This topic made up the entire first chapter of my book Totally BUF because it is just that impactful! I don’t mind when you break your fast, but what you do it with can have a huge knock-on effect, improving everything from metabolism and appetite to brain function, immune system health, general energy and evening snack choices!
Tips in here for both omnivores and vegans/vegetarians, and I blabbed a bit at the start so suggest listening til the end when Izzy started screaming for me so I got to the point succinctly!
TRANSCRIPT
I'm going to talk about breakfast today and in particular talk about what the best breakfast may be for the general human population.
Now, in saying this, I know there are so many variations in when people have breakfast and I'm not going to talk about that, okay. So whether you get up and have breakfast within half an hour of getting up or you're the person that waits til 10:00 or 11:00 AM after you've done a workout, or dropped the kids at school, whatever. What it means to me is the meal where you break your fast, however long that fast may be, whatever time of day that fast is broken. That is what I'm going to be talking about. Okay?
So I, as I mentioned, am not a nutritionist, but I am a major nutrition nerd and ex health journalist who is always constantly reading all the latest nutrition facts and findings, and research and studies, and all that jazz, and I have a decade worth of working with people on how to improve their health, and their nutrition, and their fitness levels. So this is from my own experience only, and my own research, and all that jazz, but I'm not going to get super specific with you.
I'm just going to talk about a general topic today, which is in my experience both personally and professionally, and all my nerdy researching, there is one thing I know about breakfast, both for adults and especially for kids and teens, which is, drum roll, eating protein with your breakfast is very, very magical. It's magical in a number of ways and I'm going to tell you about just some of the major ones that you might be interested in.
Number one, eating a good amount of protein with breakfast, and the research is somewhere between 20 and 30 grams, we're not going to get into grams, we're just going to talk about, say for example, a palms worth of protein with breakfast. So it could be a couple of eggs, could be Greek yogurt, I'll dive into some vegan sources in a minute. But basically eating some protein with your breakfast, and I'm not talking about cutting out other stuff, I'm talking about a good breakfast, fats, fibers, whole carbs, whatever, but having the protein in there can do all of these things.
It has been proven to help you be more satiated. That means feel more satisfied and full, and not hunting for other foods and snacks to top you up for the longest period of time. It also does something super incredible. It's slows down at the release of a hunger hormone called ghrelin, which is what makes you feel hungry for the next meal or snack. It slows down the release of that so you get a nice slow, I guess, coming up of your hunger the next time you're ready to eat. Rather than, I'm starving now and I eat anything, especially that donut over there because that will give me a sugar high quicker.
It's going to have a slower release of that which helps you to control your hunger throughout the day. In fact, eating protein with breakfast has been proven scientifically to mean that you want to snack less after dinner. Crazy. Funnily enough, skipping protein at breakfast and then having protein with either lunch or dinner does not do the same thing. Another really cool fact about having protein at breakfast is that it's been scientifically proven that the next meal you eat is metabolized better if you've had a good quality protein for breakfast.
So for example, if I was to have say, eggs and veggies for breakfast, and then four hours later I was rushing around and I just had some white toast with jam. Say I had that, which is something that will spike your blood sugars quite quickly. My body will deal better and significantly better with that toast and jam. It will raise my blood sugar levels slower and it will basically react a whole lot better to that meal if I've had protein three to four hours earlier at breakfast.
That is really cool guys. Basically, it stops your blood sugar levels from rollicking throughout the day. So if you imagine a simple thing like, say refined carbs. So say you're just having two pieces of white toast and some jam, or Vegemite, or whatever for breakfast, that will dissolve pretty quickly. It will spike your blood sugar levels. What happens with what goes up it must come down, so it's not a slow rise. It's a quick rise and then a quick drop off because there's nothing substantial to help those blood sugar levels level off.
And it just starts your body in this kind of craving, hungry and starving, then hungry and then full for a little while but starving again. A rolicking roller coaster, which is not only not good for you continually feeling hungry, but it also has an effect throughout your whole day. Right through to what you're eating at nighttime, which is something that has a significant impact on your overall health, but it also gives you brain fuzz. It also can be that thing that kicks off all the negative things that lead to pre-diabetes if it goes on every single day.
Obviously, every now and then who cares? But generally, I find that if I can help people to eat some protein with their breakfast or their first meal of the day, they are going to have so much better results in terms of weight management, and energy, and focus, and all those good things. Sports performance, all those little bits and pieces. Basically, having protein for breakfast helps your metabolism hum, helps you to burn fat rather than store it from your first meal of the day, and helps you to be more productive, have more focus, et cetera. And helps your body deal better with every other meal you have that day.
The coolest thing is, it's actually been proven true that those who eat protein with breakfast will not be looking to snack later in the day as much as those who don't. So by the time you get to that three o'clock slump, by the time you get to that post dinner munchies, people that have had a good protein with their breakfast are so much less likely to be picking and snacking at anything, let alone it sugars and all that jazz.
Now, for those of you out there who are big on fasting, there are so many opinions on fasting, but the bottom line is that it's great for some people and not great for others, and you can go into that with your health professional. But, I can tell you this, that all the research and studies show that if you're going to fast, skipping dinner is actually much more effective than skipping breakfast. In terms of, how well your metabolism operates now and for the longterm, and how good you feel and how effective that fasting is.
So I'm just going to throw that out there for those of you who are passionate fasting junkies, but at the same time, relief whenever you eat, or however you choose to eat, it doesn't really matter. You can get great results and be healthy with any range of eating, timings, et cetera. But I will say that whatever your first meal is, break it with some protein. So here are some ideas.
What are some good protein sources? Now, it's really easy if you are either vegetarian or, I guess, omnivores. Is that how you say that? Anyway, whether you eat meat or not, or you are vegetarian but not vegan, because you can have things like eggs or a breakfast burrito, eggs and avocado on toast, whatever it might be. You can have a good quality Greek yogurt, which is full of healthy proteins. A nice plain one of course. Oh, there's my daughter. I'm going to wrap this up pretty quick. She's crying for me out there.
So those things are pretty simple. I mean, my favorite is eggs, or again, a Greek yogurt with some nuts or seeds. Yeah. I include berries in that for good antioxidants and fiber, or if I'm having eggs I include veggies, for again, those good vitamins and minerals and fibers. But if you are vegan, there are heaps of good sources too, so you don't have to worry too much. You can have something like a tempeh or edamame bean, which are the unprocessed versions of soy, which are really great. You can supplement with a pea protein or a hemp protein. You can have chia seed pudding where you soak chia seeds overnight in something like a coconut milk and add some berries, nuts and seeds to that. You could have a coconut yogurt parfait.
There are so many great things. There are even kind of pseudo grains like an amaranth, or Ezekiel, or buckwheat, or quinoa, that are not really grains but tastes like one, that are full of protein. And in actual fact, you can also get a full protein by combining a few things. So if you had beans with rice, that's a full protein source. If you have hummus with pitta bread, that's a full protein source. So there are lots of things you can do.
Just start to think outside of breakfast as cereal, toast, milk, okay. Juice. Those things are what we've been sold by the big marketing companies to be breakfast, but in actual fact, the best thing you can do for your body is think of breakfast like any other meal of the day. In fact, it's more important to think of it like any other meal of the day than it is any other meal of the day. So you want to think about, am I having a good quality protein source? Have I got some veggies and fiber in there? Are there some whole carbs if I've been working out, I'm going to be working out later? You want to think about it as a complete meal.
I know that can be hard sometimes. So I've got the most amazing recipe from a really, really great friend of mine, Thea, who has an amazing company, which I'll post about in one of my other, I'll post it out tomorrow. You can make these healthy frittatas. She's got a great zucchini loaf that I'm going to share with you guys. It's super easy. You can make it in 20 minutes at the start of the week and eat it all week for breakfast. It's a grab and run option, easy, for example, and kids, this is even more important. It actually helps them so much to have protein at breakfast.
So for her, for example, we just scramble some eggs, a little bit of cheese. I might grate some zucchini in there. So she's got a bit of veggie and we just feed it to her in little clumps and lumps that she can pick up herself. Or frittatas, she can pick up and chew on, that's really good. Or I might do something like blend Greek yogurt with either chia seeds, or whatever, and blueberries and raspberries, and then just give her that as a given mushy meal.
Oh, and smoothies, of course. So the good thing is, for smoothies, you don't really need protein powders, although you can, and I'll add a great topic on here about protein powders later. But you could just literally blend some fruit and veggies with a full fat Greek yogurt, and there's a great protein source and kids love it. So, something like chucking some chopped up zucchinis in there with some frozen blueberries and banana, with a handful of kale, or spinach, or lettuce even, and then chucking that in with some Greek yogurt, full fat Greek yogurt is a great way to get your protein.
So there you go. I hope that helps. And I haven't gone too specific, because again, I'm not really allowed to. But just in my experience, and also in all the research I've done, that is one thing that has never changed over the years. No matter what nutrition research comes out, the importance of that first meal of the day being something that has good quality protein that sets your metabolic hormones up for the day, to function properly, that encourages your body to burn fat, not store it from the first meal of the day.
That also improves the stability of your blood glucose levels, that fires up your brain and your focus levels, and lets you feel fuller throughout the day, and metabolize the following meals better and not want to be snacking like a crazy person at night, because that will have a negative effect. That is something that I can get behind, and it's so easy to do.
So when you're thinking 10% healthier, when it comes to breakfast, make that 10% healthier. How can I get a bit of protein and a bit of fiber? It will do wonders for you. And switching from the cereals and breads, or juice, to something that is protein centric at breakfast can absolutely change your body, your mind, your energy, and your life. Okay, so enjoy.
I will send some ideas on my page in some photos and recipes soon, that are really simple and easy, but it doesn't have to be hard guys, a handful of nuts, a few eggs, a bit of Greek yogurt, a few grains or beans and rice, whatever it might be. Get behind it. Enjoy this rainy day if you're in Sydney, and I'll see you soon.