That's Fit

Not a breakfast person? Well, if you want to lose weight and decrease your risk for metabolic syndrome, you may want to force yourself to be.

An analysis of government data on 4,200 adults revealed that that people who ate breakfast regularly tended to eat fewer calories overall during the day. And, a separate study out of the University of Connecticut found that eating three eggs daily can cut your risk of high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and obesity -- three known risk factors that, along with others, are classified as metabolic syndrome.

So, if your usual breakfast is nothing more than a quick cup of coffee, it may be worth your while to take the extra ten minutes to cook yourself up some eggs.

100% fruit juice is a good addition to your breakfast. Without the added sugar, you're getting much of the fruit nutrition without added ingredients. The RDs over at HealthCastle shared their list of the top five juices:

• Concord Grape juice. According to a recent study, grape juice has the highest amount of antioxidants.
  
• Wild Blueberry juice. A close runner-up to grape juice, blueberry juice is also high in antioxidants. (Some listings rank it higher.)
  
• Cranberry juice. The flavonoids in cranberry juice can improve blood flow, possibly benefiting blood pressure and cholesterol while reducing the risk of blood clots.
• Cloudy apple juice. The cloudier varieties of apple juice are less filtered. Subsequently, they have more antioxidants than highly filtered varieties.
  
• Fortified orange juice. Many OJs are fortified with calcium, vitamin D, or plant sterols.

Do pay attention to serving sizes, however. A tall glass of orange juice may be two or even three servings. Stick to a small juice glass so you can enjoy your morning beverage without going overboard.

I visited my niece this weekend and she was complaining about a few pounds she can't seem to shed. She has a health condition that prevents her from doing more than walking, swimming, stretching, and using light weights, but she remains very active. She said that it used to be so easy for her to lose 5-10 pounds when necessary. But now that she's getting older it seems to be harder. I hated to break it to her, but she should just wait until she hits her late 30's!

According to a Good Housekeeping article, our metabolism decreases by about 5% each decade. So, at age 35 you may burn up to 100 calories less per day than you did when you were 25. (Assuming your fitness level is roughly the same.) But there are things you can do to ward off middle-age pounds:

• Get a body-fat reading. Muscle burns more calories than fat. If your muscle mass is low, you're more susceptible to gaining weight (even if your BMI is right on target). Start incorporating more strength exercises into your fitness routine. You may want to book a session (or two or three...) with a personal trainer for some custom advice.

Does your child decide what she or he eats for breakfast? Chances are they do, but letting them make the wrong choice can impact their health ... for life!

Did you eat breakfast today? How about yesterday? If you answered "No," you may be interested to learn that starting the day off with a substantive meal can help keep your weight in check.

The American Journal of Epidemiology reports that participants in a recent study who sourced 22 to 50 percent of their total daily calories from their breakfast gained an average of only 1.7 pounds over a four-year span. By contrast, those who did not eat breakfast -- or only sourced up to 11 percent of their daily calories from breakfast -- gained about three pounds.

Researchers posit that eating a meal after a long period of fasting -- as in, sleeping through the night, skipping breakfast, and then eating at around noon -- releases excess amounts of insulin, leading to fat storage and, as a recent Japanese study revealed, prevents the breakdown of stored fats.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, right? Most people will agree, but there are two side to every story. Diet Blog recently discussed the other side to the breakfast debate, based on the fact that most research on the importance of breakfast is funded by companies with a vested interest in your early AM food consumption -- namely companies who sell things like cereal, orange juice, frozen waffles and so on. They give a number of reasons why breakfast might not be as essential as we think -- you can check them out there.

I'm a staunch breakfast eater, if for no other reason then I am really freaking hungry when I wake up. I don't eat a lot -- a protein smoothie or a bowl of cereal will do -- but I have to have something or I won't be able to concentrate on anything for the first few hours of the day because I won't be able to hear anything above the growling of my stomach.

What about you? Is breakfast essential to your morning? Do you think we're being misled on the breakfast front?

Granola in all its forms is widely understood to be healthy. It's what you should take with you on a hike for a quick energy fix, or add to your fruit to add some nutritional balance to your breakfast. And while it's pretty obvious that a chocolate-covered granola bar or trail mix with Smarties added in won't do your diet any favours, mixing some plain organic granola to your yogurt in the morning can't hurt right?

Granola is generally healthy -- it's made primarily of oats, whole grains, nuts, seeds and maybe some dried fruit. But is it a diet-friendly choice? What do you think?

Moms who followed a "hearty" diet prior to conception are more likely to give birth to boys, according to a recent study. We touched on this here at That's Fit yesterday, but I thought I would go into some of the details I discovered.

The study found that, out of a group of women who followed a high energy diet (which generally included a daily bowl of breakfast cereal) around the time of conception, 56% had sons. Out of the group that took in fewer calories, including moms who skipped breakfast, only 45% had sons. The women in the first group not only consumed more calories, but but took in a large variety of nutrients.

Not everybody is sold on this theory, but there are some valid points to back up the findings.

Have fitness questions? Fitz has your answer. Our ThatsFit.com fitness expert -- and now your own virtual personal trainer -- will help you get fit, increase your overall health and do it in a fun way. Drop your questions here in the Comments section below and we'll choose two per week to publish on That's Fit! Learn more about Fitz here.

Q. Dear Fitz, My husband makes a big stink when I give our kids any type of 'sugar candy' like gummy bears or bubblegum. The kids are totally skinny and I don't see what the big deal is. They are kids! What do you think? Christy

A. Hey Christy. Your husband is a freaking genius. That's what I think! He has the insight and thoughtfulness to know that as parents, you should be teaching your children the best habits possible. He knows that your children are less likely to eat nutritious things when they've had a dose of candy. They're more likely to deal with the pain and terror that comes along with having their cavities filled if you give them candy. They're more likely to struggle with their weight and other less than lovely issues later on in life if you don't instill high standards in them today.

Breakfast is my favorite meal. I can easily feel satiated on about 350-450 calories. I often enjoy a couple of eggs, a piece of toast with butter (two slices on ravenous/workout mornings) and a small serving of fruit.

Recently I've changed up my preferred meal. In order to cut calories and fat I'm often substituting juicy grapefruit instead of toast. Choosing one whole, medium grapefruit over two slices of my favorite 100 percent whole wheat toast spread with two pats of butter saves 170 calories. Here's a nutritional breakdown:

Two slices of my 100 percent whole wheat toast with 2 pats butter: 252 calories, 10 g fat, 34 g carbs, 4 g fiber, 6 g sugar and 8 g protein.

One medium-sized grapefruit: 82 calories, just about no fat, 20 g carbs, 2.8 g fiber, 18 g sugar and 1.6 protein (per CalorieKing).

Comparatively there is more sugar and less protein in sweet grapefruit, but I garner decent protein from my eggs and save significantly overall on both fat and calories consumed. Bon appetit!

Pancakes are a breakfast "staple" food that most of us try to avoid because they are usually full of nothing but sugar, fat, and carbs. But if you're not afraid to do a little experimenting, finding a healthier pancake recipe that still satisfies the 'comfort food' factor and tastes good is not that hard. The good thing about pancakes is that their basic formula leaves a lot of room to substitute ingredients and add things in to make them a smarter option.

Tips for a healthier pancake:

• Substitute whole wheat flour for white flour for a fiber boost.
  
• Add in fresh blueberries, pumpkin, or grated apples for valuable antioxidants.
  
• Use less sugar and add in some sweet-tasting spices like vanilla, cinnamon, and/or nutmeg
• Top with fresh fruit, yogurt, or jam instead of syrup.

Losing weight isn't a race. After all, you don't put 10 extra pounds on in a week, so why would you expect to lose it that quickly? Most experts recommend a 1/2 pound to 2 pound weight loss per week for best results. In keeping with this healthy pace, Prevention has 52 ways to lose a pound per week, including:

• Stopping the "all or nothing" line of thinking
• See a dietitian for professional advice
• Build on success, and keep raising the bar
• Use a symbol to remind you of your goal
• Buy fresh foods instead of processed, packaged items
• Don't skip breakfast
• Watch out for empty calories
• Read labels for nutrition information
• Get outside and exercise
• Lift what you've lost to remind yourself of progress
• Brush your teeth when it's time to stop eating
• Phone a friend for support.

Take a quick read through Prevention's tips and find some ideas that will work for you. For more information on weight loss, check out AOL Body.

When is the last time you had breakfast? Hopefully you can say this morning, but if you are like many Americans, you probably can't remember. Not a good idea for several reasons, but we'll focus on one in particular: Weight Gain.

If you're not eating breakfast and are instead waiting until as late as lunch time to finally get some chow, that means that you've deprived your body of calories for over 12 hours!! Do this on a regular basis for even a short amount of time, and you'll soon begin to see signs of you metabolism slowing to a snail's pace.

Ideally, you should try to eat something healthy within 90 minutes of waking, say researchers from the University of Massachusetts. A recent study revealed that men who waited longer than that to eat were 50 percent more likely to be obese.

Focusing only on appearance, being extremely overweight is seldom the look people desire. And, as far as health is concerned, numerous studies have linked obesity to an increased risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and even certain types of cancer.

Long story short, be sure to get some grub when you wake up in the morning. You may not have time, you may not have the desire, you may not eve have the appetite, but do your best to squeeze in a healthy meal anyway (note: Burger King hash browns and French toast sticks, though delicious and convenient, do not constitute a healthy breakfast. Sorry).

Occasionally grabbing breakfast on the run is one of those inevitabilities. After all, who hasn't overslept or woken up only to find that the last bit of cereal milk has been usurped by the last breakfaster? And grabbing breakfast on the go is better than not having any at all.

Yahoo health recently rated the top breakfast choices. Here are some picks:

• McDonald's: Fruit n' Yogurt Parfait -- 160 cal, 2 g fat
• Starbucks: Spinach, roasted tomato, feta and egg wrap -- 240 cal, 10 g of fat (but lots of protein and fiber)
• Jamba Juice: Jamba Light smoothie -- 150-160 cal, 0 g of fat
• Dunkin' Donuts: Four powdered donut holes -- 260 cal, 15 g of fat
• Burger King: Nothing. Their food still has trans fats.
  

Want to find out what other breakfast dishes made the cut? Click here for the full list.

When it comes to getting fitter, everyone seems to have a strategy. Whether or not that strategy is sound, well, that's another story. Nevertheless, in almost all cases, eating right and performing regular exercise will benefit you. What's in question, however, is whether or not your strategy is providing you with the maximum results.

Making that determination, however, is seldom ever easy. One of the main reasons for the difficulty is the surfeit of conflicting fitness information that is passed along magazines, peer-reviewed journals, websites, and the locker rooms of gyms and health clubs. When trying to come up with an example, the "working out in the morning before breakfast" debate was first to come to mind.

Some people will tell you that the best way to burn fat is to perform your cardio exercise first thing in the morning, before you've had the chance to eat anything. Are they wrong? Some say yes, while others say no. What do I think? Well, I apologize to the proponents of this exercise strategy, but I am against it. For one, your cortisol levels are highest in the early part of the day. So, in some sense, morning exercise can have somewhat of a muscle-wasting effect. And secondly, morning exercise does not burn fat any more effectively than exercise performed at any other time of the day. So, there really isn't any benefit to waking up early and working out while starving.

If you agree, or disagree, with this strategy, feel free to say so in the comments section below.