Breakfast – What To Eat

I speak to many clients, friends and family members about eating habits when it comes to breakfast.
I’m not a fan of cereal, bread/toast, fruit juices or caffeine based drinks, especially to get you started
in the morning. I’ll explain why, lets break each one down.

Cereal – Quite often wheat based. Wheat is like a junk food to the body, it can strip your body
of vitamins and minerals and doesn’t work for a lot of people hence the increasing numbers of
people who are intolerant to it. They are usually packed with sugar! They are predominantly
carbohydrate based which in my view is totally the wrong way to go for breakfast, especially
processed manufactured carbohydrates.

Bread/Toast – Again wheat based, not good. Bread and toast tends to have a high glycemic index
(fast energy release), we need something with a slower energy release that isn’t going to cause our
insulin levels to spike.

Fruit Juices – Although they do have some nutritional value in terms of vitamins they are very high
in sugars that don’t have a great effect on our insulin levels, and aren’t great for people who have
sugar related problems such as diabetes.

Caffeine based drinks e.g. Tea & Coffee – Now I’m not a fan of these drinks across the board due
to the effect the caffeine can have on our adrenal glands (adrenal glands are responsible for stress
hormone release). Regular intake of caffeine can contribute to hormone imbalances. The main
reason relating to breakfast is that the caffeine restricts the absorption of the nutrients from your
breakfast, so even if you’re eating a healthy breakfast, you’re not getting the full benefit from what
you are eating.

Ok so, the main question I get asked by clients, friends and family is ‘So what can I eat for breakfast’?

Let’s keep it simple, here are some of my suggestions:

• Berries & goats yoghurt with desiccated coconut
• Smoothies, with a combination of fat, carbohydrates & protein (a couple of recipe blogs coming up so keep your eyes peeled!)
• Omelette
• Scrambled eggs on mushroom
• Scrambled eggs with grilled tomato
• Grapefruit with a handful of nuts
• Poached eggs on a bed of spinach
• Possibly for the more hardcore: Meat & nut breakfast

All of the above are good clean sources of nutrition that should get you functioning a lot better than
eating high carbohydrate, high sugar processed food that basically isn’t healthy. No matter what the
advertising agencies say!

I’m hearing some ‘well I don’t have time for that’. How long does it take for bread to toast? You
can scramble some egg and grill a tomato quicker than toasting some bread. How convenient really
is cereal? You can spend the same amount of time grabbing a handful of berries, pouring in some
yoghurt and sprinkling some coconut. Really not convincing you? Then smoothies are a great option,
a pretty nutritious breakfast, on the go. If you don’t have time in the morning make it the night
before and keep it in the fridge with a squeeze of lemon juice for longevity.

Enjoy your breakfast and feel fresh!

James