What to eat for breakfast???

Our good friend and super nutritionist Caren Richards has written an article exclusively for WhittleFit about the most important meal of the day - breakfast! Enjoy! 

As a Nutritional Therapist I can often tell a lot about a person’s overall diet by just looking at what they eat, or don’t eat, for breakfast.

What you have for your first meal of the day can influence the food decisions you make later on in the day plus it can impact on mood, cognitive function and physical performance. Some studies also suggest that the types of food that you eat for breakfast can affect your body’s metabolic reaction to the foods that you consume later in the day. In my opinion eating breakfast is a good idea and what you eat could be crucial to how you feel and function over the next 24 hours.

Try to think of breakfast as you would any other meal, you wouldn’t eat a bowl of pasta or rice for lunch without any protein or vegetables and yet that is all most manufactured breakfast cereal contain. Are you eating a bowlful of carbohydrate mixed with refined sugar for breakfast? And then do you sit at your desk for hours in work? So do you really need that much carbohydrate?

Don’t be taken in by clever marketing, we have been brain washed into thinking that a ‘healthy breakfast’ is a glass of orange juice and a bowl of cereal. Always read the label regardless of what it says on the front of the packet. A ‘healthy’ bowl of granola with milk can have around 25g of sugar, that is more than 6 teaspoons, add in a glass of orange juice and you will be on 50g of sugar before you start the day.

Breakfast should be nutritionally balanced and contain a supply of protein, fats and carbohydrates. The proportions of the macro nutrients will depend on influences such as your anticipated activity level, your health goals, what you ate the day before, your activity before breakfast and what your food intake is likely to be later in the day.

A common problem my clients have with breakfast is a tight timescale so be prepared and get your breakfasts planned in advance. Try not to eat the same thing every day as this will increase the variety of nutrients you eat and also stop you from getting bored.

If you are a member of the WhittleFit clan you probably have an active lifestyle so it is even more important to use breakfast as an opportunity to pack more nutrients into your body. This will help you to recover from your training sessions and prepare for the next one!

When you make your breakfast, start with protein and build your meal from there, add in some whole grain carbohydrates if you need them and also some fats. Here are a few ideas :

• Wholegrain toast, mashed avocado and poached eggs
• Scrambled egg, smoked salmon chopped tomatoes and spinach
• Porridge, cinnamon, grated apple and chopped nuts
• Overnight oats (plus toppings!)
• Protein smoothie
• Omelette  

For more information on diet and nutrition contact Caren via her website or email her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.