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Starting out your morning with nutritious food choices is one of the most important factors for solidifying your overall health and progressing your weight loss journey. If you took the new year as an opportunity to clean up your diet and start down the road of a well balanced lifestyle, then you’ve likely already begun to notice the results of your hard work. However, if you’re just now hopping on the health train, there are little tweaks that you can make to your diet to speed up weight loss and feel better, faster. In the morning, there’s one hot drink that health experts recommend to kickstart your day, advancing you towards your ideal body and wellness goals.
Coffee with just a splash of half and half or cream in the morning is one of the best beverages for weight loss, according to MyFitnessPal’s In-House Nutrition Expert, MS RD Stephanie Nelson. However, Nelson notes that if coffee isn’t for you, a hot cup of green tea will also do the trick to boost your body in the morning.
But while your morning beverage is important, Nelson specifies that the meal which accompanies it is equally as valuable for weight loss. “The key isn't necessarily what you drink, it's what you drink it with! If you have a high-fiber breakfast (oatmeal, fruit, avocados, etc.) the beverage will combine with the fiber, making you feel more full and slowing down your digestion, so you don't feel the need to eat for a while,” she explains.
Coffee and green tea are great to have first thing in the morning because of their caffeine and antioxidant content. Although they don’t contain enough to make significant changes in your weight, these drinks will provide you with energy throughout the morning that can help boost weight loss slightly.
“The antioxidants in green tea and coffee might have health benefits because they help decrease inflammation in your body, which can lower your risk for diseases like cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. Plus, green tea and coffee have no added sugar naturally, and decreasing your added sugar intake is beneficial for both health and weight loss,” Nelson notes. Treating inflammation is vital for seeing the results of your healthy habits, so regularly consuming a beverage that will fight bloat is a great idea as you work to lose weight and see the changes.
When constructing your hot beverage in the morning Nelson explains that you will reap the most benefit by keeping the drink as plain as possible, without added sugars or flavoring. “The other piece of this puzzle is to not add anything with added sugar, like sweetened creamers or sugar, which can cause a blood sugar spike and crash, making you hungry quickly. If you want your morning beverage flavored, try adding cinnamon, nutmeg, or cloves to your coffee or tea, or try a tea with fruit (like mango or pomegranate black tea),” she suggests.
Although there is really no drink which will shave off inches from your waist and serve you the body of your dreams on a silver platter, coffee or green tea in the morning may make it easier to reach that end goal. At the end of the day, a healthy and balanced diet and exercise routine in combination with a cup of coffee or green tea each morning is going to be your best bet for sustainable weight loss. So, fuel up on your cup of joe and a nutrient dense breakfast to actually achieve noticeable weight loss results quickly.
