with vitamins A and D, which are fat
soluble. So you need some fat (at least
1 to 2 percent) to help your body ab-
sorb those nutrients more efficiently.- Calorie-control your smoothie.
A smoothie might seem like a healthy
option, especially when made from
whole fruits rather than fruit juices.
But be careful of a fruit free-for-all,
because the calories and sugar
add up when you toss in too much,
Shapiro says. Just one large banana,
for instance, has 121 calories and
16.6 grams of sugar. - Look for larger flakes ...
A little-observed fact about cereal:
The smaller the flake size, the more
efficiently it fills a bowl. That means
ate a balanced 700-calorie breakfast
over a 12-week period lowered their
blood sugar and blood pressure two
times more than people who ate a 200-
calorie meal. They also lost an average
of 19.2 pounds and had lower levels of
ghrelin, the “hunger hormone.”- Pile on the produce.
“I advocate for plants in every meal,”
Shapiro says. She recommends sneak-
ing in a serving of fruits or veggies by
cooking tomato or spinach in your
eggs, adding avocado to your break-
fast sandwich, or eating half a banana
with toast. - Always pick a protein.
A review of studies in the journal
Advances in Nutrition found that for
breakfast to reduce hunger later in
the day, it needs to be high in protein.
Shapiro recommends eggs, nut butter,
or cottage cheese (which is generally
a little lower in sugar than yogurt) to
give your breakfast a protein boost. - Embrace fat, even dairy fat.
Fat isn’t the main enemy to weight-
loss success—sugar is. “Fat is digested
slowly by the body and helps decrease
the rate at which we digest and break
down carbohydrates,” says Moss. That
means healthy fats keep you full and
squash cravings. At least one quarter
of the calories in your breakfast should
come from fats, mostly the healthy
mono- and polyunsaturated kind.
What’s more, milk is usually fortified
32 march 2019 | rd.com
Reader’s Digest How to Build a Better Breakfast
matthew^cohen