Yesterday I was asked about breakfast and Nutribullet recipes. So here goes…..
The key with any breakfast, when it comes to healthy eating, is to eat a meal that gets you going and keeps you full until lunch. For most that means adding some protein, and cutting down in the sugar.
The reason being is that the body burns more energy to break down protein compared to any other macro (carbs and fat). This helps with satiety (keeping hunger locked away until lunch).
Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean you need to scoff a T-bone, or chomp your way through half a chicken (for some this is ok). What it does mean is you may have to think outside the box a little, when it comes to your first meal of the day.
In my experience, breakfast is one of the biggest changes to a new client’s diet. I know some clients have high carb breakfasts like porridge and fruit and this works for them. So fine. However, for most, having a breakfast high in sugar has consequences.
Let’s take a female client I saw today. She wants to improve her eating and lose a bit of weight, to ultimately feel better and feel super confident in the summer.
Her breakfast is always, everyday, porridge and banana.
Now, many people love porridge. It’s easy, it has ‘health benefits’ and is low in calories. So, on paper it is a winner.
However, one draw back for many people is that it doesn’t keep them full for 4-5 hours. This is probably because most people add a fruit to it and have it with semi skimmed or skimmed milk. Therefore there is a lot of sugar (a bit of fibre, fat and protein) going into the system and not a lot of anything else.
A second draw back for some people (this is the case for the client mentioned before) is that they overeat for the rest of the day. For most of these people, if protein is included at breakfast, picking at the wrong foods and overeating is easier to break.
To work out whether a meal is keeping you satiated for long enough, work with these guidelines
Immediately post meal you may be a little hungry. It normally takes 15-20 minutes for the body to feel full after a meal.
1-2 hours after a meal you should still feels full and not need any food.
3 hours after a meal you may begin to feel a slightly hungry and start to think about food. 5-6 out of 10 on the hunger scale
4 hours + you will feel hungry and probably need to eat. 8-9 out of 10 on the hunger scale.
If you get to 4 plus hours, fine. If not, it’s time to work on an alternative breakfast.
Here are my top 5 protein recipes:
1- nutribullet #1 – handful of spinach, frozen berries, raw beetroot (peeled), apple, ginger, 1-2 scoops of vanilla whey. Water up to line
2- hard boiled eggs (2-4) crushed with tomatoes, chopped spinach and a teaspoon of Mayo.
3- nutribullet #2 – strawberries, vanilla whey (1-2 scoops), ice, seeds (chia, pumpkin etc). Water up to line
4- scrambled egg (2-4 eggs) served with ham and tomato.
5- nutribullet #3 – half banana, 10 cashew nuts, 1 tablespoon gluten free oats, vanilla whey protein. Water up to line