Healthy Breakfast, Healthy Body: FitFierce50(TM)

I used to envy people who skipped breakfast. It seemed like a badge of honor, a testament to willpower that they could make it through an entire night and morning without needing to eat. I am never one to skip a meal—especially breakfast—so I was thrilled when science validated my love of a good brekky. A healthy breakfast lays the foundation for a healthy body.

Studies have found that people who eat a healthy* (healthy, being the operative word) breakfast have a lower BMI than people who skip breakfast, even when breakfast skippers consumer fewer calories. Translation: Eating breakfast boosts your metabolism so that you burn more calories and fat throughout the day. If you avoid breakfast thinking you’ll lose weight, you are actually more likely to experience the opposite. Skipping breakfast may cause you to gain weight.

Eating breakfast tells your body that plenty of calories will be available so it’s okay to burn them up. Skipping breakfast, on the other hand, signals your body that it needs to conserve energy and burn fewer calories. Your metabolism slows, making it harder to attain and maintain a healthy weight.

A slew of studies have found people who eat healthy breakfasts are more likely to:

• Have a lower BMI
• Eat less fat throughout the day
• Eat more fruits and vegetables
• Have higher calcium intake
• Have higher fiber intake
• Have better memory and attention

People who skip breakfast are more likely to:

• Be overweight
• Not get the daily recommended servings of fruits and vegetables
• Eat unhealthy snacks

What is a healthy breakfast?

The healthiest meals provide a balance of protein, fat, and complex, non-processed carbohydrates. That latter distinction is key: Whole grains are nutrient and fiber rich, and help boost your metabolism. Processed carbs, including sugar, flour, pasta, white rice, Pop Tarts, sugary cereals, Danishes, scones, coffee cake, any cake, donuts, and bagels, are empty calories that drive food cravings and metabolic disease. There’s a reason we call packaged foods “junk” food. The word “junk” is also slang for heroin. Junk = addictive.

Because my day is front loaded, meaning I get the bulk of my work done before noon, I need my breakfast to be hearty, but quick to prepare. I usually spend about 3 to 5 minutes prepping my breakfast the night before so that I can spend even less time in the morning. Here’s what I do:

• I weigh out 2 oz. of steel-cut oats (or wheat berries or buckwheat) in a small pot. I add boiling water to the pot and cover with a lid.
• I weigh out 2 oz. of raw nuts and seeds—pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, Brazil nuts*—and soak them in room temperature, pure, filtered water.** (Note: not all nuts and seeds need to be soaked/rinsed. See below.)

In the morning, I:

• Heat the oats.
• Drain and rinse the raw nuts and seeds.
• Combine oats, soaked raw nuts and seeds in a cereal bowl. Add in 1 oz. raw hemp, chia, or flax seed, 1 oz. raw wheat germ, 1/2 oz. virgin, unrefined coconut oil, and a pinch of pink Himalayan salt.
• Finish my meal with a piece of fruit or 6 oz. of berries, melon, or pineapple.

This breakfast, which contains 0 cholesterol—that’s right, no cholesterol at all—fills me up and keeps me sated for 4 to 6 hours. As mentioned, I vary my whole grains and raw nuts and seeds, which are high in vitamins, minerals, healthy fats, carbs, and protein. My typical breakfast nets me approximately 34 grams of protein and 800 calories, which I have found to be perfect for my age (55), height (5’6″), weight (125 pounds), and activity level (hour-long walks with my dog daily, plus yoga, and other exercises a few times a week).

My healthy breakfast sets the tone for my entire day. It keeps me out of cravings, and makes choosing a healthy lunch and dinner more appealing. For me, breakfast is like exercising—it’s a healthy habit that keeps me feeling and looking my best.

Caveat

If, in the name of eating breakfast, you opt for, say, ice cream or pastries, you are better off skipping breakfast because sugary pastries and products high in animal fats will cause you to gain weight and hasten the aging process. Sugar destroys collagen, a protein that helps skin keep its elasticity.

Note on Nuts/Seeds

**5-6 Brazil nuts contain the daily recommended value of selenium, a powerful anti-oxidant that lowers risk of prostate and lung cancer, and is effective in treating infertility and arthritis. It also has powerful anti-aging benefits for your skin. For healthy aging, avoid all animal products because none of them contain anti-aging benefits, and all of them create acidity that hastens aging. Also, most animal products are loaded with harmful hormones and chemicals that increase your risk of cancer and other diseases.

***Most nuts and seeds are covered in a film that acts as a vitamin inhibitor and blocks nutrient absorption. Therefore, most nuts and seeds need to be soaked and rinsed before eating. Exceptions to soaking and rinsing include: chia, hemp, walnuts, cashews, and flax. Raw nuts and seeds are nutritious; roasted nuts and seeds are not. Roasting turns them rancid, and makes them more likely to trigger the compulsion to overeat. Never eat roasted nuts and seeds. Virtually all almonds in the U.S. are blanched; it is nearly impossible to buy raw almonds in the U.S. unless they are imported from Italy. Raw almonds are a superfood, but since they are difficult to come by in the U.S., I suggest avoiding them unless they are certified raw and organic.

Parting Thought

“When you wake up in the morning, Pooh,” said Piglet at last, “what’s the first thing you say to yourself?”

“What’s for breakfast?” said Pooh. “What do you say, Piglet?”

“I say, I wonder what’s going to happen exciting today?” said Piglet.

Pooh nodded thoughtfully. “It’s the same thing,” he said.

― A.A. Milne

Sources: NutritionDataSelf.com (2016), Rush University Medical Center (2016), WebMd (12/08/14)

About me: In 1994, I launched a publication about health and fitness, Life Advice, for MetLife. Today, that newsletter reaches 1 million people and receives hundreds of emails per issue expressing positive feedback. I am a certified yoga instructor and certified personal trainer. As a voracious consumer of medical studies about healthy aging, I have spent two decades compiling research on offsetting some of the negative effects of aging. I am the author of Flying Free: Life Lessons Learned on the Flying Trapeze, which details how confronting my fear of heights changed my life, my body, and my attitude.