We’ve all heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. But is there truth to it? Absolutely…and especially for athletes!
Having a healthy, balanced breakfast full of nutrient-dense carbs and protein replenishes your stored glycogen after a nighttime fast, revs up your metabolism so you burn more calories and store less fat, gives you energy to get through your morning workout or daily activities, and sets you up to choose healthier foods at lunch and dinner. It also helps you be more alert and ready to take on your day.
Prepare for Performance
When you skip breakfast and do not eat until lunch or later, your body will conserve its energy, slowing down the metabolism and shifting toward “starvation mode,” which is definitely not what you want if you want to become your leanest, strongest self. It’ll also set you up to be more ravenous later in the day, gorging at dinner and craving less healthy foods at night.
When you skip breakfast before a workout or even if you skip it and aren’t working out until later in the day, you are sabotaging your workout performance. Numerous studies find that breakfast improves performance at a variety of intensities, including short high-intensity intervals, peak power output trials, time trials, and resistance training.
In a recent study (Richard et al. 2020), skipping breakfast showed a decrease in fat oxidation during a 20 km cycling time trial, which contradicts what proponents of fasting promote. So, skipping breakfast causes you to perform worse and burn less fat than you would otherwise. As endurance athletes, these are not the trends we are looking for in our training!
Healthy Breakfast Options
Breakfast doesn’t have to be complicated or grand, there are plenty of quick, easy options and healthy grab-and-go options you can take for your commute to work or before you start your morning workout.
Breakfast right before morning workouts should be carbohydrate-focused, while lower in fat, protein, and fiber, which are harder to digest. You can play with different options to see what works best, and if you go lighter on your pre-workout breakfast, be sure to have a “second breakfast” complete with carbs and protein post-workout to promote good recovery and keep you energized and full through the morning.
Here are some options for pre-workout breakfasts:
- Oatmeal (I really like the Rx oatmeal cups as well as Picky Bars Oats)
- Granola with milk or plant-based milk or yogurt (some of my favorite granolas are Picky Bars, Purely Elizabeth, and Bear Naked)
- Toast with jam or peanut butter
- A bagel with jam or peanut butter
- Granola bar or Rx bar or Clif bar, or KIND breakfast bar
- Yogurt with berries and/or nuts
- Applesauce or juice (this is better than nothing, and a good option if you get up and go for your workout without much time to digest)
- Workout nutrition – take in some workout nutrition prior to starting your workout
Breakfast for when you do not have a morning workout can include more protein and fat since you don’t have to worry about quick digestion. Some healthy options include:
- Smoothie made with fruit, healthy fats like flaxseeds, and yogurt or milk/plant-based milk
- Omelette with veggies
- Hard-boiled eggs with some whole-grain toast
- Breakfast burrito with eggs and veggies
- Kodiak Cakes (you can make high protein pancakes or waffles, or muffins with the flour)
If you are someone who typically skips breakfast or goes very light on breakfast, try increasing it to ~500 calories and see what happens to your daily calorie intake, energy, performance in workouts, and recovery.
Set yourself up for success by eating breakfast!
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Let’s fuel your success—one bite at a time.
References:
Richard S. Metcalfe, Matthew Thomas, Christopher Lamb & Enhad A. Chowdhury (2020) Omission of a carbohydrate-rich breakfast impairs evening endurance exercise performance despite complete dietary compensation at lunch, European Journal of Sport Science, DOI: 10.1080/17461391.2020.1797890
Rothschild JA, Kilding AE, Plews DJ. What Should I Eat before Exercise? Pre-Exercise Nutrition and the Response to Endurance Exercise: Current Prospective and Future Directions. Nutrients. 2020;12(11):3473. DOI:10.3390/nu12113473