Dear Healthy Friend,

Bacon, eggs, hasbrowns and toast... Sounds like the perfect way to start the day! Well, for me anyway! And there's no harm, right? You're supposed to eat a hearty breakfast and it doesn't matter if it's laden with fat... Because that's what we've been told for years! At breakfast: Eat like a king... At lunch: Eat like a prince... And dinner: Eat like a pauper...

But new research suggest something completely different!

In the name of good health,

Taryn Strugnell
Managing Editor of Nutrition & Healing

P.S. There's some great news for drinkers in today's edition... Keep reading to find out what it is...

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Bigger breakfasts aren't better
Ed Martin
Editor, House Calls

For years, the conventional wisdom has been that eating more at breakfast will help you eat less at lunch and dinner.

And that makes breakfast the most important meal of the day, right?

Well, a new study flips the cereal bowl right over - because researchers have found that people who eat more at breakfast simply eat more, period.

And it doesn't take a scientist to figure out what happens next.

German researchers asked 100 normal-weight people and 280 obese people to record everything they ate for ten to 14 days.

They found that those who ate the biggest breakfasts tended to skip a morning snack... But other than that, they ate the same amounts of food throughout the rest of the day as those who had the smallest breakfasts.

Even people who had no breakfast at all ate the same for lunch and dinner as those who had the biggest morning meals.

And that means extra calories at breakfast are just that: Extra calories. The researchers wrote in Nutrition Journal that people who ate big breakfasts consumed 400 more calories a day than everyone else.

That might be surprising after years of breakfast-food commercials emphasising the importance of that first meal of the day, but it's not surprising if you look at what most people eat in the a.m. - because it's not exactly the foods your body wants or needs.

Most people eat some combination of bagels, English muffins, sugar-packed cereals, toast, pancakes, waffles, pastries and breakfast sandwiches.

And then, they wash it back with orange juice - or, worse yet, a sugar-loaded "specialty" coffee.

All those carbs aren't just bad for you... They also cause spikes in blood sugar and lead to wild fluctuations in your appetite, making you hungrier sooner and craving even more carbs.

One study on rodents found that the ones given fats in the morning had normal metabolisms and were better able to handle the variety of foods that came along during the course of the day.

The ones fed carbs in the morning, on the other hand, had wacky metabolisms that locked in on carbs for the rest of the day - and were more likely to show risk factors for metabolic syndrome such as glucose intolerance and weight gain.

Bottom line here: Enjoy a big breakfast if you want one. Just stick to an omelette packed with real, fresh foods your body needs.

And, if you simply must have some carbs, enjoy heart-friendly oatmeal - the real kind, not the instant junk loaded with sugar - and a bowl of antioxidant-rich berries.

Meanwhile, a couple of beers at night could help accomplish what that big breakfast cannot: Weight loss.... Keep reading...

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Drink beer to lose weight

It's the best excuse ever to drink more beer: Suds could help you to lose weight.

It's not exactly a beer-based diet, but a new study finds that people who enjoy a couple of brews a day (or night) as part of a healthy lifestyle aren't more likely to gain weight.

And they might even lose a few kilos.

Spanish researchers examined 1,249 men and women over the age of 57 and found that regular beer drinkers had less body fat, were less likely to be obese and were less likely to suffer from diabetes and high blood pressure.

They found that men enjoyed the benefits with up to three drinks a day... While women should call it a night after two.

The researchers said the key isn't in the beer alone - but in the combination of frosty brews and the natural Mediterranean diet enjoyed in the region. Beer drinkers who stuck to it were not only thinner and less likely to gain weight during the study, but were also more likely to lose a few kilos.

And that's not hard to believe - because the old stereotype about the beer belly usually has more do with the food and snacks served with the beer and not the drinks themselves.

If that's not a good enough reason to pour a pint tonight, consider the rest of the research on this, which has consistently found that drinkers - whether it's liquor, beer or wine - tend to be healthier and in much better shape than nondrinkers.

Last year, researchers who examined data on nearly 20,000 women found that moderate drinkers were 30% less likely to be overweight or obese during their 13-year study.

Those who didn't drink at all, on the other hand, had the highest overall weight gain - a result that held even after researchers adjusted for diet, lifestyle, fitness and other habits.

Boozy drinks including beer have also shown to protect the heart and mind - and a moderate habit may even help you live longer, which is just about the best benefit I can imagine.

It even sounds like a start of a toast: "To hearts, minds and longer lives."

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