Welcome to a new episode of The Diet of Common Sense Podcast!
The Diet of Common Sense is a common-sense approach for active people to stay healthy, improve energy and mental power! It’s the nutrition of entrepreneurs, busy professionals, and other active people who lack time but value their health and well-being.
Here’s the place where nutrition and research meet common sense.
The Diet of Common Sense Podcast brings you simple and actionable information to help you make the best decisions for your health and well-being, despite your limited time. Healthy Living, Simplified.
In this podcast episode, we’ll talk about why breakfast should be the most important meal of the day, and how to simplify healthy eating to include breakfast in your morning routine.
The first principle of the Diet of Common Sense says: Start Every Day with Breakfast
Listen to the podcast episode here or read the script below!
Some of us have the habit of skipping breakfast, don’t we?
However, breakfast should be the most important meal of the day, since:
• 10-12 hours after dinner, our body is depleted of energy and needs fuel.
• In the first half of the day we are very active and need more energy.
• It’s in the morning when you can have the most done. Also, being intentional about the 1st meal of the day (when willpower is at its peak) is a way to educate your healthiest habits and feel empowered to keep your good habits strong during the day.
But knowing is not enough, it requires doing. However, we may fail on our good intentions because we get up late in the morning, preparing breakfast takes time and other excuses.
Limited evidence suggests that skipping breakfast is associated with a higher risk of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease, as the Journal of the American College of Cardiology writes.
Skipping breakfast is also associated with an increased risk of overweight/obesity, and type 2 diabetes.
„In a nationally representative cohort with 6,550 participants, after 17 to 23 years of follow-up, skipping breakfast was associated with a significantly increased risk of mortality from cardiovascular disease. Our study supports the benefits of eating breakfast in promoting cardiovascular health.”, the study concludes.
How to include breakfast in your daily habits and stick to it
Eating healthy in the morning, when your mental and physical demands are highest, gives you the fuel to perform at your best.
Think of Breakfast as ENERGY – every time you have a healthy breakfast, you feel energetic, so associate it in your mind with energy. Breakfast = Fuel = Energy. This way you can feel more committed.
Although there are people who stick to the same healthy breakfast every day, it’s better to vary the breakfast options during the week, to have a better nutritional balance.
Make breakfast a habit – even if it means eating the same thing every day.
Breakfast of Champions – let’s explore some breakfast options that are fast, easy and nutritious too.
Cereals – in different parts of the world, cereals are the most frequent breakfast option. And most of the time, a healthy one. We talk about whole grain cereals, without added sugar. They can be easily included in the lunch and dinner menu, when you want something easy to prepare and consistent as well. You can put them in the evening to expand and in the morning they have a great consistency! Or if you like crisp cereals better, consume them as such.
Cereals are very nutritious, keep you full, help you lose weight and are beneficial to your health. However, it’s very important to choose the right type of cereals, as the processed cereals and those loaded with sugar can actually be quite unhealthy. Instead, choose simple cereals – plain ones are the best!
You can eat cereals with milk, low-fat yogurt or vegetable milk. Add nuts and seeds, fresh or dried fruit. Try hemp seeds – a great source of vegetable proteins, bananas, almonds, pistachio. You may also add some cinnamon for an explosion of taste and flavor!
You can also eat cereals with salad (such as brown rice/ or quinoa with salad).
Or make home-made granola – which is a kind of breakfast cereal resembling muesli. If you want an easy-to-make granola recipe, please check the link below to get my FREE Food Recipe E-Book for Busy People: 30 Recipes To Kick Start and Encourage Your Healthy Eating Habits for Life. Subscribe below to download it:
Another healthy, fast and portable breakfast or healthy snack is a sandwich – salmon with toast and avocado.
Boiled eggs – eggs have lean proteins, however proceed with care about the quantities. One or two eggs 2-3 times a week should be enough for a normal, healthy individual.
Smoothies with vegetables, fruit and nuts, protein powder – are quick, flexible, and sooo packed with nutrients. However, you need to be aware of the fact that some of them can be real caloric bombs, so watch out if you want to lose weight. For example, a banana, several other 3-4 fruits, nuts, peanut butter, although healthy – is a caloric bomb of 700 kcal. However, if you’re practicing a high-intensity sport on a regular basis and your calorie needs should go up to 5,000 kcal daily, you can afford a 700 kcal cocktail for breakfast.
Chia pudding – has a lot of healthy ingredients, is a source of quality vegetable proteins; add honey, cinnamon or fruits for a good taste. You can also find more flavor variations in my free Food Recipe E-Book for Busy People: 30 Recipes To Kick Start and Encourage Your Healthy Eating Habits for Life.
I’ll tell you a secret! My favorite combination is the Wake Me Up 2-in-1 Coffee Smoothie, a combination between coffee and a healthy light breakfast. For at home or for to go, it only takes 5 minutes preparation time, it’s energetic and so versatile. I love it, since I focus both on the nutrients and on the practical side. I like to keep things simple in the morning, especially if I have little time to prepare my breakfast. You can also find the recipe in the free Food Recipe E-Book for Busy People, simply follow the link below.
Now let’s have a sneak peek at what some celebrities have for breakfast and let’s get some inspiration from there too!
Let’s start with Tony Robbins, the amazing life and business coach. We see him on stage and his energy is contagious!
Tony Robbins is 57 years old and he works 16 hours a day, being involved as a business advisor for 33 companies and as a business coach and mentor for millionaires. He follows his full-time personal trainer’s advice and likes to keep things simple, that is why most of the time his meals are standardized, but healthy, incorporating lots of vegetables, protein bars and shakes.
His diet includes a signature “adrenal support cocktail” with superfoods, rich in antioxidants and other nutrients. His diet is particularly rich in greens – fruits and vegetables – served fresh, or in the form of powder added to smoothies, cocktails or simply dissolved in water. He probably has it in the morning around breakfast time. His typical breakfast consists of free-range eggs with organic coconut bread.
Gisele Bündchen looks incredible and this is due to a healthy lifestyle, including nutrition and sport, which she makes a priority. She starts the day drinking a mug of warm water with lemon that helps with metabolism and body alkalinization and with all the benefits that hydration has for the body. She wakes up at 5.30 and this is the first thing she does in the morning. For breakfast and brunch, Gisele typically chooses eggs, avocado toast, coconut yogurt with berries or toast with almond butter and honey.
Tiffani Thiessen from „Saved by the Bell”. She makes sure to get her healthy vegetables with every meal of the day. Being from California, avocado toast is a very popular choice.
Doutzen Kroes maintains a healthy lifestyle on a regular basis. She loves green juices and boiled eggs and toast with cheese, tomatoes and avocado slices for breakfast.
Jennifer Aniston is very cautious with her food choices and tries to keep a balanced lifestyle on a regular basis. Her breakfast can be a smoothie or eggs with avocado toast on the side. For an extra boost of protein, she will choose oatmeal with egg whites whipped in.
Cindy Crawford starts every day with a cup of green tea and a protein shake.
Martha Stewart also believes in the power of healthy choices. She drinks fresh juices every morning because „it’s like power”. A breakfast example is poached salmon with lemon juice.
Julia Roberts’ breakfast usually consists of granola, berries and yogurt.
To keep things simple, there are people who eat the same thing every day. As mentioned before, it’s ok, as long as your food choices are healthy and you have varied lunch, dinner and snacks options. For example, Ina Garten has had the same breakfast for 10 years, consisting of coffee and oatmeal.
Key takeaways:
Think of Breakfast as ENERGY – every time you have a healthy breakfast, you feel energetic, so associate it in your mind with energy. Breakfast = Fuel = Energy. This way you can feel more committed.
Although there are people who stick to the same healthy breakfast every day, it’s better to vary the breakfast options during the week, to have a better nutritional balance.
Don’t skip it, get your daily pack of nutrients for energy, performance and mental power!
And here’s The 30 Days Challenge:
I challenge you to have a healthy breakfast every morning for the next 30 days and see how it feels! How much energy, mental power and general well-being you will have during the first half of the day!
And to support this challenge, I’ll mention again my gift to you: The Food Recipe E-Book for Busy People: 30 Recipes To Kick Start and Encourage Your Healthy Eating Habits for Life
In this free e-book, you’ll find quick and easy recipes for breakfast. Follow the link below, download my free recipes e-book and let’s get started!
That’s all for this episode. What other topics would you like to hear about in this podcast? Please let me know your questions and comments on Twitter, use the hashtag #dietofcommonsense
Also don’t forget to check the links to the freebies and products mentioned in this episode (below).
To your health and success,
Sarah
Subscribe to my e-mail list to never miss an episode / Subscribe to get my FREE Recipes E-book: The Food Recipe E-Book for Busy People: 30 Recipes To Kick Start and Encourage Your Healthy Eating Habits for Life:
You can get The Diet of Common Sense Course here.
Rating and constructive feedback are appreciated. What other topics would you like to hear about in this podcast? Please let me know your questions and comments on Twitter, use the hashtag #dietofcommonsense
Find out more Celebrities’ Diet and Lifestyle Secrets (that Defy Time) in this Youtube video.