'I dropped two dress sizes after changing what I eat for breakfast - here's why it works'

A mum-of-two has revealed how for a healthier start helped her slim down - without dieting, calorie-counting or cutting out family meals.

Jodie Travers, 34, says ditching her and toast saw her shrink from a size XL to a size M in less than five months. But everything changed when she overhauled her mornings.

“I’d start the day with a massive bowl of cereal and some toast - quick and easy, but loaded with sugar,” Jodie, from Burnley, Lancashire, said. “Within an hour I’d be craving biscuits, and by mid-morning I’d be bloated and shattered.”

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Opting to switch up her diet, Jodie swapped the carbs for eggs, avocado, yoghurt, and sometimes bacon and spinach, reports . And according to a nutritionist, it's fairly normal to lose weight when switching out your morning meal for something lower in sugar.

Jodie Brandman, Nutritional Therapist and Coach, tells the : "It's all to do with blood sugar. Protein is a slow release of blood sugar whereas cereals are packed with sugar which raises blood sugar rapidly, potentially leading to weight gain in the long run."

And now she has switched up her meal, Jodie Travers says it's made the of difference. “I honestly didn’t expect it to make such a difference,” she said. “But I stopped snacking, felt lighter - and the weight just started to fall off. I feel like a completely different person.”

Jodie said she used to hide in baggy clothes and avoid her reflection. “I wasn’t proud of how I looked,” she admitted. “I felt sluggish, uncomfortable - and I didn’t want my kids to grow up seeing that.”

Now, she’s rediscovered her love of fashion and shops for styles she never would have dared to try before.

As the pounds dropped off, she also started getting active - but it didn’t begin with gym sessions.

“At first, all I could manage was a walk around the block,” she said. “But I kept at it. I added in short runs, bit by bit, and built it up from there.”

She now jogs three times a week and has even set her sights on a half marathon.

The benefits didn’t stop with her - Jodie has revamped her kids’ breakfasts too.

Her children, aged six and four, now tuck into protein-packed morning meals like eggs, fruit, yoghurt or mini omelettes instead of sugary cereals and jam on toast.

“They’re more focused at school and don’t get cranky mid-morning,” she said. “I’m proud to be showing them a better way.”

Shockingly, a 2020 survey by Action on Sugar found that the average sugar content was 20.7g per 100g, with over a third of cereals being high in sugar.

A 2021 study by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) reported a mean sugar content of 19.9g per 100g, with less than 10 percent of products meeting national guidelines of 5g per 100g

For those still wanting to grab a cereal first thing in the morning, try something with less sugar like Weetabix or homemade granola/muesli.

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