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How to Make the Most from Breakfast

How to Make the Most from Breakfast

Breakfast is one of the most commonly skipped meals of the day, it can also end up being the unhealthiest meal for many people. Grabbing a pastry from the coffee shop while you travel to work or waiting at a drive-thru for McDonalds to grab a breakfast wrap. But what if there was another way? In this article we will take a look at how to make the most from breakfast.

What You Want Out of a Good Breakfast

A well-rounded breakfast should include lots of protein, some fibre, and as many vitamins and minerals as you can get. This is not always going to be possible, but some of the choices on this list may help you to get closer to your goal.
  • Protein: Increasing your protein intake can help you to build muscle, increase strength, maintain muscle (when dieting), and recover from exercise. Protein is also satiating, meaning that it will help you feel fuller for longer. Increasing the protein intake of your breakfast will help you to increase overall protein as well as spread your protein intake throughout the day.
  • Fibre: There are many benefits of increasing your fibre intake. It can help your digestive system to run better, reduce your risk of colon cancer, and fibre is also excellent at increasing satiety (just like protein). Most people in the UK are not consuming enough fibre.
  • Vitamins & Minerals: Very few people eat enough fruit and vegetables in their diet, meaning that they can be deficient in several vitamins and minerals. Targeting breakfast can help you to hit your daily targets.

The Best Breakfast for People Who Exercise Early

One thing that many people who exercise early complain about is not having enough time to eat breakfast and being reluctant to eat so early in the morning. This is understandable, so here are some options for you to have if you train early in the morning:
Protein Bar and a piece of fruit: While training fasted is not as bad as some people think, exercising without any protein in your system can reduce protein synthesis. Meaning that you may not build as much muscle. Eating a protein bar, will get you all the protein you need, and some energy to lift more. The fruit will provide a spike of energy from the fructose and may help you to train harder. You could get similar results if you used a protein shake instead of a protein bar.
Overnight Oats: Oats have many benefits for anyone who trains early, they are slow digesting and offer sustained energy (thanks to the fibre). They are also a decent source of protein and will provide energy. Overnight oats are great, but often take a long time to prepare. Luckily, we at the protein works have created our own version, which takes out the hassle.

The Best Breakfast for People with Time to Spare

The following choices are amazing breakfast options, but only if you have the time to prepare them. Maybe on a weekend, or perhaps you are working a late shift.
Scrambled Eggs & Veg on Toast: Chop up some onions, peppers, and mushrooms then fry them in a pan. Then put some bread in the toaster. Now you can start to cook your scrambled eggs.
Do NOT microwave your scrambled eggs. It ruins them! Mix up three eggs in a bowl and pour into a saucepan that has a mix of oil and butter in it.
Stir the eggs forward and backwards, then side to side. Keep the temperature low, and prevent the eggs from sticking to the bottom of the pan. When the eggs are two-thirds cooked (still a little runny) turn off the heat and continue to stir. The eggs take about three minutes to cook!
This breakfast hits all the goals. Protein from the eggs, fibre from the toast, vitamins and minerals from the vegetables.
Loaded Pancakes: While this is a very American breakfast, it is also amazing enough to try when you have the time. If you have our pancake mix, then you can whip up a batch in no time. Topped with a zero-calorie syrup you can get 20g of protein from just one serving!

Do not Forget the Coffee

Just to finish off, we thought we’d mention coffee. Hydration is obviously important, you have just woken from several hours of sleep and likely haven’t drunk anything since the evening before. Coffee is a great choice. It can hydrate you (yes, even though caffeine is a mild diuretic), the caffeine can help you improve your workout, and if taken black it is less than 3 calories per serving.
Just remember, that not all coffee is equal, many of the more delicious offerings from coffee shops can be hundreds of calories! Using a no-calorie syrup to improve the taste is one way to enjoy your coffee without overdoing the calories.
Tea is also a great choice, though the lower caffeine level is less likely to improve your performance in the gym.

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