Eating breakfast is part of my morning routine. I usually eat after exercising. If I don’t eat breakfast, I tend to get tired, headaches and my brain just doesn’t think as clearly. Eating a healthy breakfast gives the body nutrition to start the day with. Studies have also shown that kids who eat breakfast, do better in school.
Unfortunately, most breakfast foods are high in carbohydrates and full of sugar. Pancakes, french toast and waffles drenched in butter and maple syrup with bacon and a runny egg are my favorite. Those days are over though except for eggs which are a good, non carb protein choice and are versatile. They can be hard boiled, poached, fried in coconut oil or grass fed butter or scrambled with vegetables.
During the week, I like quick things like a bowl of cereal and an egg. Unfortunately, box cereals are full of sugar and milk will also add to a blood sugar spike. Even oatmeal and quinoa aren’t the greatest for blood sugar control. Lately, I’ve been trying ground flaxseed with almond or coconut milk, low sugar berries like blueberries, a spoonful of almond butter or handful of walnuts and a handful of sunflower seed kernels. There’s plenty of fiber and healthy fats. Reading the labels on the almond butter, walnuts and sunflower seeds is important to help avoid unhealthy oils like peanut, cottonseed, etc.
I did find a coconut flour pancake recipe online that satisfies the pancake cravings. You can find it here in the breakfast recipes page.
A few other nutritious breakfast ideas are:
- in a pan with butter or coconut oil, cook up a couple of eggs scrambled with peppers, tomatoes and spinach with an avocado on the side
- in a blender, add a scoop of blueberries, handful of spinach, scoop of almond butter, 2 TBS of ground flax seed, coconut milk, dash vanilla and sprinkle of cinnamon and optionally add protein powder
- if you can eat dairy, cottage cheese is a good protein choice
- coconut yogurt with a scoop of blueberries and walnuts
- grab and go foods like homemade granola bars, muffins made with coconut/almond flour or egg muffins
Challenge:
If you don’t currently eat breakfast, take a day or two and give it a try. If you do eat breakfast, re-examine what you eat and make sure it’s not something that is full of sugar and will spike your blood sugar. Make sure it includes healthy fats like nuts, coconut oil/milk, avocado, olive oil, etc., protein, fiber, vegetables and/or fruit.
References
https://www.unh.edu/healthyunh/blog/2014/05/benefits-breakfast
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/do-you-really-need-to-eat-breakfast/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3737458/