Hi Friend,
In the last two blogs, I emphasized the importance of starting your day off well-fueled to support a healthy metabolism, reduce cravings, and improve biomarkers. If you missed either one of these blogs or are new to my weekly newsletter, here are the links to catch up!
This blog explains the typical pitfalls that lead to skimping on calories earlier in the day and provides practical tips to overcome destructive eating patterns.
This blog discusses research studies looking at the effects of restricting calories early in the day.
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My goal in sharing this content is to equip you with facts and tools to achieve holistic health. By this point, I hope I have convinced you of the importance of adequate caloric intake in the first part of your day. I trust you understand that "light" intake earlier in the day is not only unnecessary for improving your health, but it is likely hurting your efforts in this area. Most of all, I hope that this content has spurred you to make positive changes in your day to day life.
This week's email brings the fun part! I'm providing you with practical ways you can add nutrition to your morning so that you can end your day better via these 5 great recipes.
10-minute Oatmeal Pancakes
If you remember, one of the studies from my previous email found that a high protein and high carbohydrate breakfast helped people to continue to lose weight long after those who ate a lower carbohydrate and lower protein breakfast.
Top these pancakes with peanut butter, greek yogurt, or cottage cheese for added protein. Try berries or applesauce and cinnamon for an added hint of sweetness!
Easy Zucchini Pancakes
A more savory pancake, super yummy in the morning! I like to add a fried egg on top or enjoy with plain greek yogurt, feta cheese or cottage cheese. Hemp seeds, chia seeds and flax seeds also pack a punch of nutrients and can easily be added to the batter or sprinkled on top.
Grab-n-Go
Sometimes (Ok a lot of times. Ok almost all of the time) mornings can be rushed. If you don't have time to make a stack of pancakes, here is a quick option that doesn't take long. Throw it all in a bowl, add boiling water and enjoy. A high fiber, high protein recipe will make the rest of your day much smoother!
Rolled oats
Handful of nuts or nut butter
Frozen berries
Unsweetened cocoa powder
Dash of cinnamon
Chia seeds
Shredded coconut
Protein powder
Milk of choice
Morning Glory Cookies
I am not opposed to getting some vegetables in with breakfast. Even with hidden carrots, these cookies are ones your kids won't say no to. They freeze great, so you can bake a larger quantity, and pull them out as needed.
My Honest Go-To
Like I said, most mornings don't allow time for cooking/baking. The breakfast I find myself eating more than any other is:
Eggs
Mixed greens or microgreens
Fruit
Peanut butter
Sourdough Toast
When implementing an earlier meal in your day, be consistent! Once you are consistently eating breakfast, then be observant of how it affects the rest of your day. Are you less hungry at night? Do you notice your late-night cravings decreasing? Sometimes keep a journal of symptoms you want to see change can be helpful to help you identify patterns.
Need some more inspiration? Grab my breakfast booklet here for free!
Heaps of blessings,
Mikyah, RDN, LD, CD
