Can cake for breakfast help you lose weight?

Cake for breakfast, every girl's birthday dream

Happy birthday to me! Today I woke up to best news a girl can hear on her birthday: “Chocolate cake for breakfast could help you lose weight,” reported The Huffington Post.

That’s according to a recent study from Tel Aviv University, which found that eating dessert with breakfast may help you avoid craving sweets later in the day.

Researchers divided participants into two groups, one that ate a 300-calorie breakfast and the other that ate a 600-calorie breakfast that included dessert. In both groups, men consumed1600 calories per day and women consumed 1400. The group that ate the 300-calorie breakfast also followed a low-carb diet.

At the end of the 32-week study, those who had consumed a 600-calorie breakfast had lost an average of 40 pounds more per person than those in the other group.

OK, that’s great, but how does it translate to the headline, “Chocolate cake for breakfast will help you lose weight”?  The study’s author, Daniela Jakubowicz, contends that the people who ate a large breakfast with dessert were less likely to indulge later in the day, whereas those who started the day by restricting calories experienced more intense sugar cravings and cheated on their diets.

It seems to me that this study has too many variables to be valid.  First of all, only one group participated in a low-carb diet. Second, the two breakfasts differed by the overall number of calories, not just whether dessert was included.

What we do know (and have learned from other studies) is that a highly restrictive diet does not work in the long run.

And, since I enjoyed a homemade veggie omelet and fresh strawberries for breakfast, I think I’ll wait till tonight to have my cake.