CrossFit South Bend

Today we’re going to answer the question, “What can you have for breakfast?” And even more importantly, “What should you have for breakfast?” Now this is one of the most frequent questions I get asked on a regular basis by people that I’m doing nutrition coaching with, and even people who just have general questions about how to eat. So let’s start off with what you should be having in the morning. Ideally, you want to have some form of quality protein. That could be some fish, or sea food, it could be some eggs, it could be some beef or chicken or some form of pork. Ideally, again, these are wild caught and pasture raised and all the rest of it. But if you can’t do that, just do the best you can.

Some vegetables, which we’ll talk about more in just a second, and then some form of healthy fat. This could be nuts and seeds, this could be olive oil, it could be coconut oil, ghee, things like that. That stands in drastic contrast to the standard breakfast that most people have, which today, in America in particular, but other places as well, we typically think of breakfast either as eggs and bacon, that’s the only form of protein you can have in the morning unless it’s a protein shake. Or we think of it in terms of just a carb fest, which is pancakes, waffles, cereal, multigrain bars, you name it, bagels, these are our standard go-to’s in the morning. And the problem with those is … Well, there’s a number of problems, so let’s tackle each of them.

First problem, they send your blood sugar on a roller coaster. If you ever feel hangry, I.E. hungry plus angry after you ready, or if you feel light headed or if you get that 2 P.M. slump, that’s usually a sign of blood sugar dysregulation. Having those foods for breakfast spike your blood sugar, and then your blood sugar comes down from that high and it crashes, and you get cravings, and you get tired and you get angry. Those things are not that good from a blood sugar perspective.

They don’t have any nutrients, that’s the other thing, very, very little in the way of nutrients for your waffles, your pancakes, your bagels, your cereal. Most cereal, when you see that nutrition facts on the back of the label, the vitamins and minerals in there have been added back in to the cereals synthetically because the cereals contain so few vitamins and minerals themselves. They are completely nutrient deficient. A lot of times people are like, “Oh my God, what can I have for breakfast if I can’t have,” well, you could have eggs and bacon if you want, but make sure you’re having veggies as well, and that should be all that you’re having every morning for breakfast.

But what can I have if I can’t have this carb fest worth of foods? What you have to realize here is it’s really just a product of our culture and history over the past, like, no more than 50 to 75 years here. People 200 years ago weren’t eating Cheerios for breakfast, they weren’t eating bagels for breakfast, they weren’t eating waffles and pancakes on a regular basis for breakfast. It’s really just this particular moment in time where we say, “Well, I’m just so used to it being bagels and muffins and pancakes and all the rest of this stuff.”

I think one of the most beneficial aspects of this way of eating that we’re talking about is it opens you up. It allows you to eat different things in the morning. You don’t have to say, “Well, it’s either eggs and bacon or a carb fest.” You could have a meal that you might otherwise have for lunch, or might otherwise have for dinner. This is another point that I see over and over and over again. If you tell people, “Hey, go ahead and have breakfast foods for dinner or lunch,” they’ll be like, “Oh my God, that’s fantastic.” Everyone loves brunch, right?

But if you say the reverse, if you say, “Have dinner or lunch foods for breakfast,” people lose their minds. They say, “How is that possible?” Well there’s nothing wrong with it, there’s no problem with it. It’s just a cultural thing that we’re not used to. There’s nothing wrong with, for example, having a salmon filet in the morning with some spring mix on the side, some olive oil drizzled over it and some berries. That’s what I had this morning for breakfast. There’s other good things as well, some ground beef and some sweet potatoes.

When you think about it, most people aren’t eating enough vegetables to begin with, and essentially what we’re saying by saying that you don’t have vegetables in the morning, for the most part, is that only leaves lunch and dinner to eat vegetables, two instances. We want to make sure that we’re having some veggies in the morning, and we also want to make sure that we’re having that quality protein to help balance that blood sugar. That tends to help people with 2 P.M. slump, have more even energy, not get hangry anymore.

What are time tips if you’re pressed for time in the morning to make a quick meal? Well that meal I just told you about, the salmon filet, spring mix and berries doesn’t take more than 10 minutes to cook. Salmon filet in the oven an then put the spring mix on a plate, drizzle on olive oil, put some berries on it. Another option is to cook a second or third portion, just bigger portions of dinner, and save the leftovers for the next morning. You could also do a weekly prep day earlier in the week where you prep your meals.

But really, it doesn’t need to be this fantastically difficult thing. It’s just something that you need to try and see if it benefits you. Most people, when they give this a try, they find out that their energy’s better, they have fewer cravings, they don’t have that 2 P.M. slump, and generally they just feel better recovering from workouts and overall, because they’re getting more nutrition in the morning. In a future video, I’m gonna show you guys some meal ideas, but for now, hopefully you have a sense of what to eat for breakfast. Thanks so much for tuning in, we’ll see you next time.