Breakfast Boosts Metabolism – Fact or Fiction?

Have you ever wondered if breakfast really boosts your metabolism—as you so often hear?

ANSWER: False

As a health educator I can give you a lot of good reasons to eat breakfast—the notion that it boosts your metabolism, however, isn't one of them!

Digesting food does “cost” an average of 10% of a meal's calories to digest and assimilate it (see TEF, below). However, is that really a “boost” in metabolism? No, it is not. When you read these claims that "breakfast boosts your metabolism" it's implied that eating breakfast has an affect on your underlying metabolic rate. That is simply not the case. The only metabolic affect of eating breakfast is the commensurate TEF, just as for any meal.

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What Happens to your "Good Intentions"?

The most recent data on calorie intake shows that Americans’ average calorie intake has increased by 571-calories per day between 1977 and 2006.[1] Over this same period obesity increased dramatically from 15% to 34% of American adults. Why exactly are we seeing this dramatic rise in obesity now, after thousands of years of leaner humans being the norm? It’s not because of changes in our genetics, or physiological changes in appetite regulation (which would mean we’re genetically mutating at some fantastic rate). The popular topic of hormones (leptin, ghrelin, etc.) and “hypothalamic regulation of feeding” suffer from the same underlying problem (have these systems changed in 30 years?) and ignore the fact that nowadays humans simply choose to eat—without consideration of whether they are hungry or not.

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Banana Bread Mini-Muffins!

My family loves this banana bread recipe! While we usually make mini-muffins with it, you can also do regular (cup cake) size muffins, or loaves. This bread is moist and yummy--despite less oil and sugar--than many recipes, because of lots of banana. Quickbreads like this are easy, and there's nothing like the smell of home baking to bring a family together (in the kitchen)!

RECIPE: Dorene's Banana Bread!

Enjoy!
-Dorene

Protein Mythology... get the Facts!

[Part-2: The Dukan Diet]

One common tactic in fad-diet books is to attach various notions (false claims, baseless theories, etc.) to a valid piece of scientific information.

A consistent thread of this sort you will find among high-protein/low-carb diet books has to do with the fact that protein takes more calories to process than other calorie-containing macronutrients (carbohydrates, fat, and alcohol).

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Book Review: The Dukan Diet [part-1]

The Dukan Diet, authored by French doctor Pierre Dukan, is one of the latest best sellers among fad-diet books in the US, and it falls into the high-protein/low-carb approach.

It is not however one of the healthier choices in its genre. Unfortunately, the Dukan Diet is not only extreme in its protein regime, but also cuts out healthy fat sources along with carbohydrates. During its first (Attack) phase you eat only lean proteins, nonfat dairy, and eggs, supplemented with 1½ Tbl. of oat bran per day (no vegetables, grains, fruit, nuts or oils). During its second (Cruise) phase you get to add a selection of (low-carb) vegetables in every other day (still no grains, fruit, nuts or oils). According to Dr. Dukan’s numbers you would spend 2½ months in the Cruise phase to lose 25-pounds, or 4-months to lose 40-pounds. That’s in addition to the week you will probably have spent in the Attack phase.

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