No matter what I eat for breakfast, I am starving by 9:30am. I am an early riser, so I usually eat breakfast around 6:00-6:30am. I have experimented with different foods to see if any keep me from being ravenous by early mid-morning and it seems like the only thing that works is coffee cake or cinnamon rolls. But, as we all know, that is not the healthiest breakfast. Do you have any suggestions?

I'm amazed that the coffee cake or cinnamon rolls work better than ANYTHING, as they are as refined a simple carbohydrate that it's possible to eat. Such foods are well known to cause a rapid surge in insulin from the pancreas, followed immediately by a blood sugar decrease (and too much of one, at that). That decrease is when appetite hits, often along with other symptoms like irritability, fatigue, stomach pains, cravings and others.

It's worth a test to see what difference high protein makes. Quickie meals can include eggs, cheese, fresh nuts and seeds, and meats that are as little processed as possible. Avoid carbs completely at first (sugars, breads, fruits, etc.) to see if there is a noticeable difference. Also, the eggs should be cooked without breaking the yolks, thereby avoiding the chemical change of cholesterol that occurs when exposing it to air during cooking (that's the only problem with cholesterol).

Usually, such foods vastly decrease blood sugar swings, while lessening appetite far longer than with carbohydrates.

Good Health, A.N. Spreen, MD