Proteins, carbohydrates, and fats are three significant macronutrients the human body requires to function.
But, among these three, proteins are the most crucial micronutrient people should consider in their meals.
It is believed that people consuming high-protein breakfasts lose their weight faster than other diet plans.
But, is it so? This article will cover some vital points to check protein-rich breakfast’s importance in weight loss.
Why Is Breakfast Important?
Breakfast is considered to be one of the most important meals of the day for an individual.
People who consume breakfast regularly break their overnight fast and supply their bodies with optimum nutrition to freshly start the metabolism.
Breakfast is highly essential to efficiently burn calories and focus on your daily tasks throughout the day.
Moreover, it could[1] help reduce the risk of several severe diseases by lowering bad cholesterol and blood glucose levels.
People skipping the day’s first meal are prone to several diseases and weight gain.
Similarly, people consuming an unhealthy breakfast or stuffing their tummies with unhealthy food may suffer severe health conditions.
Hence, you should consider consuming a healthy breakfast for overall wellness.
Generally, people who consume a light breakfast with minimum calories, like cereals, oats, etc., may not experience weight gain.
But, people adding sufficient protein in the first meal may reduce their overall weight.
How Protein Helps Lose Weight?
Proteins are one of the most vital macronutrients that the human body requires for different bodily functions and mechanisms.
These larger structures are composed using smaller units called amino acids.
Generally, 22 amino acids combinedly form protein structures, but only nine are considered essential as the human body doesn’t prepare them.
Hence, you must consume different protein sources to supply these essential amino acids.
The best meal to include higher protein would[2] be your breakfast. People consuming dietary protein-rich breakfast would be able to lose excess weight.
Dietary protein could be effective in lowering your body weight by controlling basic mechanisms causing weight gain.
- A high-protein breakfast may help to suppress hunger and gives you a feeling of fullness.
- Protein-rich diet makes you burn excessive calories by digesting proteins.
- Proteins in breakfast allow you to build muscle and prevent muscle degradation while losing weight.
- A high protein-containing breakfast suppresses blood sugar levels for reducing calorie intake.
How Much Protein Is Healthy For Weight Loss?
People focusing on losing weight should consider consuming higher protein.
It is advised that people should[3] aim to consume at least 1.6-2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of their body weight.
But, the above quantity may change for athletes, gym enthusiasts, and heavy-weight lifters. These sports people may consume up to 3.4 grams of protein per kilogram of their weight.
You may also calculate the protein amount based on the calorie intake. Generally, an individual should consume 10-35% protein of their daily calorie intake.
But, before increasing the protein intake, you should consult any dietitian for additional advice.
Benefits Of A High-Protein Breakfast
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High-Protein Breakfast Keeps You Full For Long
People following a weight loss diet plan may struggle to continue if they often feel hungry.
Hence, they should[4] consider adding higher protein to their breakfast to stay full for longer and reduce their calorie intake.
Generally, the human body requires higher calories to digest protein than other macronutrients.
Hence, people consuming proteins in breakfast slow down their digestion and stay full for longer.
Moreover, protein could help lower ghrelin, the hunger hormone concentration in the body. The macronutrient also increases peptide YY levels linked with the feeling of fullness.
A good protein-rich meal satisfies your hunger pangs, resulting in low blood sugar spikes and reduced hunger between meals.
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Protein In Breakfast Helps Lose Belly Fat
It is believed that consuming quality proteins helps burn the fat content in the body, especially belly fat.
Hence, people adding higher proteins to their breakfast may lose their belly fat excessively.
Proteins are known for boosting the body’s metabolism; thus, they increase calories burnt daily.
Proteins may[5] help improve the TEF value, i.e., the thermic effect of food that allows the burning of calories excessively for digesting the food.
Hence, people adding higher protein content to their breakfast meals would give a boost to their metabolism.
Higher protein content would result in increased calorie requirement for processing; thus, more belly fat would be burnt.
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High-Proteins May Help Preserve Lean Muscles Mass
Consuming a healthy and high-protein meal for breakfast allows you to preserve your lean muscle mass.
Whenever an individual reduces calorie intake, the body starts burning muscle mass to gain extra calories required for different metabolic activities.
Here, people consuming a heavy protein meal may[6] reverse the mechanism and start burning fat instead of muscle mass.
You may add quality protein to your diet to minimize the loss and maximize muscle building.
Generally, an individual’s lean muscle mass is metabolically active; preserving them allows you to improve metabolic activities.
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High-Protein Breakfast Checks The Blood Sugar Levels
Proteins could[7] be beneficial in suppressing blood sugar levels and reducing the risk of developing type-2 diabetes.
The presence of protein in the body would help slow down carbohydrate absorption into the bloodstream.
Moreover, it would help reduce sugar and insulin spikes resulting in low-fat storage.
What To Eat For a High-Protein Breakfast?
You would get plenty of food options that may supply your body with sufficient proteins. But, as breakfast is the first meal, keeping it light would be helpful.
Hence, you may consider the below-mentioned food to add to your breakfast routine.
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Protein Pancake
Protein pancakes are one of the most delicious and easy-to-make recipes that anyone could have for their breakfast.
These pancakes contain higher protein content with several beneficial ingredients like protein powders, bananas, oats, milk, almond, eggs, and spices.
Generally, preparing a fluffy pancake takes roughly around 20 minutes. Hence, you could readily supply your body with a protein-filled meal within half an hour.
These pancakes are calorie-friendly; hence, they allow you to consume them without disturbing your calorie count.
Moreover, they could be an ideal meal post-workout as they would help recover faster.
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Eggs
Eggs are a versatile food that perfectly fits all meals, including breakfast. Eggs are one of the most significant sources of proteins and other vital nutrients.
Moreover, you would[8] get sufficient calories for breakfast with one or two eggs.
People who prefer eggs get multiple recipes to create variety in their breakfast routines. You could easily prepare an omelet or scrambled egg without additional ingredients.
Eggs offer a high-quality meal that could suppress your hunger for a few hours.
It is believed that replacing your gain-rich breakfast with eggs may help you burn excess calories and lose weight.
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Banana Shake
Bananas for weight loss could be a better choice. It could make a perfect breakfast for people losing weight.
You could easily prepare a protein-rich banana shake without consuming any carbs.
You would[9] require a scoop of whey protein, bananas, almond milk, and frozen berries for topping.
All the ingredients used to prepare the shake contain essential nutrients for good health.
Moreover, these ingredients would provide sufficient calories and suppress ghrelin concentration in the body.
Besides a banana shake, you may consider one or two whole bananas with a glass of milk for your breakfast.
It would be a light, convenient breakfast option in a weight-loss diet.
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Sprouts
Sprouts could be a good breakfast option for vegetarians. The sprouts are rich in plant-based proteins, fibers, and other essential nutrients required for good health and weight.
The fiber and protein content of sprouts gives you a feeling of fullness for a longer period.
Moreover, sprouts could[10] potentially boost an individual’s metabolism resulting in increased calorie burning.
Thus, eating them for breakfast makes you burn fat and boost your weight loss mechanism.
You could consume sprouts raw or cooked based on your preferences.But, you may add some extra ingredients like veggies or fruits to add additional flavors.
Sprouts are widely used in breakfast salads, making them a convenient weight-loss food.
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Greek Yogurt
Greek yogurt is another high protein-rich food that you could consider to lose weight.
Generally, yogurt is a calcium-rich food, but Greek yogurt contains casein protein, making it an ideal weight-loss food.
Moreover, Greek yogurt offers minimum calories resulting in a balanced calorie intake for the day. You may[11] consider directly consuming packed Greek yogurt.
But, adding berries like strawberries could help naturally increase flavor and boost weight loss. Hence, you won’t require adding sugar to the yogurt to balance the taste.
Conclusion
Breakfast is an important meal; hence, you should focus on adding essential nutrients like protein to the meal.
High protein intake boosts the energy bar, which is required for better performance in daily tasks.
Moreover, protein intake possibly plays a significant role in cutting down the excess fat and helps you achieve a good waistline.
Hence, you should consider including a substantial portion of your breakfast meal with protein.
References/Sources
- Michael J. Gibney,Susan I. Barr,France Bellisle,et al. Breakfast in Human Nutrition: The International Breakfast Research Initiative Nutrients. 2018 May; 10(5): 559.Published online 2018 May 1. doi: 10.3390/nu10050559
- The Shape and Structure of Proteins Available from:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK26830/
- Guoyao Wu Dietary protein intake and human health Review Food Funct. 2016 Mar;7(3):1251-65. doi: 10.1039/c5fo01530h. Available from:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26797090/
- Heather J Leidy,Laura C Ortinau, Steve M Douglas,et al. Beneficial effects of a higher-protein breakfast on the appetitive, hormonal, and neural signals controlling energy intake regulation in overweight/obese, “breakfast-skipping,” late-adolescent girls Am J Clin Nutr. 2013 Apr; 97(4): 677–688.Published online 2013 Feb 27. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.112.053116
- Dominik H Pesta and Varman T Samuel A high-protein diet for reducing body fat: mechanisms and possible caveats Nutr Metab (Lond). 2014; 11: 53.Published online 2014 Nov 19. doi: 10.1186/1743-7075-11-53
- John W. Carbone,and Stefan M. Pasiakos Dietary Protein and Muscle Mass: Translating Science to Application and Health Benefit Nutrients. 2019 May; 11(5): 1136.Published online 2019 May 22. doi: 10.3390/nu11051136
- Junyoung Yang,Hae Jin Park,Wonsun Hwang,et al. Changes in the glucose and insulin responses according to high-protein snacks for diabetic patients Nutr Res Pract. 2021 Feb; 15(1): 54–65.Published online 2020 Oct 12. doi: 10.4162/nrp.2021.15.1.54
- Sophie Réhault-Godbert,Nicolas Guyot, and Yves Nys The Golden Egg: Nutritional Value, Bioactivities, and Emerging Benefits for Human Health Nutrients. 2019 Mar; 11(3): 684.Published online 2019 Mar 22. doi: 10.3390/nu11030684
- Daniel W. D. West,Sidney Abou Sawan,Michael Mazzulla,et al. Whey Protein Supplementation Enhances Whole Body Protein Metabolism and Performance Recovery after Resistance Exercise: A Double-Blind Crossover Study Nutrients. 2017 Jul; 9(7): 735.Published online 2017 Jul 11. doi: 10.3390/nu9070735
- Simon Okomo Aloo,Fred Kwame Ofosu,Sheila M. Kilonzi,et al. Edible Plant Sprouts: Health Benefits, Trends, and Opportunities for Novel Exploration Nutrients. 2021 Aug; 13(8): 2882.Published online 2021 Aug 21. doi: 10.3390/nu13082882
- J Eales,I Lenoir-Wijnkoop,S King,et al. Is consuming yoghurt associated with weight management outcomes? Results from a systematic review Int J Obes (Lond). 2016 May; 40(5): 731–746.Published online 2015 Nov 3. Prepublished online 2015 Oct 7. doi: 10.1038/ijo.2015.202
- About the Author
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Alisha Matthew has been a practicing nutritionist since 2016. She holds a master’s degree in nutrition from the University of IOWA. She is a staunch believer in improving the human health index by educating people about nutrition and the importance of nutrition in leading a healthy and happy life. Her long-term goal is to keep educating people on general health and keep herself updated with the latest trends in the field of health.