breakfast, Nutrition

What if early bird doesn’t want the worm?

Are you the type that wakes up in the morning, showers, gets dressed, brushes your teeth, then out the door?  Although those things I just listed in your routine are important, there’s still one most important thing missing, breakfast.  I hear it all the time and I used to be the same way.  “I just don’t have an appetite in the morning” “breakfast food makes me nauseous” “I don’t have time to cook in the mornings…”

When I was a freshman in high school, my older brother, who was a senior, drove me to school everyday.  He was the typical jock that went on to state finals in wrestling and placed second in his weight class in Alabama, he seemed to always have the microphone at the football pep rally’s on Friday afternoons, he was img_3304inches away from setting school track records, and his name was constantly on the radio for excelling in sports.  I remember grabbing a Coca-Cola from the refrigerator and as soon as I took a sip in his three-year old, candy blue, convertible mustang, he asked me with the most disgusted look on his face, “Why are you drinking a soda this early in the morning?”  I replied, “Because it helps wake me up,” which it did at the time.  “You shouldn’t rely on a soda to pick you up in the mornings, you should have enough rest from the night before to help you power through your day,” he told me.  That has always stuck with me throughout life.  After all, he was doing something right to be nutritionally fit, he only had 3% body fat at the time.  I know because my Health teacher, also his wrestling coach, reminded our class nearly everyday.  The next morning, I observed his dietary routine.  After his morning rush to get ready and spending half an hour on his side swept hair, he would grab some “brain food” from our mother.  “Brain food” as he referred to it, was his breakfast and most mornings it was homemade biscuits with scrambled eggs, cheese, and bacon.  After wasting all that time on his hair, we typically sat in detention for being tardy every morning and that is where he indulged.  Well, I had myself some “brain food” the following morning and I could successfully tell a difference in my attitude, class participation, and energy level.  It was a neat experience to see how well something as simple as eating breakfast helped my attentiveness.  However, as the day went on, I began to notice it wasn’t sitting well.  I observed the situation a little more and did some research when I realized, bacon and dairy were not for me in the mornings.  So, what to do to keep my new love for the mornings an ongoing habit?

I started out small.  I knew protein was a big thing to have in your morning meals so, I looked at non dairy and non greasy foods that had protein in it.  Nuts and oats were perfect for my situation!  I found my favorite chewy granola bar and ate it on the way to school.  I then noticed I was still hungry before lunch so I started packing a little bag of homemade trail mix with almonds, peanuts, plain chocolate m&m’s, dried blueberries, dried cranberries, and walnuts.  I still eat that trail mix today only now I add yogurt drops.  It was the perfect combination!  As I got older, my taste buds started to develop a little differently along with my stomach and overall health.  I was running everyday, doing stretches three times a day, and going to the gym.  Through time and process of elimination, I can now have non-fat dairy for breakfast and scrambled eggs with turkey.

After all of my personal experiences and the wonderful things I’ve learned through health courses in high school, college, and post-grad, I would suggest this:  Make sure you’re getting enough rest.  Sometimes not getting enough rest will leave you feeling nauseous in the mornings and unable to stomach anything 2-4 hours after waking up.  Try reading the paper or catching up on the news for a few minutes and your appetite should arise on its own.

If sleep is not an issue and you’re just not a morning person or have time to fix anything, start with an oatmeal bowl or a protein shake and carry a snack mix with you incase it doesn’t suffice.  However, the shake is typically filling enough to keep you satisfied until lunch.  The shake recipes are endless so they shouldn’t ever be too bland or repetitive for you.img_3305

Living with your parents, a partner, spouse, or friend and you don’t like what they have to offer?  Switch it up.  Find the foods you do like and put a twist on it.  Try a piece of whole wheat toast with an avocado spread and a couple of pieces of bacon.  Or try roasted, sliced sweet potatoes with yogurt and bananas.  Too much?  lol OK let’s back up…how about pancakes with creamy peanut butter and sliced bananas?  Or try a wrap, or a smoothie, or a fruit yogurt parfait!

Calling all coffee fanatics!  An obvious tip, caffeine curbs your appetite so, if the first thing you grab in the morning is a hot cup of joe, you’re most likely not going to want to eat anything.  If you are a tobacco user, this could curb your appetite even more!  Most days when I call my dad around lunch and he says he’s starving because he hasn’t eaten, I’ll ask what he’s had in place of food and his response every time, “Two cups of coffee and cigarettes.”  UGH this is so obvious, especially when your nutrition-nut of a daughter tells you every time y’all speak that caffeine and tobacco are the issue.  Now, don’t hear this as a lecture, I’m sure you have plenty of other people in your life and your head telling you it’s bad, but try holding off on the coffee until after you eat and definitely don’t drink any before bed.  You could even replace your first cup with a hot cup of chai tea.  Or, something cooler, try a chocolate espresso protein smoothie.  Yum!

If these options don’t seem to work and you’re still nauseated after waking up, you should see your primary care doctor.  I’ve heard a lot of people actually have liver or stomach issues.  It could be anything from gallstones, hiatus hernia, acid reflux, to ulcers.

Best of luck, my health nut!

xox – C