TV Doctor shares simple breakfast suggestion that will help you lose weight
A leading doctor has shared his go-to breakfast for weight loss, which he eats "all the time". Dr Rangan Chatterjee, known for Doctor in the House and his appearances on BBC Breakfast, also challenged conventional morning meal choices.
Dr Chatterjee believes people should rethink their first meal of the day. Speaking on the Doctor’s Kitchen podcast, he argued that breakfast should include protein to keep hunger at bay for longer, rather than the ultra-processed cereals many have been "brainwashed" into eating daily.
He also highlighted the importance of meal timing, advising that people should eat their dinner much earlier to support weight management and overall health, Surrey Live reported.
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He said: “Who says that these are breakfast foods? And when you really dive into where this all came from and the marketing involved, it’s actually some cereal companies, right?
"We used to go to India for six weeks every other summer. I can still remember my cousins before they went to school, they’d have these big plates. There was meats, vegetable curries, there was dal, rice, it was like a proper meal.
“And then I noticed after about 10 years you’re going back and like there’s all these adverts from the cereal companies.”
Podcast host Dr Rupi Aujla replied: ”There’s that beautiful set of photos where they looked at what kids eat for breakfast around the world. It was done about 10 years ago. I come back to that all the time.
"What you see in the UK and the US are just these refined sugary cereals, and you definitely see that in certain other countries like Latin America and particularly in Brazil.
"But then you look at Asia and it’s just like a hali, you know, like Sri Lanka was like a hali with some. Some I mean that’s the kind of stuff that I would eat for dinner.”
Dr Chatterjee explained that avoiding snacks altogether is one of the most effective strategies for keeping the weight off long term. “I genuinely do not bring food into my house that I don’t want to be consuming,” he said.
“Sweets, chocolates, cakes, I don’t keep them at home. Because there will be an evening when I’m feeling tired and a bit stressed, and I will start opening the cupboards and look for something a little bit sweet – and all I can see at the moment are whole nuts and olives.
"Sometimes I’m like, ah, I’m not sure I feel like that at the moment. No, it’s not really what I wanted. So, again, in terms of what is practical for many people and my biases, the patients I’ve seen over the years, I think not using your willpower in your house is a great tool.”
Dr Chatterjee also highlighted a common mistake people make when it comes to meals. Instead of sticking to traditional breakfast foods, he encourages people to rethink their first meal of the day.
“One of the things I’ve often said to patients to help them with this is eat dinner for breakfast,” he said. Dr Aujla agreed, adding: “Yeah, I do that all the time.”
Dr Aujla explained that loading up on protein in the morning could be a game-changer for weight maintenance. “Yeah, I mean it’s a very simple way because we’ve got this idea of what a breakfast food is, but actually it wasn’t always,” he said. “Protein at breakfast is a great strategy to ensure that you’re not over consuming and improve weight maintenance.”
“And also, I think a lot of these principles depend—they depend on where you’re at on your journey, right?" he said. "If you’re used to having loads of ultra-processed foods, and that’s, you know, making up 70 per cent of your diet, as it is for many people, actually, to reset, maybe for a few months you don’t want that stuff anywhere near you.
“So it can help you reset your taste buds, not be tempted. Yeah, think about it another way, and we don’t like to think about food in this way, but let’s say you were an alcoholic, right, and you were struggling with your alcohol consumption. And you recognise that and you start to get help.
“I think most of us would probably accept that, whilst you’re trying to recover from that, it’s possibly not the best idea to have loads of beer and wine and booze kicking around in your fridge and in your house.”
