We have all woken up on the wrong side of the bed before. When that happens it completely ruins the whole rest of our day, and sometimes the day of others who happen upon us in all of our grouchy glory. There is a good way to reset yourself when this happens, besides going back to bed. Breakfast!

Energy Replenishment

Out of all of the meals that you eat a day, breakfast is the most important meal. Why is this, you may be asking? There are many reasons why this is, but the biggest reason is that breakfast sets up your whole entire day. When you are sleeping, your brain is weeding through all of the information from the previous day and deciding what information is really the most important to retain for your long term survival. While this is going on, your body is healing anything that is out of balance and renewing itself for the next day. Both of these processes actually take a lot of energy out of you.

Therefore, the first reason why breakfast is most important is due to the fact that your body has expended a great amount of energy while sleeping and it needs to replenish that energy upon awakening.

Sets the Tone

There is another great reason why breakfast is most important to how you approach the day. Basically, your body requires nutrients to operate properly. Look at it like this: Let’s pretend your body is a vehicle. When your car is out of gas it doesn’t really go anymore, does it? Same theory applies here. If your body doesn’t have the calories, protein, fiber and fat to operate properly, then it won’t. Plain and simple. If you want your body to go, to operate at it’s maximum potential, you must feed it!

Along this same line of thinking, what you choose to put into your body first thing upon getting up, will also determine how your body processes everything else that you put into it for the rest of the day. What this means is that it sets your metabolism for the day. If you want a higher metabolism, then you must put food into your body in the morning so that it can set your metabolism at a higher rate as opposed to a slower rate.

When you do this, you essentially burn more calories throughout the day instead of storing them as fat. Not saying that you won’t do that also, depending on your food choices. The easy take away here is eating a healthy breakfast = faster metabolism.

Breakfast Options

Now let’s get down to your food options for breakfast that will positively benefit you as opposed to negatively affect you. The long and short of it is that you need to start out your day with a good balance of protein, fiber and healthy fats if you want to maximize your body’s potential for the day.

My personal favorite go to breakfast is a piece of Gluten Free toast with whipped cream cheese with a sliced avocado and a fried egg (with olive oil and spices) on top accompanied by some berries. This type of breakfast is full of Omega 3’s, fiber and protein. I realize that not everybody is a morning person and gets up before the crack of dawn like I do, so let me give you some quicker options that are still healthy choices.

1. Whole grain toast with almond butter and an apple
2. Smoothie with organic protein powder, super green food, frozen fruit, almond milk and ground flaxseed
3. Hard boiled egg, medium sized banana and 1/4 cup almonds
4. Low sodium cottage cheese with berries and walnuts or ground flaxseed
5. Protein bars (You have to watch the sugar in these though because they can be crazy high sometimes!)
   • Kashi Savory Bars (my new favorite!)
   • Simple Truth Kale Bars with Dates and Carrots (yes they can take a bit of getting used to because of the chunks of actual carrot and kale)
   • Simple Truth Kale Bars with Dates, Berries and Dark Chocolate (my daughter LOVES these and she has zero idea that there happens to be fruits and veggies in there. HAHAHAHA!)
   • Luna Peanut Butter Protein Bars (these are a bit higher in the sugar than I traditionally like, but they will hold you over for quite some time. They also don’t seem to negatively affect those that I have introduced them to that have issues with high sugar intake.)
   • Kind Bars (They have many different flavors and I personally prefer the ones WITHOUT chocolate because they are usually a bit lower in sugar.)

With all of this being said, how can you avoid eating breakfast now? Do something beneficial for yourself and those around you. Eat a healthy, well balanced breakfast!

Have you found certain ways to make sure that you eat breakfast in the morning? If so, what are some of your favorite go to options for a quick and easy, nutrient dense, breakfast?