Desert, Eat It for Breakfast, Lose Weight

Behold the power of a doughnut. Or cookie.  Or desert in general.

But first,

The Numbers:

• Fasting Blood Glucose Lever:  103 mg/dl
• Weight:  187 lbs.
• Exercise:  45 very sweaty minutes.  Hot this morning and we had a high of 107 in our little Houston, TX neighborhood.
• Mood:  8.0.  I like the heat. 

The Menu:

• Breakfast:  The usual morning fruit medley, another real, chewy bagel. 
• Lunch:  Last of the North African/Salsa Lentil stuff and grapes. 
• Dinner:  A few tamales, Spanish rice and salad
• Snacks:  A small handful of almonds. 

Desert with Breakfast Beats Craving, Helps Diet.
Eating desert for breakfast while on a diet can help you lose weight and keep it off.  The key is the sweet treat reduces cravings. 

Two groups went on an nearly identical diets.  Both were generally low fat and low carbohydrates. Men were allowed to eat about 1,600 calories a day, the women about 1,400 calories.  The difference was the dessert at breakfast, such as a doughnut or cookie. The participants were non-diabetic I should add. 

After four months of the eight month study, participants of both groups lost about 33 pounds.  However over the rest of the study the participants getting the desert lost another 15 pounds.  The participants in non-desert group  gained about 20 of the 30 pounds they had lost.

The desert people reported feeling less hunger and cravings than people in the other group.  The researchers said the combination of protein and carbohydrates left the desert people feeling fuller and more satiated with what the ate.  It also desert also seemed to trigger a drop in the hunger hormone ghrelin.  That helped them feel at least not hungry.  

So, could an insulin resistant person benefit from eating a desert with breakfast?  Don't know.  Could the sweetness of a piece of fruit work as well?  It has carbohydrates.  A large number of fruits is one of the basics of a the DASH diet.  Seems as if it's basically the same principle.