Case Study - Healthy breakfast for weight-loss and lower cholesterol

Jay* leaves home early to miss the peak hour traffic that would turn his 30 minute trip into a 90 minute nightmare. The day starts with coffee sipped from a thermos mug that perches in the drink holder on the car’s dash. Jay’s been doing this for five years now. He says he has no time for breakfast and the coffee takes him through to mid morning.

An annual staff medical check prompted his visit to me. The check revealed a weight gain of 6 kg in 5 years, raised blood pressure, cholesterol on the wrong side of healthy, and low vitamin D levels. A combo that he put down to the high
stress job. A combo that I suspected was not helped by his early starts.

Sure his coffee ‘took him through’ to mid morning but by then his hunger was out of control and he’d order a big brunch from a hotbox in the food court. If meetings were
scheduled mid morning then the plate of biscuits magically stayed within arms’-reach. And after a big brunch, he was not hungry for lunch so he had no need to leave his desk for more food until 3 or 4 pm - about the same time his homeward drive would start.

To survive the drive, he’d pick up a bag of crisps and chocolate bar from the fund-raising box and a double shot muggachino.

You can probably see the domino effect emerging. By skipping breakfast, Jay fuelled his mid morning hunger with too much greasy, salty food. His next fuel-up
was something easy to eat and drink on the way home - foods that are called high saturated fat energy bombs. The only sunlight he saw was through windows and unfortunately the particular wavelength of sunlight needed to activate vitamin D in the body can’t get through glass.

Jay switched on to understand the problem quickly but couldn’t work out a way to have breakfast and prevent the cascade of bad food choices. Eating breakie at home was never going to happen.

The solution proved very easy for him to do and within 2 months his cholesterol levels and blood pressure were improving and his weight had dropped almost 3 kg.

The solution? Eat a healthier breakfast at work as soon as he arrived. All he needed to do was keep a range of breakfast items at work or set up breakfast-to-go from home. Breakfast-to-go is set up in the evening ready to grab on work mornings.

Whole fruit, plastic tubs of preserved fruits, wholegrain cereals, mini UHT low fat milk, sachets of porridge, pre-boiled eggs, bagged sliced bread, nut spreads, dried fruits and nuts featured.

Some of these items doubled up for meetings and drive-home snacks which meant he skipped the biscuits, chips and chocolate.

He found that his energy levels, concentration and creativity improved when he ate quality, nourishing foods so he naturally shifted his lunchtime choices to sandwiches rather than hotbox food.

*name changed to protect privacy

Summer breakfast idea: Bircher-style muesli. A good breakfast-to-go because you make it up the night before - make enough for a few days. Use either original rolled
oats and add a variety of diced dried fruits and nuts or buy bircher muesli as the base. Squeeze in fresh orange juice. Tear up the flesh of the orange and add this as well. Add frozen or fresh berries if you wish. Mix well so the oats are well coated in juice. Seal and refrigerate overnight to soften and swell the oats and dried fruits. In the morning, stir in a few dollops of yoghurt. If you have time, grate
in fresh pear or apple (skins and all) or chop in a banana.
Enjoy.

Trudy Williams
Accredited Practising Dietitian and Nutritionist
Author of "this=that: a life-size photo guide to food serves", "this=that
child size", "Food for Gastric Banding - nutrition and lifestyle solutions",
and "The Pocket Gastric Band Guide"
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