What's the best breakfast to have to lose weight?

Breakfast serves you a nutritious start to the day. For weight watchers, a light, filling meal is considered the best.

For the same reason, a lot of people prefer to have something simple like a bowl of muesli, wheat flakes or oatmeal in the morning. It's also considered ideal to eat on days when you want to have a meal which doesn't take much time to make.

Apart from being a quick meal prep idea, wheat flakes and muesli are both meal options loaded with a number of health benefits, which is a prime reason it is considered a good meal when you want to lose weight.

 But, what's the better option to have if weight loss is on your mind? Which packs in fewer calories?

 Are you confused thinking about what you should have? If yes, we tell you the difference between the two and the more weight-loss friendly option.

Wheat flakes vs Muesli: How is it made?

Wheat flakes are made out of whole wheat, as compared to starchy cornflakes. Wheat flakes also come loaded with a lot of bran and fibre content, which are both good for the body and aid the elimination of toxins from the body, promoting fat loss.

 Apart from this, wheat flakes are also quite helpful in regulating blood sugar levels, keeping the digestive system clean and often comes fortified with nutrients and minerals, which ensures you are not deficient in any core need. Therefore, many consider it to be the ideal weight loss friendly breakfast to have.

 In comparison to wheat flakes, muesli, on the other hand, is made out of whole-grain cereals, along with other choicy ingredients such as oats, dried fruits, wheat flakes, nuts and seeds. It is usually available as a ready-to-eat cereal, and often also consumed in the form of easy snacking bars.

Again, muesli too has its share of benefits. Apart from regulating the digestive system and controlling sugar, muesli contains the goodness of proteins, antioxidants, that come from the other ingredients present in the breakfast cereal. It also contains a very less amount of sugar, in comparison to other breakfast cereals.

Nutritional facts and differences

While both remain to be nutritious breakfast offerings, there are some key differences between the two.

Shredded or processed whole wheat cereal flakes doesn't contain added sugar or salt and is high in fibre. A 50 gram serving of the same contains:

Energy: 8% of RI

Fat: 1 gram

Sugars: 0.3 gram

Salt: 0.02 grams

Carbohydrates: 20 grams

Fibre: 15 grams

Calories: 70

Protein: 6 grams

Iron: 4 grams

Fortified wheat flake cereals also come packed with a lot of trace minerals such as zinc, vitamin B12, potassium, thiamine, phosphorus.

Is muesli a better alternative to have?

Meanwhile, muesli, which contains the goodness of nuts, seeds, oats are also quite nutrient-dense.

A 50 gram serving of muesli has:

Energy: 9% of RI

Fat: 2.9 gram

Sugars: 6.5 gram

Salt: 0.08 grams

Carbohydrates: 30 grams

Fiber: 10 grams

Calories: 90

Protein: 5 grams

Iron: 2 grams

So, what's better for weight loss?

It goes without saying that both the cereals are definitely healthy breakfast options to have.

However, there are key differences between the two which makes one less healthy than the other.

 For example, muesli comes packed with more nutrient-dense content than wheat flakes. Whole wheat flakes offer a lot more fibre content and less sugar, muesli offers the goodness of oats, nuts and seeds, dry fruits, whole grain cereals and even wheat flakes, which are all weight-loss-friendly in their own ways.

 As per the calorie content, wheat flakes is better off as a low-calorie option in comparison to muesli.

 The quality ingredients present in muesli can also offer higher nutritive benefits for your health as compared to wheat flakes.

 Satiety or fullness, which helps you cut down the number of calories you consume on a daily basis can be achieved by eating any of the two kinds of cereal.

 Therefore, eating muesli may be a better pick since it delivers a better payoff in terms of vitamins and minerals

Factors to take into consideration

The health benefits of both muesli and wheat flakes also heavily depend on the type of milk source you pick, and the additives you have.

For example, going for high-fat milk may not be the best choice for weight watchers since it can add on calories. Again, adding sugar to your readymade cereals, such as muesli may be bad, since muesli also contains natural sugars (from dry fruits).

 It's also important that the cereals you choose are untoasted, i.e., do not undergo a lot of procession or frying.

Overdoing serving size may also create problems.

For optimum weight loss, consider picking muesli as your breakfast cereal but make sure do not add in extra sugar. Make it in low-fat milk and add in a variety of nutritious fruits for added taste and nutrition.