For everyone who has fought urges to eat sweets all day long only to have their willpower collapse in the evening (with significant adverse consequences to their waistlines), this research is a must-read.
In a nutshell, this study separated people into two groups, each of whom consumed the same number of calories. One group ate a standard diet, the other ate a diet that included a serving of dessert at breakfast. Yes, cookies, cake, ice cream, for breakfast, along with some healthy fare. The findings:
During an initial 16-week period, the average weight loss in each group was identical – about 32 pounds. But over a 16-week follow-up, people on the dessert-with-breakfast diet lost an additional 13 pounds on average, while the others gained back all but 3.5 of the pounds they had lost.
So they ate the same number of calories, and each group lost the same amount of weight during the study period. So far, what one would expect. But instead of gaining almost all of it back, the dessert group lost a bunch more weight after the study’s end.
My take-away? Starting the day with a little indulgence, instead of deprivation, seemed to help people to feel satisfied and turned off some of the cravings. Interesting dieting tactic.
Maybe Bill Cosby was right after all.
