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| Big Breakfast - Sapore, Chadstone (Photo credit: avlxyz) |
Most of the time, there is a confusion
in patients of either pre-diabetics or diabetics; what to eat, how
much to eat and what not to eat.
It has been seen that big breakfast
with more protein and fat, and less carbohydrate may actually help
people with type 2 diabetes to better control both their hunger and
their blood sugar levels.
Patients who ate a big breakfast for
three months experienced lower blood sugar (glucose) levels, and
nearly one-third were able to reduce the amount of diabetic
medication they took, according to an Israeli study that was
scheduled for presentation at the European Association for the Study
of Diabetes annual meeting in Barcelona.
This research was based on previous
investigations that found that people who regularly eat breakfast
tend to have a lower body mass index (BMI) than those who skip the
meal.
Breakfast eaters also enjoy lower blood
sugar levels and are able to use insulin more efficiently. The trial
randomly assigned 59 people with type 2 diabetes to either a big or
small breakfast group.
The big breakfast contained about one-third of the daily calories,
about 600 Calories that the diabetic patients would have, while the
small breakfast contained only 12.5 percent of their total daily
energy intake. The big breakfast also contained a higher percentage
of protein and fat.Doctors found that after 13 weeks, blood sugar levels and blood pressure dropped dramatically in people who ate a big breakfast every day. Those who ate a big breakfast enjoyed blood sugar level reductions three times greater than those who ate a small breakfast, and blood pressure reductions that were four times greater.
About one-third of the people eating a big breakfast ended up cutting back on the daily diabetic medication they needed to take. By comparison, about 17 percent of the small breakfast group had to increase their medication prescriptions during the course of the trial.
The people eating a big breakfast also found themselves less hungry later in the day. The hunger scores increased significantly in the small breakfast group while satiety scores increased in the big breakfast group.
In addition, the big breakfast group reported a reduced urge to eat and a less preoccupation with food, while the small breakfast group had increased preoccupation with food and a greater urge to eat over time.
It is thought that a big breakfast rich in protein that gets digested slowly, causes suppression of ghrelin, which is known as the "hunger hormone."
Ghrelin (Growth Hormone Release Inducing) and leptin work in opposite manner to each other. Ghrelin increases hunger, whereas leptin increases satiety.
This secretion of hormones occur according to the circardian rhythm. Increases in arousal and activity in anticipation of a meal, termed "food anticipatory activity" (FAA), depend on circadian food-entrainable oscillators (FEOs), whose locations and output signals have long been sought.
It is believed that that oxyntic gland
cells of the stomach contain FEOs, which produce a timed ghrelin
output signal that acts widely at both brain and peripheral sites. It
is likely that other FEOs also produce humoral signals that modulate
FAA.
Circadian clocks allow animals to anticipate daily events rather
than just react to them. The cells that produce ghrelin have
circadian clocks that presumably synchronize the anticipation of food
with metabolic cycles.
The scientists show that the stomach cells release ghrelin into
the general circulation before mealtime. The hormone triggers a
flurry of food-seeking behaviour such as digging in the bedding around
the food hopper, and it also stimulates eating. These behaviours are
part of the subjective experience of hunger.Ghrelin should get satisfied by food, or else body may use alternative source to get energy after getting out of bed in the morning. That may also trigger food craving, interval eating leading to obesity.
Breakfast should be enriched with protein, from sources like egg white, cheese, fish, skimmed milk, whole cereal food; carbohydrate of low glycemic index may be chosen from food like oatmeal, whole cereal; and some fat.
For 27 breakfast ideas, please go here.
