Breaking the Fast: Your Guide to a Stellar Morning Meal
Breakfast is called the most important meal of the day for a good reason. Think of it as a wake-up call for your metabolism that says, “Hey, it's showtime!” A well-balanced breakfast provides your body with essential nutrients and positively impacts how you feel.
The quality and composition of your breakfast certainly matter. A cup of coffee and a banana in the morning isn’t enough. With a breakfast like this, you’re likely to experience mid-morning fatigue or mental fogginess from a drop in your blood sugar and lack of substantial calories and nutrients.
A well-balanced breakfast includes a serving of vegetables, fruit, whole grains, protein, and healthy fats. A breakfast made from whole foods rich in protein, low in sugar, and high in fiber will not only curb your hunger throughout the morning but the rest of your day as well. A breakfast like this stabilizes your blood sugar and keeps your body fueled and focused, preventing those mid-morning hunger pangs.
Beyond having a stellar morning from a good quality meal, breakfast helps prevent chronic disease. Eating breakfast daily improves cholesterol values, regulates blood sugar, promotes fat loss, and lowers your risk of diabetes, heart disease, and gallstones.
You may be wondering about intermittent fasting, and it too has its health benefits for some individuals. Delaying your morning meal as part of an intermittent fasting routine can help aid in weight loss for example. In my clinical practice, I’ve seen intermittent fasting done in ways that can stress the body, disrupt hormone patterns, and actually work against the patient’s intended health goals. I help educate my patients about therapeutic ways to implement intermittent fasting considering their overall health and intended health goals. I plan on updating a blog I wrote on this topic a few years ago and will share more information about that soon!
Let me provide you with some great examples of a nutritious, well-balanced breakfast. By the way, I love to cook food! :)
Grain bowl with couscous, avocado, greens, herbs, and a fried egg.
Breakfast burrito with eggs, black beans, veggies, greens, avocado, cilantro, and salsa in a whole grain wrap.
Oatmeal with walnuts, dried fruit, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, and 1 tsp. local honey.
Here are some ideas for breakfast meals you can prep in advance. I have a toddler, so getting out of the door in time for daycare and work can be challenging some days. Having breakfast prepped and ready to heat up makes my morning less stressful.
Nut butter French toast with berries. It’s a nut butter French toast sandwich that you can warm up in the toaster! Tieghan Gerard’s Half Baked Harvest cookbook is where I learned about this recipe, and it’s a favorite in our house.
Frittata or quiche with mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, and feta cheese.
Meat patties with lean ground beef, turkey, and shredded cabbage with a side of whole grain toast. I always made a double batch of these protein-rich patties that my family eats throughout the week. Gina Homolka’s SkinnyTaste One & Done cookbook has a recipe for Czech meat patties that has a heart next to it in my copy at home.
Leftover lentil soup with a side of whole grain toast. My favorite soup is Moroccan red lentil soup from Dr. Michael Gregor’s How Not to Die Cookbook. It’s warming, subtly spicy, and always sits well for breakfast.
Leftover chicken and chickpea curry with a side of grains or naan bread. Another warming and filling meal that always heats up well for breakfast.
If you don’t eat a serving of fruit during your breakfast, keep it on hand to eat as a snack later that morning. Or if you have the time in the morning, make yourself a smoothie to eat as a mid-morning snack.
Eating a well-balanced breakfast is key to starting your day off right. Lifestyle habits are tough to change, and we encourage you to start with breakfast. Once you feel comfortable with your morning routine, move on to your next goal and go from there - one step at a time.
