Breakfast for a slim you!

Is your expanding waistline giving you nightmares? Well, take heart. Researchers have found that a breakfast of muesli with milk, tinned peaches and yoghurt can help weight loss.

Experts at the University of Nottingham suggest that the low GI breakfast with apple juice helps the body break down fat better than a high Glycaemic Index start to the day of sugary cereal and white toast, reports The Daily Express .

Scientists discovered that the type of food you eat before exercise can directly impact on your health.

A study led by Dr Emma Stevenson looked at young women after an overnight fast. In one study period they were given a breakfast of food known to cause large rises in blood glucose – those with a high GI, including cornflakes and milk, white bread and jam and a fizzy, sugary drink.

In another period, they breakfasted on food with a low GI, although both breakfasts had the same amount of calories, carbohydrate, fat and protein. The low GI breakfast was muesli, milk, tinned peaches, yoghurt and apple juice.

Three hours after eating, the women walked for an hour on a treadmill. A lunch – the same in both study periods – was then provided. Throughout the day blood samples and samples of expired air were taken.

From analyses, researchers found blood glucose levels were higher after the high GI breakfast than the low one, and had returned to normal by the time the women began to exercise.

However, plasma free fatty acids (FFA) – which show the amount of fat used up for energy – began to rise two hours after the low GI breakfast, the researchers found.

Exercise then led to a rapid increase in FFAs in both groups – but concentrations were higher in the low GI group. After lunch the concentration of FFAs was the same in both groups, but overall fat oxidation was higher in the low GI group than the high GI group.

Dr Stevenson said: "We concluded that consuming a low GI breakfast increases fat oxidation both at rest and during subsequent exercise. A low GI breakfast also had an impact on appetite, with test subjects feeling fuller for longer after they'd eaten these types of foods."

Source:India Today.