for work or run errands, and we need energy for that. Accordingly, it’s important
that you provide your body with high-quality fuel right from the start.
An ideal breakfast should include protein (eggs) and healthy fats (avocado,
butter, or cheese) so your body starts the day with high-quality fuel. A protein
breakfast, with or without some fat, will decrease insulin levels and your hunger,
as well as the calories you consume. Eating protein and fat for breakfast will
delay hunger for 5 to 6 hours.
It’s also helpful to have a hot drink (decaffeinated coffee or tea) in the
morning to get the digestive processes going after a long night of sleep. Your
breakfast certainly should not contain sugar or refined carbs, since this will only
prompt your pancreas to make more insulin. That means no Danishes,
doughnuts, plain bagels, reduced-fat or fatfree muffins, sugary cereals, or
croissants for breakfast. If you eat this junk, you will feel hungry, irritable, and
fatigued long before lunch time. If you focus on eating a breakfast free of sugar,
you’ll notice that you feel calmer, more energized, and more focused than ever
before.
A healthy breakfast should also be light on caffeine. The average American
drinks approximately 28 gallons of coffee and 32 gallons of caffeinated soft
drinks a year. That’s a whopping 60 gallons of caffeinated drinks a year!
Caffeine in small doses is okay (a cup of coffee in the morning is fine, for
example), but too much really wreaks havoc on your metabolism, and you will
become reliant on ever-escalating amounts of caffeine simply to feel “up.”
Breaking the caffeine habit is something I highly recommend.
What Can I Eat for Breakfast?
My patients often ask this question. My answer to them (and you) is that you
may eat anything you like that is good for you, including healthy fats (an
avocado, for example), protein (eggs), healthy carbs (a vegetable dish or a fruit
salad), and in Stage Two or Three, some whole grains (a small bowl of oatmeal).
Tired of eggs? Try a few slices of turkey or some salmon with some cream
cheese. Berries with cottage cheese is another good choice. I encourage my
patients to “think out of the box” when it comes to breakfast. Remember, a low-
fat cereal with some skim milk is no different from eating pure sugar. It will be
detrimental to your health. In the Paleolithic time, humans didn’t make
distinctions between what kind of food they ate for different meals in the day. If
the idea of a salad or leftover vegetables from last night’s dinner is unacceptable
to you for breakfast, a full-fat yogurt with fruit is a perfectly satisfactory choice.