If breakfast is the most important meal of the day, then you better get it right. Picking a healthy, filling breakfast can set your day up for a chain of good food choices. Best of all, there’s a way to lose weight by adding to your morning meal instead of cutting foods out.
Berries don’t just help you sneak fresh produce into a likely carb-heavy breakfast, but they have some specific properties that can help you shed pounds. For one thing, they’re chock-full of fiber—you’ll get about a third of your daily need in just one cup of raspberries. Your body can’t break that fiber down, so it slows down digestion and keeps you fuller longer. “Raspberries in particular have the best ratio of carbohydrate to fiber. Of their 15 grams of carbohydrates per cup, eight are fiber,” registered dietitian Cynthia Sass, MPH, MA, RD, CSSD, writes for Self. Add that to your breakfast and you’ll stay full until lunch. Don’t miss these other incredible things that happen when you eat more fiber.
But that’s not all. A study in BMJ found that adults whose diets had the most flavonoids—a compound found in strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and other produce—were less likely to gain weight during the 24-year study. Plus, some studies in mice and test tubes suggest ketones, a compound in raspberries that gives them their aroma, could boost the metabolism and speed up the breakdown of fat. Those studies used higher concentrations than you’d get from a bowl of berries, but they might still provide some benefit. If blueberries are more your thing, another study found that eating the fruit lowered insulin resistance—which makes it hard to lose weight—and reduced fat in obese rats.
Even though their sweetness makes them feel like a treat, berries are low-calorie—you don’t have to worry about going overboard. Stir some into your yogurt, blend them into a smoothie, or have a cup on the side with your eggs. Even better: Add them to this breakfast that helps you burn calories all day. When they’re not in season, skip the overpriced cartons and stick with frozen—they’re just as nutritious. No matter how you eat them, they’ll keep you full and help you shed that extra fat.
