The Best Fuel To Start Your Day for Success
Confession:
The first thing I consume when I wake up is my cup of French Pressed coffee. After that, I’m ready to take on some fuel. Everyone is different, some people can’t even look at food until mid-morning, others like myself, need to start the day with breakfast. If I don’t eat breakfast I will bottom out, that is get irritable, unable to focus and just be thinking about food!
Reality:
Like most people I know with our busy lifestyles, breakfast needs to be a grab and go routine, unless it’s the weekend when there is more time to create and eat this morning meal. During the weekdays, I find myself gravitating towards the same foods and look forward to them. That was not always so, I grew up on British cornflakes, milk, toast and tea and by the time I was in college, gravitated towards bagels and coffee and now given more choice in what I can shop for I buy fruit, yogurt and raw rolled oats.
Nutrition Factor:
For some reason this breakfast gets me through workouts and work deadlines, keeping me topped off for a good 4 hours. The secret lies in the nutrition. Science tells us that complex carbohydrates like oats, fiber such as in fruit and the oats, and protein found in the Greek yogurt and oats give our body staying power. We know, it takes longer to digest protein and fiber and consequently our blood sugars stay even longer as we stay fueled.
The nutrition quality of these berries, yogurt and oats can be augmented by making mindful choices in each.
- Buy organic berries for less pesticides.
- (The Dirty Dozen Blog for more information.)
- Get 0% fat Greek yogurt for more protein and 200 mg calcium in just ¾ C (6 ounces).
- (For another calcium rich breakfast idea follow this link to a past blog.)
- Buy raw rolled oats for fiber, both heart healthy soluble fiber and for a healthy gut. I buy gluten free oats.
- (For more information on Oats and some great mix-in ideas check out this blog from Emma.)
This breakfast contains the following nutrition:
| Yogurt, Oats & Berries | Calories (kcals) | Protein (g) | Fiber (g) | Other |
| 8 whole strawberries sliced (1C) | 50 | 1 | 2 | 160% Whole day Vitamin C, flavonoids, antioxidants |
| ½C Rolled Oats | 150 | 5 | 4 | Decreases LDL- heart healthy |
| 6 oz- 3/4C Greek 0% fat yogurt | 100 | 16 | 0 | 200 mg calcium
probiotic: live bacteria |
| TOTAL | 300 | 22 | 6 |
Here are the ingredients if you would like to add them to your shopping list.
Shopping List
1 container organic strawberries
1 container Greek Yogurt (Fage 0%)
1 container rolled oats (Trader Joe’s, Quaker) or Gluten Free oats.
Think about starting your day with a bang by eating a 300 calorie breakfast with protein and fiber to let you last through the morning with focus and energy to spare. For more breakfast ideas stay tuned as we Fuel Up for Success!
Questions about this blog?
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Proud to offer: Fuel Up Cooking Events, counseling sessions, consulting contracts, leadership workshops, keynote or wellness event for you, your teams or your company.
I look forward to hearing from you! ~ Emma