Healthy Habits: Baby Steps to the Most Important Meal of the Day

I had one of my class attendees come up to me three minutes prior to a cycle tabata as I was taking attendance and stuffing my face with oatmeal and ask how I was eating breakfast so close to our class.  I was a little surprised at this question at first, but it made me remember I couldn't stomach breakfast unless it was a small morsel of food, no less before exercise, for a very long time.  She told me how she takes extremely early classes, but she also feels sick if she eats beforehand.  Consequently, she consumes food post-exercise and feels the same result.  Sound familiar?

I am not a nutritionist, but I did go to one while I was training for my first half marathon two or so years ago.  I had no clue what to eat before runs, during runs, or at all throughout the day for recovery.  I was clueless.  I have a few tips for you, even if you aren't a runner, on how to incorporate breakfast and slowly ease it into your diet.

When you exercise, you need to have something in your stomach, bottom line.  It doesn't matter if it is a small snack.  When you think about it, your body is at rest and hasn't eaten in 6-12 hours, depending on the person.  If you get up to exercise in the morning or to start your day in general, where does your energy come from?  People forget that calories=energy.  If you have a good, clean start with some healthy breakfast options, you will have better mornings with more energy through your daily activities or increased performance during your workouts. 

It is the most important meal of the day for a lot of reasons:  boosts your metabolism, makes you less likely to binge later in the day, et cetera.  Many use it as an opportunity to cut calories out of their day, but the consequence is that you eat more later and are starving.  You have more control over your appetite with small, healthy, and reasonably portioned meals rather than skipping.

I have devised a suggestion for how to start eating breakfast.  Again, I am not a nutritionist, but these are some guidelines on how I began to start eating breakfast which became an essential routine for me now.  I have a good breakfast every single day, and I definitely wake up hungry now when I couldn't stomach it before.

Week 1 Options:
(start small with easily digestible foods)

• piece of fruit
• best choice: banana (easiest to digest and calms the stomach, good source of carbs and natural sugar)

•  glass of juice
• best choice: orange juice, no sugar added (look at your ingredients!) 

• half a smoothie
• 1/2 a cup greek yogurt or protein powder, ice, splash of your milk of choice, with a handful of frozen fruit and a half a banana (frozen is best)
• eat the other half after your workout or later that morning!

•  mini energy bar, chews, or "goo
• examples: GU/clif goo packet or sport beans/chews (before a workout), mini clif bars, cut a kind bar in half, luna bar in half (eat the other half after workout)

Week 2:

• hard boiled eggs with fruit
• whole grain cereal (1 serving, half a serving) with milk of choice and 1 serving to half a serving of fruit
•  energy bar (full)
• 1 piece of toast with peanut butter (or nut butter alternative) and sliced banana 
• egg white or egg omelet with goat cheese or avocado and veggies inside
• overnight oats (half before workout, half after)
• put plain oats in a container with milk night before eating, add toppings like yogut, cereal, nuts, fruit, cacao nibs, protein powder etc

 Week 3:

• greek yogurt with nuts, handful of cereal, fruit
• full serving of cereal, milk of choice, fruit
• full smoothie
• oatmeal with choice of toppings
• my favorite: 1 tbs of pb with 1 tbs of no sugar added jam or chopped fruit and a scoop of protein powder with chopped fruit on top
• overnight oats (full) 
• 1 piece of toast with avocado smashed on top with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes and one or two eggs however you like them!

 Now, if you're still getting used to a certain "week", just continue it until you're ready for more food in your stomach.  Even I have a hard time eating week 3 type of breakfast at a 5 am workout, so for something that early, I would choose something from week one and recover with something from week two afterwards.  It is all about balance(:

If you want more suggestions, or have on of your own, comment below!  I hope this helps you all become major breakfast eaters like myself!  Just be patient, and don't be afraid to experiment to see what types of food work best for you.