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Harvard Heart Letter | May 2008
Get a hearty start on the day
A breakfast centered around whole grains can get your engine running and keep your heart ticking.
Breakfast
holds a special place in the daily trio of main meals. It’s more than
just an eye-opener that helps you make the transition from sweet sleep
to the day ahead. Coming as it does after the day’s longest period
without food, breakfast appears to influence metabolism more strongly
than lunch or dinner. Its effects on blood sugar, insulin, and appetite
echo throughout the day. Getting a smart start in the morning may have
an even longer term payoff — protection against heart disease and
possibly a longer, healthier life.
Not to be missed
A
host of mostly small studies show that eating breakfast, as compared to
skipping it, makes for smaller rises in blood sugar and insulin after
all of the day’s meals and snacks. Smoothing out the blood sugar and
insulin roller coaster can help reduce levels of harmful LDL
cholesterol and triglycerides. It can also curb the appetite. People
who eat breakfast tend to take in fewer calories over the course of the
day than those who skip it. The lesson here — skipping breakfast as an
easy way to cut calories usually backfires.
There’s one
other benefit worth mentioning. People who eat breakfast tend to have
better-quality diets overall than people who skip this meal.
Controlling
blood sugar, insulin, and cholesterol and improving diet quality are
all well and good. Is there a payoff for what really matters? Several
large observational studies suggest that eating breakfast, especially
one that includes whole-grain foods, reduces the chances of having a
heart attack or stroke, or developing type 2 diabetes or heart failure.
There are also a handful of studies suggesting that people who
routinely eat whole grains, usually in the form of whole-grain
breakfast cereal, aren’t as likely to die prematurely of cardiovascular
disease.
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Breakfast ideas
Breakfast
can be as simple as a few handfuls of trail mix or as elaborate as a
multi-course meal. Here are some suggestions for keeping it as
healthful as possible:
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A bowl of steel-cut oatmeal topped with fruit and walnuts (make a batch on Saturday and eat it all week long)
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A
bowl of high-fiber, whole-grain cereal such as Fiber One, Shredded
Wheat, or Cheerios (anything with a whole-grain product as the first
ingredient and few added sugars) with milk and sliced banana,
strawberries, blueberries, or other fruit
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6 or 8 ounces of 1% yogurt with blueberries and sunflower seeds
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A whole-grain English muffin with peanut butter
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An
omelet made with one egg and one egg white, or egg substitute, served
with whole-grain toast and orange slices. A veggie omelet is even
better.
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A whole-wheat tortilla with a smear of peanut butter wrapped around a banana
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A
smoothie made with milk, yogurt, orange or pineapple juice, fresh or
frozen strawberries or blueberries, and a few slices of banana. Throw
in oat bran, ground flax seeds, or wheat germ for extra fiber and
healthful oils.
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Quality counts
What
you eat for breakfast matters just as much as whether you eat it, if
not more so. Breakfast is the perfect opportunity to get some of the
multiple servings of fruits and whole grains recommended in the latest
Dietary Guidelines for Americans. It’s also a great time to get some
good protein and fats from nuts and seeds.
Breakfast
power foods are those that deliver whole grains in one form or another,
such as hot cereal, ready-to-eat cereal, granola bars, and breads. Add
some berries, which are a storehouse of antioxidants, or other fruit
for extra sweetness, fiber, and taste. Sip a cup of coffee or tea, and
you have a filling breakfast that’s great for the heart and the rest of
the body.
Eggs, bacon, donuts, a big bagel brimming with
rapidly digested carbohydrates, or other common breakfast foods fill
the stomach — for a while — and maybe wake up the brain. But they don’t
have the same kind of health payoff of whole grains and fruit, and some
can even set you back healthwise.
Smart starts
Some
people see breakfast as the most monotonous meal — a ho-hum bowl of
cereal with milk, a small glass of juice, and a cup or two of coffee.
But with a little creativity, breakfast can be the best meal of the
day. Try some of the suggestions in “Breakfast ideas.” If you’re
daring, venture beyond traditional American breakfast foods to those of
other countries: rice with vegetables and fish, as in parts of China;
falafel (bean burgers) served in pita bread, as in Egypt; idli (steamed
cakes of fermented rice and lentils), as in southern parts of India; or
gallo pinto (refried black beans, rice, and onions), as in Costa Rica.
“Start
your day with a good breakfast” is timeless advice that science is only
slowly catching up with. But there’s no need to wait for more hard
evidence on this one.
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