Morning snacks prevent weight loss

Women who adhere to a diet may notice that their kilograms go much more slowly if they have a snack between breakfast and lunch. This result was shown by a study of scientists from the Center for Cancer Research Fred Hutchinson. The authors tried to carefully analyze the influence of time, frequency of consumption and quality of food on the effectiveness of the diet.

Ann McTiernan, MD, and her team conducted a 12-month study and found that people who adhered to a diet who ate breakfast without a morning snack * (an afternoon snack) lost an average of 11% of the weight, compared to 7% for those who did a snack between breakfast and lunch.

"This is a dilemma. After all, snack can help control the feeling of hunger, which will avoid eating calories from food. However, for the effectiveness of diet, it is especially important to observe the timing of food intake. Too much interval between meals can reduce the effectiveness of the diet, as well as too frequent, "- added Maktirnan.

Scientists have discovered other amazing facts:

• Women who say that they, at least, make two snacks per day, usually consume more fiber than others.
• Women who snack in the afternoon tend to consume more fruits and vegetables than those who do not snack between lunch and dinner

This study is part of a larger randomized human study whose goal was to determine the effects of diet and physical activity on the risk of developing breast cancer. It was attended by 123 women in postmenopausal women ages 50 to 75 years. All women were overweight or obese. They were randomly selected into one of two groups:

• The group is only a diet. In this group, women consumed between 1200 and 2000 calories per day.
• Group "diet plus exercises." This group followed the same diet as in the previous plus five days a week for 45 minutes of moderate and / or intense training.

All participants received recommendations on nutrition, but nothing was mentioned about snacks.

Participants were required to record at what time of day they were eating, as well as the percentage of calories from fat, fiber, fruits and vegetables (a questionnaire was used to estimate the food frequency).

"Many people think that a weight loss program should always be accompanied by a feeling of hunger.Our study shows that a snack can really help in weight loss if the time it was taken was not too close to another meal, especially if the snacks are healthy products that can help you feel full without adding too many calories. "

Other studies have shown that approximately 97% of Americans snack between meals. Snack is an American food habit that is widespread in all age groups. The most common snack foods are crispy and salty foods such as nuts, pretzels, chips, as well as cakes and biscuits. Fruits and ice cream are also very often popular snacks.

The authors of the study explain that "snacks of empty calories", such as sweet drinks and chips can seriously undermine the plan of any diet.

Since dieters have a limited number of calories consumed per day, it is important for them to include nutritious foods containing no more than 200 calories per serving. Appetizers for effective weight loss should be rich in protein (low-fat yogurt, cheese or a small handful of nuts, non-starchy vegetables, fresh fruits, whole grain crackers), they can be supplemented with non-calorie drinks such as water, coffee and tea.

The results of this study show that snacks can be an additional source of fruits, vegetables, and fiber-rich foods, but "unhealthy" snacks can prevent weight loss. Therefore, dietary nutrition should take into account factors such as timing, frequency and quality of snacks.

* - In this study, a snack is any meal or drink between meals.

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