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I love breakfast. It is, without question, my favorite meal of the day.
I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s just a great combo of my favorite foods. Maybe it’s because I just exercised and am starving.
But most days, with few exceptions, I eat a big breakfast. Here’s what it typically looks like:
Sauteed sweet potato, potato, zucchini, mushrooms and sausage or ground beef.
A slice or two of toasted homemade sourdough.
Two slices of bacon.
3 sunny side up eggs.
1 banana.
I often change up the veggies or the meat, maybe use cauliflower rounds instead of sourdough.
Needless to say, I’m a BIG fan of a big breakfast.
I also cook breakfast for my 2 boys, as well.
They each get 2 slices of bacon or sausage, 2 scrambled eggs, ½ an apple, and a slice of toast, hash brown or small yogurt.
On Sunday, we make pancakes.
They are both sharp, strong, energetic and happy boys.
Why is a big breakfast a good thing?
We’ve been told “breakfast is the most important meal of the day”, which is actually just a marketing slogan made to sell cereal.
But I don’t think it’s wrong!
Whenever you choose to break your fast, what you eat sets you up for the rest of your day.
In the morning, your stress hormones like cortisol and insulin are elevated to wake you up and get your day started in what is called the “dawn phenomenon”. Your body is ready and waiting for food to come in to get the energy and other nutrients it needs to function.
If the first thing you give your body is a bowl of cereal or a bagel and a cup of sweet coffee, all your body is getting is sugar.
Which gives you a shot of energy, but your body very quickly metabolizes or stores that sugar away, leaving you in need of a new hit of glucose.
This spikes your cortisol (again) making you feel stressed and agitated, giving way to “hangry”.
So you go hunt for something else sweet, like a pastry or yet another bagel and sweet coffee beverage.
The cycle of spike and crash, spike and crash repeats all day like a rollercoaster, until you get home and are exhausted but can’t seem to fall asleep.
Sound familiar?
All the while you haven’t given your body much of anything to build new hormones, enzymes, or muscle with.
On the other hand if the first thing you give your body is a nutrient-dense mix of fiber, carbohydrates, fat and protein, it takes a while to digest and absorb.
The carbs slowly become glucose and can be used for even, balanced energy. What you don’t use gets stored in the liver and muscles for later.
Fat gets used for things like making cell walls and producing hormones. Some nutrients, like Vitamin D, can’t be absorbed without fat.
Protein gets broken into amino acids to be turned into just about everything in your body from tendons to hair to skin and eyeballs.
You get all that, plus you’re full and happy for hours, not feeling jittery or anxious, and can make good choices about what you eat next.
Then, when you get home and put your kids to bed, you can be tired and easily drift off to a glorious night’s sleep.
Tips for eating a bigger breakfast:
Include fat, protein and fiber
Add an egg or two to whatever you normally eat
Make hard boiled eggs to bring to work
Add nuts, seeds or even bacon crumbles to your oatmeal
Keep cooked ground beef or turkey in the fridge to add to any savory breakfast
Add smoked salmon or hard boiled eggs to your bagel or toast
Also - breakfast doesn’t HAVE to be “breakfast food”. Eat leftovers from last night, reheat a hamburger patty, or keep a batch of your favorite dish in the fridge.
When should you eat breakfast? (later is ok)
So this is when you say “but Joel, I like to skip breakfast!”
Which is totally fine, if that is working for you. But when you “break your fast” is your breakfast. Even if you break your fast at noon, you’ll benefit from a big breakfast.
But look, if you’re fasting like it’s your job, and maybe struggling through those last couple of hours, or finding things like your sleep is off or your fitness performance has slacked, maybe it’s time to back off a little?
Women may want to cycle different lengths of fasts to better support their hormones and menstrual cycles.
All to say, finding the time of day to break your fast that works for you is key.
Maintaining a consistent eating window, say 10 to 12 hours, is actually more beneficial than struggling through a longer fasting window.
So here’s what you do:
Pick a daily eating window that works best for you most of the time. Maybe you break your fast at 9am and stop eating at 7pm. That’s a 10 hour eating window, and a 14 hour fasting window.
Sticking with that most of the time and your body will relax knowing it can expect nourishment at a regular time, and can expect to wind down and stop digesting at a certain time.
Of course, you can always do longer fasts. For many people an occasional 24-36 hour fasts can be very beneficial.
And for women, you may want to increase your eating window during the luteal phase of your cycle, and then shorten that window during other days of the month.
No matter when you break your fast, break it with a filling, nutrient-dense meal that will keep you happy and energized for hours.
Y’all, giving you the tools, support and accountability to conquer your crappy energy, poor sleep, stubborn weight and food cravings is what my program is all about.
Those tools include making sure you are eating a filling, nutrient-dense breakfast and maintaining a consistent eating window. I’ll help you figure out what that breakfast looks like, and we’ll put together an eating/fasting schedule designed just for you.
If those sound like things you need help with, I’ve got a spot for you in my 6-month 1-on-1 nutrition program.
Ready? Let’s go!
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