Yes, you may be beyond Special K with berries and skim milk (or not?), but I can almost guarantee that breakfast is the meal with the least variety and the most boredom for you.
Maybe you are a Special K person, and if so, this article will teach you how and why to transition beyond your breakfast with Mr. Kellogg. If you already consider yourself pretty breakfast savvy, then this will take you from merely a balanced breakfaster to a breakfast brainer!
Based on the hundreds of Biosignature assessments and client consults I've conducted, the average body-conscious person is eating a moderate breakfast and lunch, small snacks, and dinner is often the biggest meal. This is considered quite optimal compared to what the general population is doing.
The average person spends their lifetime tip-toeing past breakfast, snacking through the day, and sometimes even missing lunch before filling their face with as much nutrient-deficient "food" and caffeine as possible come late afternoon. That usually does the trick until later in the day, when there's another instalment of high-calorie, no-value food at dinner.
Truly optimal distribution of calories is actually quite the opposite of the above, literally. It's known as the Reverse Pyramid, and if you think about it, it makes complete sense.
We need to "break the fast" that took place overnight and provide ample fuel to tackle the activities of the day to come. Thus, breakfast should ideally be one of your biggest meals both in calories and nutrition. As the day goes on, portion size and calorie content tapers off until your last meal, which is quite insignificant.
For a 70kg person, it may look like this:
Breakfast: 400 calories
Snack: 350 calories
Lunch: 300 calories
Snack: 250 calories
Dinner: 200 calories
Snack: 150 calories
For a total of 1,650 calories.
Now that we've established the importance of a substantial breakfast, let's look at what that 400 calories should ideally consist of. After having spent ten years transitioning to the "best breakfast," I certainly have the experience to confirm that lean and green is the way to go.
Forget toasted rice flakes with some odd dehydrated form of fruit impersonating a strawberry — when you get right down to it, sugar is sugar. Whether you're taking in low-fat yogurt and a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice, a multigrain bagel with low-sugar jam, or organic crunch cereal with baked-in dates and honey, it's all converted to glycogen in your body.
A significant percentage of the population has become terribly carb intolerant due to all of the processed, refined, non-foods we eat. We've set ourselves up for storing carbs as fat, not in the muscle cells to be used as fuel. The fact that we're overall less active and more stressed also contributes to the insulin resistant epidemic.
The best way to reverse this and switch to an optimal fat-burning, carb-tolerant mode is to eat dinner for breakfast.
A traditional meat-based dinner with a side salad and steamed vegetables is your best breakfast. This way, you aren't downing the sugar that starts the insulin-driven rollercoaster ride when you're still half asleep. Even the lean, "carb-gifted" individuals will benefit from eating meat, veggies, and essential oils for breakfast. They'll have their chance to consume carbs at other, more effective opportunities.
Here are some examples of my typical breakfasts:
- Chicken, steamed veges and one teaspoon of olive oil
- Extra lean beef, steamed asparagus, and one teaspoon of organic pistachi butter
- Pan fried fish with sautéed leeks and red onions
- Lean chicken sausages, spinach, and olive oil
Have you ever had a sugary treat such as waffles or even something more savoury like leftover pizza or Chinese food for breakfast? What you likely noticed is that you craved those same disastrous foods the entire day. That's because your first meal paves the energy and hormonal path for the day to come.
If you don't believe me, just replace the Special K Challenge with the Lean and Green Challenge. Over the next five days, eat different animal proteins, steamed vegetables, and healthy oils for breakfast and note the difference in your energy levels, cravings, and body composition.
So if dinner is for breakfast, what's for dinner? Breakfast, of course!
Here's the great thing, even on these lean and green days, you can have more traditional breakfast foods. The key is timing. If it's a training day, have your oatmeal, cereal, pancakes, fruit, and other "healthy carbs" post-workout and properly combined with adequate protein.
If it's a non-training day, an omelette is your best dinner. Egg yolks, especially the free-range organic variety, are high in choline, which has a positive impact on brain health. Dinner is often a crazy time for people juggling multiple agendas and responsibilities, so an egg-based dinner will provide a timely mental boost!
