Although relatively ‘natural’ and free of unhealthy additives, it does not promote weight loss.
Turning Your fat-burning Switch ON
A high-protein breakfast is one way to kick-start your metabolism. What’s interesting, is that women, unlike men can ‘flip’ their fat-burning switch on hormonally, by making certain dietary tweaks (like described in the beta switch). Many women think they are at a disadvantage, because past a certain age, we seem to gain weight easier and lose it harder than men. That’s because men have testosterone, which takes care of fat-burning up to a point. What most women don’t know is that they have much more powerful fat-burning hormones, like thyroxine and estrogen (which burns fat, only if it’s ‘triggered’ to do so), so they are definitley not at a disadvantage.
What to Eat Instead?
Instead, you want a high-protein and moderate-fat breakfast. Not only will this boost your metabolism, but it will make you feel full. Protein is very satiating, unlike carbohydrates that get metabolized quickly, cause an insulin spike and ultimately leave you even more hungry an hour or two later. It’s a dangerous cycle that is a major cause of obesity. Meat and nuts would be the ultimate example of a high-protein breakfast, which many athletes use. I cannot recommend it highly enough, but it’s understandable that some people wouldn’t enjoy such a breakfast. Instead, you can make a quick protein shake that is yogurt-based. It is fine for the shake to contain some fruit, but aim for at least 20-30g of protein. The easiest way to achieve this is to use protein powder, but again I realize many people are not going to do that.
So, here are a few recipes for a high-protein breakfast that work very well for weight loss:
100g cottage cheese + 200ml soy milk + 20g nuts + enough fruit to make it fine-tasting Protein: ~20g
100g tofu + 200ml soy milk + 20g nuts + 1 banana Protein: ~20g
50g peanut butter + 200ml soy milk + 1 banana Protein:~20g
You can find many high-protein recipes for smoothies with a simple search. I personally use hemp protein powder or other nut-protein powder in a shake with yogurt and some fruit. Nut protein powders can be found at health-food stores and are manufactured simply by squeezing the oil out of nuts. Most nuts have a typical nutrition profile of about 50g fat and 25g protein per 100g. When you squeeze the oil out you are left with about 40g of protein per 100g, which makes it very easy to create a breakfast smoothie that pack 30g of protein or more.
To summarize: Having a high-carb, low-protein breakfast shuts down your metabolism – instead have a high-protein, moderate to low-carb, like eggs, meat, nuts, dairy, soy, etc. This will immediately turn your fat-burning switch on, regardless of whether or not you exercise. Try it!
Wishing you great health,
-Angelina
Pinterest image:
Posted by Angelina on March 05 2014