Fuel for Breakfast

You’ve heard it before, “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.”  All meals are important and we should try not to skip any, but breakfast does hold a special place.  It gets your day started, provides your body and brain with its first dose of fuel to perform their best, and gives you the opportunity to get off on the right foot nutritionally.  Why is it that so many people skip this wonderful meal?

Using the car analogy, consider that you have been fasting overnight (hopefully 6-8 hours), and have not fueled your car for your next road trip (the work/school day).  You’re leaving the house on empty but think you can make it through anyways?  I have pushed my car to the limits before.  Needle on empty, thinking I can make it one more trip, one more exit (really for no good reason at all except I didn’t feel like stopping when I passed a station earlier, maybe looking for cheaper gas)…but lo and behold, I hit traffic!  Uh-oh.  I end up off an exit without a gas station (really?!), nervous, a little stressed, and wishing I had fueled earlier when an easy opportunity presented itself.  My car and my mind would have had a much easier afternoon had I planned, had I properly fueled before leaving the house.

Mid-morning comes at school/work and maybe you feel tired or especially short-tempered, maybe you’re having trouble concentrating or completing simple tasks.  Do you sum this up to a typical day or lack of sleep?  There are many contributing factors, but lack of fuel could be one of them.  If you want to get quality performance out, you’ve got to put quality fuel in.  If breakfast is missing, adding a little nutritious fuel to your morning could be just the thing you need.

Getting off on the right foot nutritionally…what does that mean?  Have you ever had that feeling when you eat something you shouldn’t have?  That “well, I’ve ruined the day now, might as well eat whatever today and do better tomorrow?”  It might not even be a whole day, but just an occasion when you eat a couple of treats and then figure the opportunity to salvage a good controlled food intake is gone and you go crazy with more treats.  You give up on yourself, feel like you’ve thrown the whole day/opportunity away because of your one, less than ideal choice.  You can always turn a day/opportunity around, but making that one less than ideal choice does change your attitude toward what you are able to do and your motivation level to make better decisions.  It becomes easier and easier to justify waiting until tomorrow.  You have the opportunity to build and eat a breakfast that makes you feel good and motivates you to make nutritious decisions the rest of the day. 

I hear the whole gamut for skipping breakfast: too little time, just enough time to get up and go, want more sleep, busy making the kids breakfast, not hungry, never have eaten breakfast, takes too long, don’t like breakfast, don’t know what to eat, nothing sounds good in the morning.  Good news!  Breakfast does not have to be complicated or huge to start your day off right.  Plus, everyone is different.  My breakfast may look vastly different than yours, but it’s serving the same purpose.  Anybody that knows me, knows that I love my morning time for breakfast, coffee, reading and some news.  Thus, I tend to have a larger breakfast and I plan time in to allow for it.  I know not everyone is a morning person, but there are many nutritious breakfasts you can put together in less than 5 minutes.

A few “bigger” ideas:  build using whole grains, protein, and a fruit/veggie.

1.      1 serving whole grain cereal with reduced fat milk and a small fruit

2.      1 serving oatmeal with 1 Tbsp. raisins, 3 Tbsp. unsweetened applesauce and cinnamon (made this yesterday…wonderful fall morning dish) plus a ½ cup of yogurt on the side or on top

3.      1 cup light, low sugar yogurt with berries and 2 Tbsp. low sugar granola mixed in

4.      2 whole grain waffles, each topped with 1 Tbsp. of yogurt (or reduced fat cream cheese) and sliced fruit

5.      1 toasted English muffin with 1 Tbsp. of peanut butter and ½ sliced banana on top (put the PB and banana in a whole wheat tortilla and it becomes portable)

6.      1 egg and 2 egg whites scrambled with 1 Tbsp. cheese and leftover veggies plus a slice of whole grain toast with 1 tsp of jam (put your scramble in the tortilla with a small fruit instead of toast and it’s portable again)

A few “smaller” ideas:

1.      ¼ cup trail mix (no sugar added) with nuts and dried fruit

2.      1 hardboiled egg and a small fruit

3.      1 banana/apple and 1 Tbsp. peanut butter

4.      1 slice whole grain toast topped with 1 slice reduced fat cheese of choice

5.      1 single serve Greek yogurt (light, low sugar) and ½ - 1 oz. nuts

6.      Leftovers (yes, think outside the box); grilled chicken strip and veggies

If you plan for breakfast, you’ll have the items in your pantry and fridge, then it really does take just a couple minutes to put any of these items together or pack them along.  Even if it is more of a healthy snack than a meal, your body will say “thank you!” for the much needed fuel to be its best!