Originally published on Thursday, January 19th, 2012
Weight Loss by
Dr. Richard Foxx for
The Doctors Health Press
There are many diets out there intended to restrict your food intake. Maybe it’s a diet that cuts your intake of calories, protein, carbohydrates, sugar, or fat, or any number of foods. And although these dietary restrictions may indeed result in initial weight loss, the majority of dieters fail to maintain their reduced weight. The problem is that diet-induced weight loss usually results in a compensatory increase of hunger and food cravings and decreased ghrelin suppression that encourage weight regain (Read the article Your Hormones May Be Causing Your Junk Food Cravings to learn more about hrelin’s link to weight gain.).
Is there any way to avoid the vicious circle of losing weight and then regaining weight? Israeli researchers say the answer to that question lies in eating a high-protein and high-carbohydrate breakfast.
They recruited 193 obese, sedentary non-diabetic adult men and women for a study. They divided these participants into two groups: one received a low-carbohydrate breakfast; while the other received an isocaloric diet that included a high-carbohydrate and high-protein breakfast. An isocaloric diet is one that includes equal caloric amounts of fats, protein and carbohydrates.
The research team measured fasting glucose, insulin, ghrelin, and lipids. They also looked at food craving scores and assessed hunger and feelings of satiety amongst the participants.
At Week 16, both groups showed similar weight loss. From Week 16 to Week 32, the low-carbohydrate group regained an average of 6.0 kg, while the high-protein/carbohydrate breakfast group lost an average of 4.0 kg. Ghrelin levels were reduced after breakfast by 45.2% and 29.5% in the high-protein/carbohydrate group and low-carb group, respectively. Satiety was significantly improved and hunger and craving scores significantly reduced in the high-protein/carbohydrate group vs. the low-carbohydrate group.
The researchers concluded that a high-carbohydrate and high-protein breakfast may prevent weight regain by reducing diet-induced compensatory changes in hunger and food cravings. They suggest that to achieve long-term weight loss, meal timing and macronutrient composition must counteract these compensatory behaviors that encourage weight regain after weight loss.
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