Breakfast of Champions, or something like it
8 years ago by
We all know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but for many of us at the studio – as we just shared – the morning is often the hardest part of the day so finding time to make a balanced meal sometimes just isn’t an option.
We all want to start our days off right, but once the alarm clock rings (and the snooze button dance begins), it’s hard to find the time to do it all. Can we truly expect ourselves to make it to the gym, meditate, perform our entire beauty regimen (scrubs, serums and all!), read the news, take our vitamins, catch up on our emails, put together our look AND make a balanced meal – all before the work day starts? For those of us who need our sleep, there’s simply no chance!
In an ideal world, we’d be mashing avocados on home-baked bread and topping them with perfectly poached farm-raised eggs, but in real life – a glass of lemon water, a small whole milk cappuccino and a granola bar is my breakfast of champions (GoMacro’s Balanced Goodness Granola + Coconut bars are my personal favorite!).
Sounds healthy enough, right? And that breakfast allows me the time to meditate, which is something I truly need – and far more than avocado toast. So I’ve found that, for me, there are more important things than the most important meal of the day.
What is your typical breakfast? And is it the most important part of your morning routine? Or, like me, do you find that there are other things that are slightly more important?
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fruits! give me so much energy
i do muesli + milk first thing. i only do a real sit down meal when i travel :)
http://littleaesthete.com/
I love a good breakfast! Always having a light diner (if any) the day before so that I am hungry and really enjoying it. Very French with croissants and bread, butter and jam tartines with jasmine tea on sundays. Healthy breakfasts on weekdays with a Bircher Muesli (soaked oats, nuts, honey, yogurt and a grated apple) …delicious!
Après des années à me forcer à prendre petit déjeuner, j’ai arrêté. Tant pis, franchement. Déjà, je n’ai pas faim le matin, alors je commençait à trouver ça débile de me forcer. En plus avec deux petits à préparer, je gagne vachement de temps du coup ;-)
Par contre, je n’hésite pas à manger plus tard dans la matinée, plutôt du pain complet et un morceau de fromage ou un fruit.
J’allais oublier ! je ne prends pas de petit des, mais je bois énormément au réveil, de l’eau et un jus de citron.
Two eggs sunny side up, over a fresh bed of spinach or a kale/spinach mix with a drizzle of olive oil, fresh cracked pepper and kosher salt. Protein/fiber packed heaven. Plus, it’s a beauty serum on a plate.
http://brooklynchateau.blogspot.com/
Lemon water, yoga, meditate (if I am not too hungry), porridge with cashew milk, almonds and banana, coffee, shower, out the door!
Bircher museli (milk soaked oats, grated apple, cinnamon, sliced almonds and dried apricot) – super yum and I can make it the night before then just grab it out of the fridge in the morning
Shower is more important than breakfast at least for me! But still try to pay attention to my mama’s voice in my head telling me for years you must not go on with your day without having something in your tummy! Smoothies do it for me! banana-kale is my favorite! Yummy, fast and filling!
Sleep is the most important thing for me in the morning. Every minute! No time for decent breakfest.
Smoothie! I make a smoothie every single morning. Each ingredient is chosen for a purpose and it keeps me full until lunch. Whole milk (I’m not a milk drinker so this helps me get calcium); one banana; a bit of crunchy, natural, organic peanut butter; a smidgen of cocoa; and chia seeds (for good Omega 3’s and they help my digestion). I add ice until it’s the thickness/texture I’m looking for. Pretty much a chocolate, peanut butter, banana milkshake that I call a smoothie.
I’ll sometimes have breakfast for dinner: crepes or eggs & bacon or french toast.
Lemon water first. Then 2 peeled oranges, 1 big carrot in the juicer with some chia seeds, and finally an Earl Grey tea
“an apple a day keeps the doctor away”… I shread mine with some nuts and seeds, different mixture every time so it always tastes different… I add some yoghurt in Summer, in Winter I eat my “muesli” with warm almond milk… takes very little time and tastes super delicious every day ????????????
Breakfast is definitely the most important meal of the day for me. Luckily, I have a very flexible schedule these days (I’m pretty much in charge of my own time), so I always do find time for those good 30-40 minutes on my own, with a book or a TV show, eating a nice healthy breakfast. Avocado toast with poached eggs is actually on top of my faves list right now!
Sometimes I really wish I could go to the city center to have a breakfast in a nice cafe, but then I can’t imagine waking up, not eating anything and going to the city center to eat my first meal of the day O_O So yeah, I’m totally a diehard breakfast fan!
http://www.appelezmoiana.com
I totally agree that breakfast is super important. It makes such a difference for me when I eat something healthy and fresh in the morning compared to let’s say a chocolate croissant (which I still do enjoy every now and then =). I don’t like eating early in the morning so I always make myself a simple musli to go: a bit of yoghurt, oats, granola and seasonal fruit, atm I love oranges. It just takes 5 minutes to make… What I’d like to try is to already drink a big glas of (lemon) water in the morning to get a headstart on my water intake.
How could you possibly NOT eat breakfast? Breakfast is my favourittee! Porridge in the winter lots and muesli/smoothies/toast/fruit/cereal/eggs/avocado/pancakes/french toast/mushrooms etc. otherwise. You NY’ers are so bizarre in my eyes with your lemon water, meditation, yoga, kale, chia and cacao-obsessive routines haha! Good on you – you’ll probably all live to 120 years old (if you don’t die from the stress of thinking about every smidgen you eat). This morning I had plain ‘ricies’ (google ‘sanitarium ricies cereal’ to see what I mean) with normal cows milk (gasp!! shock horror!! – not almond/soy/hemp or whatever!!) and a chopped banana, a nectarine, a piece of toast with honey and a cup of tea. I adore food (the good, wholesome, normal kind) and cooking so I’d dislike missing breakfast very much… But I also have an appreciation for the simple things in life… like toast and honey (as opposed to a green smoothie with spinach, kale, flax seed, chia, hemp milk, coconut water, hemp seed etc. etc. blah blah blah)….
(OKAY. I admit, sometimes I have the ‘fitspo’ mindset…… but still not that extreme compared to NY’ers!!)
Honestly though/just a thought… don’t you think it says a lot about us in the way that we can afford to fuss over everything we eat/adopt a particularly fussy diet! For many people in the world, if you handed them any morsel of food – they would be thankful and eat it.
I like that thought. I think your body really responds to your attitude towards eating rather that just what you eat. Everything in moderation, and always with a thankful heart.
when my brother bought me a magic bullet I thought it would collect dust and take up space until one day I decided to try out a new smoothie recipe – the result was a healthy practical two minute meal! I now have smoothies on most mornings – I pre slice and freeze bananas and try a new type of fruit and green while alternating almond milk and coconut water
I also can’t live without caffeine.
Christine, Montreal
The breakfast that gets me going every day is a slice of gluten free cinnamon-raisin toast, topped with a tablespoon of organic peanut butter. Of course I have this with a double shot almond milk iced latte. It helps me get through my active mornings.
Who are all these happy healthy people with their chia seeds and meditation? If I don’t skip breakfast altogether or accidentally eat an ice cream bar before realizing the wrapper is empty, it is often a handful of corn nuts sitting on the counter from the night before, a swig of gazpacho from the fridge, some big gulps of water (from the corn nuts before bed), or a random chocolate truffle. I guess I should work on this… :)
Hannah, you’ve got me laughing so hard, because I could identify too much in your comment. :)
My morning “routine” is not even routine, it’s changing caos every single day. I feel pretty proud of myself when I manage to eat a proper breakfast – bread with butter and jam. :D
Hot water with lemon, oatmeal with maple syrup, almonds and a whole apple cut up and fired into the microwave for 5 or so minutes. Weekends might not be as virtuous.
I need more time to breakfast well, I think. I usually eat two toast with turkey or jam and some milk. I sometimes eat cereals and biscuits, but I prefer doing differents homeworks to spending much for eating, I should correct my routine. I try do it. Kisses :)
http://www.comparteilusion.blogspot.com
Meu pequeno almoço consiste em agua com limao, pão integral e café.
Gostaria realmente, de poder fazer outras coisas bem vitais como: meditar,
comer em uma bem mesa bem posta e tomar chá. falta-me tempo.
I love my morning routine, but if I oversleep even a little bit it can get so rushed! I love a green smoothie with protein power on weekdays, and eggs with avocado toast on the weekend.
Mary
http://maryconroyalmada.com/
My significant other swears by 2 spoonfuls of peanut butter topped with frozen blueberries and vanilla extract as a breakfast that carries him until 2pm (or later), although since I’m often rushing out the door on my bike, I skip the peanut butter (gum is only so strong!) and throw together a smoothie of lemonade, avocado, chia seeds, coconut flakes, banana, and berries.
We’ll just have to save the farm-fresh eggs for the weekend, right?
My current breakfast of champions consists in milk and oat flakes (porridge) that I combine with cranberries, honey, vanilla sugar, and whatever fruit I find in the kitchen. It’s pretty consistent and apparently very healthy, as it contains all sorts of fibres and vitamins,
-maria
http://thestoryletters.com/
Oats and banana – either cooked or as a smoothie (during hot seasons). Flavored with cardamom.
Breakfast!! My favorite meal of the day!
I usually try to eat light at dinner so breakfast is a treat! And this, helps me to wake up at 6.30am easely! (Mon ventre criant famine!!:)
Breakfast is my only daily routine, always the same meal! Ok when she’s gonna tell is what it is!!!?? Here’s my energetic receipe:
Some goat milk yogourt mixed with a banana and a tea spoon of spiruline, a tea spoon of hemp oil (full of Oméga 6 and 3), chia seeds, goji berry, almonds and wallnuts. And a straight black coffee of course!
Ok, some of you could think, that? That is te treat??
YES! I quarantee you, it’s yummy and healthy!
Dear Garance,
as for me, I have the same breakfast as you – a glass of lemon water, a small whole milk cappuccino and a granola is my breakfast)
Toast with almond butter and jam! Earl grey tea with oatmilk :)
As for me, too, sleep is very, very, very important, I usually don’t have time to prepare a reasonable breakfast in the morning. My way around it are overnight oats or chia pudding – I mix the ingredients on the night before and wake up to a healthy breakfast! :)
Hhahahaha I am having an avocado toast with some seeds after doing my 20mn of yoga. I am such a vegan cliché! But to my defense I rarely sleep after 6pm, my sleep is so light that I always wake up early.
Coffee!!
Nothing else matters.
Normally porridge (Oatmeal or other cereal boiled with milk, no sugar!).
https://sofaundermapletree.wordpress.com
Great post, I love reading about what other people have for breakfast! On weekdays, I have lemon water followed by a green smoothie (or a matcha latte from Starbucks) on the way to work then eat breakfast at the office. Usually I’ll have avocado toast with a poached egg, a bowl of cereal, and sometimes muesli if I feel like making it. On weekends, I have lemon water, a green smoothie, then usually I’ll make omelette aux haricots verts. My favorite breakfast treat to have some weekends is vegan blueberry pancakes from Chloe Coscarelli’s cookbook.
Briana
http://www.youngsophisticate.com
Breakfast is my favourite meal and I get up half an hour before just to enjoy it! I’m a morning person, what can I say? I have a thyroid problem so I have to be very careful with what I eat in order not to put on weight (I’m talking unhealthy weight, not just a couple of pounds up. Those are always with me… Thanks thyroid!) Anyway, my doctor always tells me: one piece of fruit, protein, wholegrain and a hot beverage. So I always choose whatever fruit is on season, a slice of wholegrain bread with a little bit of oilve oil (omega3!), eggs or turkey or jamón ibérico and a coffee. I love it! It keeps me super full until lunch time. And it makes everyday feel like Saturday or Sunday! Then I have to go to work and that’s when my day starts to suck..
xx,
E.
http://www.theslowpace.com
Des fruit pré-coupés dans différents tupperwares que je mange avec du yogourt de différentes saveurs (j’achète souvent deux ou trois pots à la fois, ça dure longtemps de toute façon). Ça varie chaque jour, et c’est super santé.
Et contrairement à la croyance populaire, les produits laitiers comme le yogourt ne font pas du tout prendre du poids, même au contraire, ils donnent des protéines le matin, ce qui permet de me soutenir plus longtemps jusqu’au repas du midi.
Et pour les vegan, il existe des yogourts au lait d’amande divins!
Budwig cream! It’s a smoothie conceived many years by Dr Kousmine. It’s great, perfectly balanced and filling. If you want to know more about the Kousmine method:
http://www.kousmine.fr/
I love breakfast! When I went to school I never ate anything until 10.30 a.m. and my mum always told me that it was sooo wrong but I didn’t mind.
Then, when I started working I took the habit of eating some bread with jam and now, breakfast has become my favorite meal. I eat a lot of carbs (biscuits, bread with jam) and drink barley coffee.
A green smoothie or plain greek yogurt with cocoa nibs and sliced almonds are my go-to choices.
LOVE my breakfast! I often make chia pudding with almond or coconut milk, adding either berries or banana & some granola or oats/nuts/seeds….whatever’s around.
Cannot live without my breakfast smoothie. I always prepare the smoothie the night before: in the morning, I can just blend everything together. My smoothie contains sour milk, Molkosan, rye bran, flax seeds, some wild forest berries (blueberry, lingonberry, cloudberry), half a banana, and a small scoop of protein powder. This keeps my stomach happy and myself feeling full until afternoon. And a huge cup of green tea to go with it!
I love breakfast and can’t skip it – dizzy, nauseous, shaky. But I hate to eat too early b/c then I eat my lunch too early and then I eat my snack too early, and basically and extra meal or 2 gets added on. So, I either fry up (no oil) 1/2cup egg whites, take a piece of whole grain bread and a little slice of cheese (whatever’s in the fridge), take it all to work, toast up the bread, make my tea or coffee and start the day catching up on emails and enjoying my b-fast. If not egg on toast (now reading all above, will bring a few slices of avocados to mash up! yum!), I slice up any veggie in the fridge – usually mushrooms, some onion, a tomato, thin slide yam, zucchini, maybe some sprouts or spinach, top up with egg whites (sometimes a whole egg too), cook it up like a frittata, throw in container and eat at the office – takes like 6 min. Smoothies occasionally too but I don’t find they stick with me as long as egg concoctions do.
Oatmeal with milk, a mashed banana, cocoa powder and walnuts. Delicious and nutritious! And FAR more important than make-up as far as I’m concerned.
Mediterranean breakfast for us! Poilaine toast, or crusty baguette with olive oil, sliced tomatoes, thinly sliced manchego cheese, a couple of olives. Yum!! ..and of course steaming hot espresso made in stove top Bialetti. I couldn’t start my day without it!! We do work from home of course, which helps.
I was never a morning person, so having to get up between 6 and 6:30 for my new job sounded daunting; on the contrary however, I have really come to appreciate the early hours with a bit of yoga. Of course there’s the odd day out, but with just a short session it is totally doable, and just so worth it =)
My morning routine includes the following-
Get up at ~6am > Shower > 10-15minutes of Yoga > Make up, Clothes > Breakfast: A nice gulp of smoothie, and then Muesli. If I need to rush, though, a dollop of Greek yogurt dotted with pomegranate seeds is great even on the go!
Then off into town, where I like to walk past Trafalgar Square or one of the Garden Squares first, to relax and enjoy the scenery.
—-
God yes, Anna’s oatmeal mix sounds divine- definitely have to try that!
Greek yogurt and chocolate protein granola. So delicious and filling!
I’ve always dreaded breakfast, too soon, too fast, too much of the same… Oh don’t get me wrong, i love weekend breakfasts that turn into brunch, as I like to say: le dimanche il n y a que le jus d’orange qui est pressé! Until i discovered Julie Morris and her Superfood smoothies….Sunshine, goodness and strength in a cup: pile it up, pulse it and drink while reading Garance’s blog, now, that’s ”le déjeuner de la championne!”
Superfood Smoothies: 100 Delicious, Energizing & Nutrient-dense Recipes
I never used to eat breakfast, but now I am a big breakfast fan – don’t know how I coped without it.
My breakfast menu tends to be in phases.
The past two years, it’s been a cup of overnight-soaked plain oats, with a half punnet of strawberries, or blueberries, and three tablespoons of kefir. My gut has been grateful for feeling full from 7am to 1pm, my gut flora is being rectified (I can tell, from my improved skin elasticity, better moods etc), my weight has remained constant, and I’m so much more content and productive.
Two years before that, it was two hard-boiled eggs (as I showered, changed, got my son out of bed and pushed him along into his morning shower before we left for his school and mu work) every single day, drizzled with soya sauce and white pepper and eaten on my way out of the house (that was good, too)…
… And. when I was in my mid-twenties working with no family, a more ample income, and more regulated schedule, it was a lavish two fried eggs, wilted spinach in butter and toast of any kind.
My breakfast menus seem to be exactly the same for about two years or so… then I’ll get a craving for something a little different. Must be an oddly cyclical nutritional calling for early mornings that my tastebuds heed, since our family dinners are highly varied. No matter what, I like to leave the house withs something protein packed with carbs, and relatively filling – summer or winter, no matter where I am in the world.
I think I’ve changed my eating patterns, because I try to fit thirty five minutes of activity every morning, and five minute’s meditation – and I am starving after exercise, so I need my breakfast. Also, the past eight years, I’ve been taking vitamins (two doses daily) – and the ones I take are so potent that I feel nauseated unless I have them with a substantial meal.
I’ve also had to start going to bed about an hour to two hours earlier to compensate for waking up so much earlier to fit my morning things in, but it is worth it.
My husband is a very early morning person. However, his appetite won’t kick in until lunch or dinner time – same for my Dad – and both are crazily active, focussed, athletic men. Ayurveda tells us that not everyone needs to have breakfast, or even three square meals daily. We eat and sleep according to our body-type and what we do with our bodies during the day.
Bah alors Marina ????
C’est comme si on se demandait si on préférait être maquillée ou respirer…
Arrêtons de manger correctement et voyons ce qui se passe…
Pour moi, tout est une question de priorités, et d’avoir conscience que les choix alimentaires ont une vraie répercussion sur notre corps, notre santé, donc notre esprit, donc notre beauté.
J’adore les commentaires, c’est la famille des Petit dej qui réagit ;)
Ici, avec 2 enfants et un job prenant, c’est oeuf à la coque, toasts et thé/café ou yaourt, céréales et fruits secs et thé.
Temps de préparation: 4 minutes, temps de manger…10 min?
Avec la conscience de ce qu’on est en train de déguster, ça fait notre méditation matinale !
Bonne journée!
Catherine
Le petit déj c’est sacré chez nous et j’aimerais pas prendre le tien! Au minimum (bon) muesli avec du lait, tartines beurrées et un thé! Le weekend, j’adore concocter un super petit déj selon l’humeur : oeufs brouillés saumon (à l’écossaise, bien qu’il manque le black pudding!), pancakes, croissants brioche pain au chocolat, salade de fruit etc etc…
for convenience, I will do granola with greek yogurt or breakfast burrito (or my major weakness is mcdonald’s sausage egg mcmuffin but I try not to do those too often). I really must have coffee with my breakfast (lately instant coffee with a strong/good taste to save time) or green tea. some weeks I will do steel cut oatmeal but I also cheat and add a little turkey gravy in the last 5 minutes b/c oatmeal just does not have much flavor to me (+ some olives on the side for saltiness). this is still a little more healthy than the sausage egg mcmuffin I think.
I prefer to exercise at the end of the day so my morning regimen doesn’t get too much in the way of food. but I don’t really feel like I have too much time to cook (other than microwave).
Déjà on peut se rassurer : le petit-déjeuner n’est PAS le repas le plus important de la journée – aucun repas ne l’est. Le plus important, c’est de manger quand on a faim et de ne pas se forcer quand on n’a pas faim.
Les “Journées du petit-déjeuner” et autre sont toujours financées par des groupes agro-alimentaires vendant des céréales, aucune étude scientifique de qualité ne soutient que le petit-déjeuner est essentiel.
Il n’y a que pour les diabétiques qu’il faut être prudent, si vous êtes en bonne santé, mangez quand ça vous chante.
I have a desk job where we don’t see clients in person, so I’m lucky that I can eat at my desk at work (so I don’t have to try and rush through breakfast before I leave the house). I eat pretty much the same thing every single day–Greek yogurt with granola and some fruit (either raspberries or a cut-up pear, usually). If I’m really starving I switch it up and have an egg and cheese on an English muffin from a deli around the corner–I pretend it’s healthy because of the eggs! And on the weekends I usually have a bigger breakfast/lighter lunch–scrambled eggs and toast or pancakes, since I have the time.
My dream/favorite breakfast is blueberry pancakes made with yogurt (SO good) and real maple syrup, with sunny-side up eggs and buttered rye toast to dip in the yolk. The best!
Lemon/hot water, roobois tea, homemade granola with milk and a fruit !
I really NEED it every morning !
I’ve never been a morning person either and I agree, there are better things to do in the AM. Poaching eggs is not a priority. That’s why I have become team toast all the way. I know you might be like ahh the gluten! ahh the carbs! But this seems to keep me going all morning and stops me snacking. I make a latte (thank you for your convenient little machines Nespresso) and while that’s happening I pop two slices of super grainy bread in the toaster. I love to top it with Vegemite (like a typical Australian) and also avocado (for some nutritional content). Then I grab a piece of fruit and eat it on the way to work. Breakfast of champions!
Nutribullet of Nutella, banana, cream and a touch of chilli! Ummm, I mean 50% spinach & cucumber and the rest fruit… Xx
I was taught breakfast is necessary to stimulate the metabolism….looks like that might be wrong. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/08/10/the-science-of-skipping-breakfast-how-government-nutritionists-may-have-gotten-it-wrong/
Je n’ai absolument pas le temps pour le petit-déjeuner. J’ai cours à Paris et la plupart du temps à 9h. Je suis debout à 6h30 et je prends le bus à 7h30. Je traîne dans le lit et le temps que je me prépare, il est déjà 7h30. Du coup le petit déj’, je l’oublie vite. Je sais comment les femmes qui trouvent le temps de faire du yoga ou de courir font. Ça me semble être quelque chose d’impossible.
Quick Scandinavian Breakfast:
-Boiled eggs (bulk prepped)
-Fish -smoked salmon or portugese sardines or tuna salad
-Toast -nutty bread with plenty of grass-fed butter
-Dark greens -baby kale or spinach or arugula
-Fruits -berries or clementines
Super fast, just takes the time to toast the bread and throw everything from fridge to table. Makes all the difference in keeping our house happy… vs ‘hangry’ by 11am!
LOL, first thing first to walk the dog, then feed the dog! That done, lemon water, espresso, some gluten free bread with honey and/or lactose free cottage cheese. That’s it!