While anyone who knows anything will tell you that breakfast isn’t something you can skip without wrecking your metabolism, there’s a great deal of disagreement over what constitutes a good breakfast.
When people talk about having toast and coffee for breakfast, I don’t care for the refined grains and lack of a protein source. Paleo diet enthusiasts will emphasize eggs and fruit or juice, and while I don’t totally disagree with that, the lack of complex carbohydrates in that diet won’t sit well with everyone. While your dietary needs certainly need to be assessed on an individual basis, a good starting point would be something like what I show here:
This shows how you can quickly prepare a complete breakfast that includes simple and complex carbohydrates, a protein source, and healthy fats. It takes a minimal amount of time and can be eaten on the go in a pinch (note: not responsible for any wrecks you get into caused by eating and driving simultaneously). My usual routine with this meal looks something like this:
- Put dry ingredients into the bowl the previous night
- Wake up, stumble to kitchen, add egg whites, water, frozen fruit, and microwave it
- Go through my early routine to get ready (I’m a guy, so this is mercifully brief)
- Grab the bowl on my way out the door
It usually finishes in the microwave several minutes before I’m ready to leave, which gives it a chance to cool down from its maximal tongue-scorching temperature before I attempt to throw it down the hatch.
So while this breakfast might not be for everyone, I do recommend it for anyone who is currently not eating any kind of breakfast, relying on refined carbs (cereals, breads), or not using a protein source with their first meal.
Darin Starr