Is your daily eating pattern reasonable? What is your daily nutrition plan for breakfast?

Is your daily eating pattern reasonable?

We've already discussed how to choose food and how much to eat. How should you distribute this food across each meal? In other words, when can you eat, what's appropriate to eat, and how can you avoid hunger while simultaneously improving your weight loss results?

Take a test

1. How many meals do you eat each day?

a. 3 main meals and 2 snacks (3 points)

b. 3 main meals and 1 snack (2 points)

c. Two main meals (1 point)

d. 1 main meal (0 points)

2. How often do you eat breakfast each week?

a. Eat breakfast every day (3 points)

b. Breakfast 4–6 times per week (2 points)

c. Breakfast 1-3 times per week (1 point)

d. Never eat breakfast (0 points)

3. Breakfast typically includes:

a. One egg, whole-wheat bread or oatmeal, plus fruit or juice (3 points)

b. One bowl of plain milk oatmeal porridge with plain sugar, or cookies (2 points)

c. One piece of bread or a bowl of porridge (1 point)

d. Doesn't eat anything (0 points)

4. How would you describe your meal?

a. Home-cooked, with meat, chicken, or fish (3 points)

b. Eat any food that can be heated in the microwave (2 points)

c. Eating at a restaurant (1 point)

d. Eating at a fast food restaurant or ordering takeout (0 points)

5. How often do you eat at fast food restaurants?

a. Rarely (3 points)

b. 1-3 times per week (2 points)

c. 4–7 times per week (1 point)

d. No less than 8 times per week (0 points)

6. How many times a week do you change your food choices?

a. Always changing (3 points)

b. Frequent changes (2 points)

c. Rarely changes (1 point)

d. I never change; I always eat the exact same food. (0 points)

Explanation of the score is omitted.

**Daily Nutrition Plan**

Describing the modern work ethic as working day and night is no exaggeration. In the clinic, we often encounter patients who feel they eat very little-they basically skip breakfast, eat only a little for lunch, so how could they gain weight? As for dinner, well, there's no way around it; when with family or friends, of course they have to eat something better. But if you estimate, a single dinner can easily contain 16,720 kilojoules (3,000-4,000 kilocalories), more than double the recommended daily intake, which explains why.

This vicious cycle is one you should strive to avoid. You can't simply control your diet; you must distribute your energy intake throughout the day so that your metabolism doesn't slow down and you have more energy.

When it comes to when to eat, we need to look at the intervals between each meal.

Our bodies are very loyal to their instincts: when they are hungry, they send signals to satisfy them. If their needs are not met, they will instinctively send even stronger signals, prompting you to eat a large meal; if you don't eat, your body will have a memory of not being satisfied, making you crave food to replenish your energy next time.

When you can't resist overeating, the "I'm full" signal doesn't reach the brain as quickly as it would otherwise. The brain then issues the "stop eating" command, so by the time you feel full, you've actually overeaten. If the excess food isn't used up, the body will desperately convert the absorbed nutrients into energy and store it to prevent future energy shortages. Unfortunately, this results in weight gain.

Even worse, when you're hungry, your body's existing blood sugar levels are almost depleted. So, in addition to breaking down fat, your body will also break down muscle to maintain blood sugar levels and provide energy. This slows down your metabolism, affecting your weight loss efforts. Therefore, the tragedy of eating a large meal after being hungry is that you may gain fat while gradually losing muscle.

Therefore, we can no longer ignore when to eat and the intervals between meals.

To ensure the effectiveness and sustainability of our weight loss efforts, we recommend that you:

Maintain a balanced diet.

Don't just eat whatever you want.

Don't let your body go hungry.

Next, I will explain in detail how to arrange our three meals, when to eat, and what to eat to avoid feeling hungry and overeating.

To better regain control over your food intake, you must create a nutrition plan and then stick to it. A nutrition plan involves accurately writing down what you will eat each day on paper and then only eating the foods listed. The benefit of meticulous planning is to avoid deciding what to eat at the last minute and to prevent you from succumbing to sudden impulses and overeating. A nutrition plan helps you stick to your commitments without willpower.

Make a plan every day, including three meals and snacks. Start each day with a plan, considering your dietary preferences in advance, to ensure that you don't give up halfway through and instead stay on a reasonable dietary path no matter what the circumstances.

Creating a nutrition plan isn't a new method, but it can help you control your weight once and for all. The more you let food dictate your eating habits, the harder it is to manage your weight. Now, use a plan to regulate your eating behavior, instead of relying on willpower. If you follow a plan, rather than relying on willpower to eat, weight loss is inevitable.

When you wake up in the morning, your body lacks energy, like a car running out of fuel. Eating breakfast is like refueling the tank, giving you the stamina to handle high-intensity activities and keeping you refreshed throughout the day. If you're determined to lose weight, the first thing you should do every day is develop the habit of eating breakfast. Don't try to save calories by skipping a meal. If you start counting from 6 PM the previous night to noon the next day, your stomach hasn't eaten for nearly 18 hours. The morning is the most tiring time of day, and all the energy needed relies on the previous day's food intake, which is far from meeting the body's nutritional needs. Since the body's sugar storage is limited, by around 11 AM, the stored sugar is depleted, and you start to feel tired and your work efficiency decreases. To keep going, the body won't focus on stored fat; instead, it will burn muscle to replenish its energy. Over time, your muscle tissue will gradually disappear, your basal metabolic rate will decrease, leading to weight gain. Coupled with prolonged lack of energy replenishment, this can easily cause hypoglycemia, resulting in dizziness, weakness, and unbearable hunger. Overeating at lunch and then indulging in large meals with family and friends at dinner inevitably leads to obesity. A survey published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition indicates that people who skip breakfast are more likely to snack than those who eat breakfast. This results in excessive calorie intake, and combined with insufficient exercise, the excess calories are stored as fat, causing obesity.

Modern medical research shows that people who skip breakfast have 33% higher levels of cholesterol and triglycerides in their blood than those who eat a normal breakfast, and even higher levels than those who eat a high-fat breakfast. These people are more likely to develop gallstones and cholecystitis.

No time, not hungry, or too lazy to cook should not be excuses for skipping breakfast. For your health and longevity, weight loss is an unavoidable mission, and breakfast is an indispensable task, so please decide to eat breakfast.

1. Heat Calculation

Calculate how many calories you need each day to maintain your basic bodily functions, and allocate 1/5 to 1/3 of those calories to your breakfast. Don't worry about consuming too many calories causing fat accumulation; your metabolic rate is high during the day, nutrients are easily absorbed, and energy is easily burned.

2. Nutritional Principles

Professor Anderson of the Faculty of Nutrition at the University of Toronto says, "An ideal breakfast consists of carbohydrates and protein." He has developed a theory that a proper breakfast should provide energy quickly and, due to its high fiber, complex carbohydrates, and high protein content, slow down digestion, thus providing a sustained energy supply.

A nutritionally balanced breakfast is essential for good health, and developing proper breakfast habits is crucial for weight loss.

After a night of activity, your blood sugar level is already quite low. For breakfast, carbohydrate-rich foods are a good choice, such as grains, vegetables, and fruits. Drinking a glass of honey water every morning is also a good idea.

However, blood sugar is easily depleted. After 1-2 hours, blood sugar levels drop, leading to energy deficiency and fatigue. But if breakfast includes protein, blood sugar levels can be maintained throughout the morning. Meat, nuts, milk, and dairy products are all good sources of protein. Studies have found that compared to those who ate low-protein breakfasts, those who ate high-protein breakfasts ate less throughout the day and had higher food satisfaction and satiety levels.

In addition, as the first meal of the day, providing fiber-rich foods can promote intestinal motility and create a feeling of fullness. Therefore, plenty of fiber is essential; vegetables, fruits, and legumes can provide sufficient fiber.

Hydration in the morning is crucial: Ideally, one-third of your daily water needs should be met in the morning. Before eating, drink a 200ml glass of water to stimulate your digestive system, or have a glass of yogurt after meals to aid digestion.

A light breakfast is recommended: Moderate amounts of oil can help you lose weight and achieve a healthy glow. First-pressed extra virgin olive oil is a good choice, while those with a larger budget can opt for higher-grade olive oil, all of which contribute to a healthy weight loss journey. Meals with excessive oil content can slow blood circulation and reduce the oxygen content in the blood. A breakfast diet should be light and nutritionally balanced. If you really can't resist the temptation of crispy and delicious foods, having them once or twice a week is acceptable.

3. Recommended Foods

An ideal breakfast should include: a cup of soup or porridge to replenish the water lost overnight; dairy products to replenish calcium; and fruits rich in vitamin C, along with bread or whole grains. It should provide the energy needed for the morning: 1672–2090 kJ (400–500 kcal).

Staple foods: steamed buns, sesame honey buns, lean meat dumplings, and whole wheat toast.

Soups and porridges: mung bean and red date soup, purple glutinous rice porridge, wheat porridge, barley and red date soup, black soybean milk, white fungus and lotus seed porridge, and unsweetened soy milk.

Vegetables and fruits: pure lean meat sausage + vegetables, lean meat + vegetables, eggs + cold dishes, raw cucumber, raw radish, raw tomato, pure sesame paste.

Dairy products: cheese, milk or yogurt, skim milk is preferred.

Notes: Steamed buns are made with 100% whole wheat flour and yeast, and must not be mixed with alkali. If whole wheat flour is unavailable, standard flour or barley flour can be used instead. The filling for sesame honey buns is made by roasting and grinding black sesame seeds and mixing with an appropriate amount of honey. Walnuts, pine nuts, sweet almonds, raisins, etc., can also be added. Lean meat refers to the lean meat of black-haired pigs fed on grains and grass. The method for making xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) is the same as for ordinary xiaolongbao, but MSG should not be added. Cold dishes can be made by shredding Chinese cabbage hearts, carrots, bell peppers, scallions, ginger, garlic, etc., roasting Sichuan peppercorns in oil until crushed, and then mixing with vinegar and soy sauce. The vegetables must not be blanched or have their juices squeezed out. Sesame oil, rapeseed oil, and soybean oil are best used. It is best to avoid all pastries, ready-made beverages, cooked products, and semi-finished fast food.

Eating breakfast immediately upon waking up can easily lead to indigestion; it's generally better to eat 20 to 30 minutes after waking up.

For those who are used to waking up early, it is better to have breakfast after 7 a.m.

Don't eat too quickly just because you're in a hurry, as this can damage your digestive system.

Breakfast should be eaten at regular times and places, otherwise it will affect digestion and absorption.

Food eaten after breakfast cannot replace breakfast, so it is not scientific to skip breakfast and rely on snacks instead.