Brunch is an old tradition that mixes all the best food of breakfast and lunch, together with cocktails, good friends and a lot of conversations. Brunch also usually consist of many delicious meal choices, which can often be bad for your health and bad for your weight. This does not mean that you have to skip on brunch with a few friends if you are closely monitoring your calorie intake and trying very hard to flatten your belly.

By prioritizing certain types of food, avoiding other types of food and balancing your nutrition properly, you can be brunch-smart and use brunch as an opportunity to help you lose excess weight instead of gaining additional pounds.

1. Order More Veggies

While brunch tends to include a lot of fried foods and unhealthy options, you still have the option to add some color to your plate with veggies. Ask your waiter to switch French fries or other side-dish choices with a salad or cooked veggies. This will help you avoid the unhealthy oiliness of the fries and give you the much-needed nutritional values of the veggies.

A study conducted by the University of Wollongong in Australia provided evidence that a higher vegetable intake with an existing diet can improve weight loss. This could often be a wiser choice than mixing unhealthy food with different types of diet pills or killing yourself in the gym to make up for all the extra calories.

2. Eat More Protein-Rich Foods

Protein is an essential part of the body and, what many fail to realize, may also have benefits for weight loss. Numerous studies have been performed on the effect of protein on overweight individuals and provided evidence that it is beneficial and can help with numerous aspects that a proper weight loss strategy requires. One study by the Yale University School of Medicine provided evidence that a protein-rich diet can help make the body feel fuller, speed up the metabolic rate and also aid in weight loss. Instead of ordering pancakes covered in syrup, opt for an omelet or something similar that has a higher amount of protein.

3. Cut Back On Sugar

Waffles covered in syrup or chocolate sauce and many other brunch meals are very high in sugar. While sugar is an excellent source of energy, it can also be bad for your health and blood sugar levels when taken in large doses. Authority Nutrition reports that sugar causes insulin resistance, leptin resistance, does not help with inducing satiety and can be addictive.

These factors can all lead to an increase in body weight, which is quite the opposite of what we are aiming for here. There are many choices at brunch that are not as high in sugar – try to opt for these to limit the amount of sugar you consume while brunching out with your friends.

4. Choose Your Bread Wisely

Bread can be a great asset to brunch, as it can be used with various kinds of food – such as eggs and spreads. The problem is that certain types of bread promote weight gain, instead of helping with a weight loss program. Organic Power Foods recommend choosing bread types such as barley bread, whole-wheat bread, and rye bread in order to benefit from the added fiber, as well as the lower amount of calories contained within the bread. They continue to report that these types of bread have the following benefits over white bread:

Rye bread contains 20% fewer calories compared to white bread and provides 400% more dietary fiber. It is also considered to be one of the healthiest bread choices.
Barley bread contains a very low amount of carbs, some different nutrients and is beneficial for bone health as well. It is also an excellent bread choice for keeping the body’s glucose and insulin levels low.

5. Avoid Bottomless Promotions

Many restaurants that offer brunch also promote a bottomless offer on their cocktails. While this may sound like a good deal – to pay once and drink as many alcoholic drinks as you want – it is also very bad for your health, as well as for your weight.

A 2015 study that was conducted at a research institute in Canada provided evidence that alcohol intake is directly linked to weight gain due to the consumption of excess calories that are present in alcoholic beverages. Alcohol is not only bad for your weight but can also increase the risk of developing a large number of diseases.

Conclusion

Excess weight seems to be a widespread problem among both men and women. With occasions such as brunch often causing people to eat more (or unhealthier) than usual, it can cause people to become less interested in taking part in such opportunities, especially when they start to take their weight loss strategies more seriously.

This can, however, be avoided by simply using brunch as an opportunity to eat better, instead of eating worse. It is especially important to get additional education to help individuals make smarter choices in these situations.

References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24580555
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4258944/
https://authoritynutrition.com/4-ways-sugar-makes-you-fat/

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