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Experts Say Chocolate Cake For Breakfast Can Help You Lose Weight
Researchers at Tel Aviv University found that having chocolate cake for breakfast can help you lose weight. Because highly restrictive diets drive dieters to cheat and pile the pounds back on, eating a heavy breakfast plus dessert totalling up to 600 calories may keep you satisfied, as well as experience few, if any, cravings for indulgent foods later in the day.
While this might be a great diet plan, experts warned that if you have already consumed up to 600 calories during breakfast, you need to be constantly aware of your calorie intake for the rest of the day. UK’s Department of Health Estimated Average Requirements are a daily calorie intake of 1,200 to 1,940 per day for women and 1,800 to 2,550 for men, whether or not you are trying to lose weight.
The Secret to Easy Weight Loss
Professor Daniela Jakubowicz, Dr. Julio Wainstein, and Dr. Mona Boaz of Tel Aviv University’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine and the Diabetes Unit at Wolfson Medical Center, as well as Professor Oren Froy of Hebrew University Jerusalem, said in their research that the key in this diet is to indulge in the morning, when the body’s metabolism is at its most active and you are better able to work off the extra calories throughout the day.
Dietician and spokesperson for the British Dietetic Association Cath Collins said that if you have already used up 600 calories on breakfast, you need to be aware of your calorie intake for the rest of the day. Collins also warned those who wish to try feasting on a big breakfast with dessert that it’s important to remember portion control. She suggests a balanced 600-calorie breakfast containing a balance of carbohydrates, protein, and a sugary fix, such as two scrambled eggs on wholemeal toast plus four squares of chocolate.
Meal Timing and Composition Influence Hunger and Appetite, Research Says
Researchers at Tel Aviv University, led by Jakubowicz, said that though dietary restriction often results in initial weight loss, the majority of obese dieters fail to maintain their reduced weight. This is because diet-induced weight loss results in compensatory increase of hunger, craving, and decreased suppression of ghrelin, the hormone that increases hunger, thus encouraging weight regain. Jakubowicz and her team think that a high protein and carbohydrate breakfast may overcome these compensatory changes and prevent obesity relapse.
With this hypothesis, Jakubowicz, et. al. randomly grouped 193 obese, inactive non-diabetic adult men and women to either a low-carbohydrate breakfast, or to a diet with similar number of calories as the former, but with high carbohydrate and protein breakfast.
After 16 weeks of measuring the participants’ ghrelin levels, craving scores and the challenge participants had with their type of breakfast done every four weeks, both groups showed similar weight loss 29 to 33 pounds, with the low-carbohydrate group losing more than the other. However, when researchers did a follow-up on the 32nd week, the first group regained up to 25 pounds, while the high-calorie and protein group lost additional 15 pounds.
Jakubowicz and her team also noted that the second group had reduced ghrelin levels by 45.2% after breakfast, compared to the first, which only reduced 29.5%. The second group also experienced significant improvement in satiety, and a significant reduction in hunger and craving scores, unlike the first group.
Diet Relapse is Natural, but Avoidable
While regaining weight after dieting is not news, studies have proven its root cause. According to University of Melbourne and Austin Health, weight regain is usually due to hormonal changes, particularly in ghrelin, which changed in a way that would be expected to increase appetite for at least one year after initial weight loss.
According to Professor Joseph Proietto from the University of Melbourne and Austin Health, the study revealed the important roles that hormones play in regulating body weight, making dietary and behavioural change less likely to work in the long-term. It also showed that relapses have a strong physiological basis and is not simply the result of the voluntary resumption of old habits.
Because of these findings, the question is thus: could this be avoided? Tel Aviv University’s research shows that it’s possible.
After studying on the significance of meal-time and food composition, Jacubowicz and her team concluded that a high carbohydrate and protein breakfast plus dessert like chocolate cake may prevent weight regain by reducing diet-induced compensatory changes in hunger, cravings, and ghrelin suppression. Jakubowicz thinks that this may help dieters in achieving long-term weight loss, as it counteracts hunger and cravings, both of which encourage weight regain after weight loss.
Hugh
June 8, 2012 at 8:16 am
Based on my own experience, I would say that this is consistent with the fact that I tend to get sugar cravings later on at night rather than the morning or afternoon. I think that it makes sense because of the opportunities you will have throughout the day to burn off calories, but it is also possible that an early infusion of sugar can quell your craving for it late at night. It’s good news for sweet tooths.
Elizabeth
June 8, 2012 at 3:49 pm
I can’t even look at bread without gaining weight, and unfortunately everything that you eat that is sweet in the morning is some kind of bread. I have to watch my carbs or I start to gain weight all over again. I do follow the high protein part of the diet but I just can’t do carbs or I instantly gain weight. I just recently completed a cleansing fast to get started losing weight again.
Wanda
June 8, 2012 at 3:49 pm
Hugh it is interesting that you say this because my husband suffers from sweet craving late at night as well. I on the other hand crave something sweet in the morning with my coffee. Unfortunately I am ones of those people that loves pastries and things in the morning and I am also one of those that has to have a low carb diet in order to lose weight, I can’t even look at bread.
Janet
June 8, 2012 at 3:54 pm
My husband and son will love this. If my son could eat chocolate cake for breakfast in the morning he would actually start eating breakfast. Right now as it is he doesn’t eat breakfast because he says nothing sounds good as far as eggs and toast. But I know there is always time, space and taste for chocolate cake.
Admin
June 8, 2012 at 7:14 pm
Hey Janet,
I agree. There is ALWAYS time for chocolate cake. I just wouldn’t eat it daily. Chocolate cake has a lot of sugar and sugar’s bad for you even if it’s under a certain amount of calories. Believe me, I’d love to eat cake for every meal!
Sara
Gerald
June 8, 2012 at 3:59 pm
I have a black bean chocolate cake recipe that is really good and moist and you can’t even tell that it isn’t an ordinary cake. I am thinking it is more healthy than a normal chocolate cake by every sense of the word except you are taking out the eggs then. I’m going to make one of these for my husband and son just to see if they notice the difference. If anything it’s better.