How a nutrient (protein) dense at breaky can solve most problems
Let's dissociate breakfast food from strictly cereals, toast and fruit. Dare I say, let’s ‘break’ away?
Breakfast is simply food that breaks your natural fast overnight. If health optimization is your goal, nutrient-dense, protein and fat-centric food should be at the core. This means embracing and prioritizing grass fed meat and eggs, full-fat raw dairy and supplementing with overt carbohydrates to suit your energy requirements. This might include ripe, seasonal fruit, raw honey, cooked roots, long-fermented sourdough or on occasion, other fermented grains like oats.
When we speak of protein and fat, we are largely referring to animal sources as they are the densest and most bio-available sources of all the essential amino acids and fatty acids critical to optimal health.
Some benefits of a protein-centric meal to break your fast:
Metabolism: Protein causes the largest rise in TEF (thermic effect of food) as it requires the most energy of the three macronutrients for digestion, absorption and processing. In turn, increasing metabolic rate by 20-30%.
Satiety: A higher protein diet increases thermogenesis, which means you complain less about temperature change! Additionally, protein surpasses our appetite-stimulating hormone, ghrelin.
BS regulation: Unlike a carb-dominant meal which would spike your blood sugar, protein has no effect on blood sugar in isolation. I always eat carbs with a source of protein as this slows the digestive process, even if it’s just a carrot.
So break away from the idea that your first meal of the day has to look like the stock-standard, carb-centric “breakfast" and embrace leftover dinners, pan fry a steak, roast some bone marrow to have on your
sourdough instead of jam. How you do anything nutrient dense foods Give you the most bang for your buck. Because chances are you’re not calorie- but nutrient-deficient.
