It’s time for breakfast, you walk to the kitchen and stare blankly into the fridge, hoping for something to pop out at you. It doesn’t happen, “Looks like it’s toast with Vegemite again.”
If you got to the point of staring into the fridge looking for a healthy option, you’ve already failed. You didn’t prepare and plan for this did you?
This quick little article is to give you inspiration to start eating healthier breakfasts and setting up the rest of your day the right way.
When it comes to a healthy breakfast, it’s really not that difficult. As I sit here and type this, I’m eating grilled chicken thigh with a mix of roasted vegetable, but that’s what I do. I’m also drinking a black coffee (no sugar), and then I’ll follow this up with a protein bar (natural one).
When people ask me how I can eat that for breakfast, I simply say because I can, and I want to, because it works for me. If you want to lose weight, and you’re currently eating cereal or toast for breakfast, then…. well… I guess you’ve just answered your own question haven’t you?
Let’s look at it from a macronutrient angle first, then move into some basic nutrition principles.
Firstly, I need to eat about 190g of protein per day for my physical goals, to do this is hard, and if I miss protein at breakfast, making up for it is a very difficult process. Protein is the building blocks of building muscle and a lean body, which is my main focus for life. On average I would eat 4 meals per day, meaning I would need to have 47.5g of protein at each meal. If I don’t eat close to that at breakfast, I have a lot of catch up over my next 3 meals plus snacks to hit my target. That’s going to make things pretty difficult.
As you can see, eating enough protein is your primary focus with nutrition. Don’t find fillers, like all carbohydrates, because they fill you up more, and they’re cheaper. Find premium food sources that provide your body with everything you need to grow and progress toward your end physical goal.
If you want to lose weight, and you haven’t changed your first meal of the day yet, you’re not doing yourself any favours, so let’s start there. Focus on changing 1 meal first, then 2, then 3, then 4, if you need to be. You might eat really well for 2 or 3 meals a day, but 1 is significantly letting you down, change that one! Don’t add an extra workout, change the meal, you’ll make faster progress and achieve quicker results.
Anyone who tells you a calorie is a calorie is wrong. If I ate 2400 calories a day of Mars bars and some other shit food (even if it right for my macros), I guarantee I would look a hell of a lot different than I do now. Focus on the premium food sources and go from there.
Now, with all of that said, it’s time for some quick Q & A.
Q. Should I eat breakfast?
A. Yes, you should always try and eat breakfast, but I do recognise that it doesn’t work for some people, but you need to still try and be aware of eating enough food throughout the day. If you fast, then you’ll need to eat bigger meals when you do eat.
Q. What are the best foods to eat for breakfast?
A. Protein rich foods are best, and they will also contain healthy fats, and add some carbs for good measure, if they fit into your macros.
Q. When is the best time to eat?
A. This is a case by case situation. Some people need to eat straight away, that used to be me. Some can’t eat until 10 or 11am, which is also fine. Both come with their positives and negatives. A positive is that you are less likely to make a bad decision at 10am if you’ve already eaten. You have also kicked off your calorie intake for the day well. A negative is that you can fall into an unhealthy spiral of then eating later and later as your body begins to flick over into a survival mode and reduce how many calories it burns performing tasks. Don’t forget your body needs calories to perform any task, that includes burning fat.
So for your body to effectively burn fat, it needs to have enough calories to do so. So feed it!
