Build the Perfect Breakfast

Why eat breakfast?

Regardless of your health and fitness goals, eating breakfast within 30 minutes of waking up should be part of your plan.  When you eat breakfast, you are literally breaking the fast your body has endured for the past 8 hours or so while you were asleep.  Our bodies are extremely good at not allowing us to starve, so when it's depraved of food for a long period of time, like when you were sleeping, your metabolism slows down to conserve the food you still have.  If you skip breakfast, your metabolism will continue to slow until your next meal, which means you've lost hours of metabolic activity that can help you control your weight without any extra effort on your part!  People who eat breakfast also tend to feel less hungry during the day, so if you're counting calories, research shows that eating some of your calories at breakfast may help you save up to 250 throughout the day - that's a whole pound in two weeks!  Eating breakfast also helps you feel more energized, it can help your body fight off colds and other infections, and it significantly improves cognitive functioning.

What to eat?

It varies a little depending on what stage you're at in your health and fitness goals, but there are a few basic principles that are true for everyone.  You should try to get some high quality protein, complex carbohydrates (learn about a smart carb diet), high quality fats, and vitamins.

Protein

The amount of protein you need depends on your goals (learn The Truth about Protein).  If you're looking to gain significant muscle mass, your target amount will probably be in the 30-40 gram range, but even if you're just looking for a flatter stomach, protein should be part of your regular diet.  Try and avoid soy protein that's sometimes added to cereals because it has an incomplete amino acid blend (meaning your body can't use it very effectively) and it may mimic estrogen in your system.  Instead, go for a couple eggs, which are considered one of the best protein sources around (and they're cheap!).  If you're worried about the cholesterol and fat in eggs, you can always opt for egg whites - just know that this cuts the amount of protein approximately in half so you'll have to eat more.  You can also try Greek Yogurt, which packs anywhere from 12-18 grams of high quality protein.  Just watch the sugar content - you can try getting plain Greek Yogurt and adding dried fruit and/or honey to sweeten it, or you can opt for the "lite" versions that usually have less than 10 grams of sugar.  You can also get a good dose of protein from turkey bacon or sausage, a glass of milk, nuts, and any meats (try mixing some ham into an omelet for 25-30g of protein!)

Carbohydrates

You can get complex carbohydrates from eating fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.  For example, try spreading some peanut butter on a slice whole grain toast, eat an apple, and drink some 100% fruit juice to give you the carbs your body needs for energy, the fiber your stomach needs to stay feeling full, and the vitamins your immune system and other critical functions need to keep you healthy.

Fat

Eating eggs and peanut butter (or any nut) will give you some good omega-3 fats.  You can also get your fats from the turkey sausage or adding some cheese to your omelet.  Remember, fat isn't bad for you - in fact you need fat in your diet.

If you're new to breakfast, it's okay to start small.  Some breakfast is always better than nothing.  As always, feel free to leave comments!