I love my carbs and I don’t think I have the will to deny myself 100%, but I am trying not to make buttered toast my go-to when I need an easy snack or meal.
Breakfast (which I must eat if I’m to function at all) is the biggest challenge, especially in winter. I’m trying to stick with real oatmeal with added flax seed, or nuked Grape Nuts also with added flax, both made with skim milk. Yes I know it’s all carbs still, but I’m aiming for whole grains & minimal processing here, and high protein. I love eggs, but even I can only eat so may in a week
So far this morning I’ve had a chunk of yesterday’s turkey. What I really want is peanut butter on toast. It’s a damp and raw winter day, and I have to go get hay in a bit. What do you eat for a warm & comforting but energizing start to the day?
Breakfast was a bugaboo for me. I get sick of eggs; after doing a fairly strict low carb regime 10 years ago, I only recently came back around to being able to enjoy an egg. For a long long while just the smell made me sick. Fact is, other than eggs, I actually never identified a breakfast I found agreeable. I just gave up the idea of “breakfast food” and/or “hot breakfast” at all. All the options just made me sad. I’d have a piece of chicken, a hunk of cheese, etc. Whatever protein was lying around.
ETA: breakfast cereal does not fit into most low carb plans. For a while there was a Special K high-protein that wasn’t bad as a sprinkle on yogurt. I have no idea if its still around.
After years of cereal, a couple of years ago I started experimenting with protein-heavy breakfasts. Veggie burgers or salmon filets, with a piece of fruit. I don’t know if it’s just my mind playing tricks on me, but I do seem have more energy when I eat breakfasts like this versus the bowl of frosted shredded mini-wheats that was my staple for a long time. I also don’t get the 10:00 am munchies.
I used to also experience a big bloated stomach in the morning. It’s been a while since I’ve had that.
Grape-Nuts is neither low carb not minimally processed, and even the claim that it is made of whole grains is highly suspect. The high protein content (well, relative to other cereal products, anyway) comes from the addition of soy isolates, which are generally regarded as a poorer source of bioavailable protein than whey isolate or protein in natural sources (e.g. the skim milk you pour over the cereal).
I sympathize with the desire to avoid eggs (not my favorite food, personally), but they are a storable, readily prepared, and highly bioavailable source of protein, nutritious fats, and micronutients, provided, of course, that you are consuming thr whole egg and not just the albumen (egg white). It is certainly possible to prepare them in other things to give variety, and unless you are doing intensive muscle development or recovering from physical injury, one or two will offer adequate protein. I’ve done a seaweed and goya scamble with a little bit of cheese and smoked salmon that it quite good and not too egg-like. With a scoop of cinnamon-and-honeyed brown rice or mashed sweet potato on the side it makes for an excellent breakfast.
Which also gets to another point; “low/no carb” is neither healthy nor sustainable. Instead of trying to eliminate carbohydrates (which your body needs to utilized proteins) focus on replacing high glycemic index foods (those with a lot of simple carbs that break down quickly and leave you feeling tired and bloated after the glucose spike is neutralized) with low GI foods, e.g. replace sugary foods and processed grains with whole fruits and vegetables and modest amounts of whole grains, or at least moderate sugars with whole foods, such as adding a little bit of honey or agave with strawberries or blueberries to Irish oatmeal or brown rice instead of pouring refined cane sugar over corn flakes or “grape-nuts” (which have neither grapes nor nuts). A quick breakfast of Greek yoghurt with fruit and pecans with a small handful of cheese curds will give plenty protein, good fats, and adequate carbs without spiking your insulin response.
Not low carb, but greek yogurt (the proper stuff with lots of protein) with flax and berries is my go-to. Or a whole grain oatmeal with dried berries/fruit and greek yogurt mixed in.
Have peanut butter on celery. I wouldn’t want it every day, but’s it quite good.
And don’t get too carried away about bread. Get whole grain bread, or buy a nice loaf from a bakery that doesn’t use a lot of sugar, and be sure to freeze it since it won’t keep like Wonder Bread. Our grandparents ate plenty of bread, and they didn’t have the obesity problem that we do. I stopped forbidding myself from eating bread at restaurants, and now I just eat one or two pieces-- not the whole basket!
Cut out the really, really bad stuff like soda and even fruit juice. Don’t drink orange juice in the morning, eat an orange. Like Stranger said, go for high glycemic index cards. Buy as much actual food (as opposed to packaged crap) as you can, and don’t sweat it.
I’m going to echo greek yogurt with berries - off-season, frozen berries work as well. Shakes and smoothies can also be really good, and are very flexible in terms of ingredients. Salads with chicken and whatnot can be breakfast foods, too; personally, my favorite is just a soft boiled egg or two, but I understand that not everyone is as crazy about eggs as I am.
How do these come up in a discussion about low carb life?
I don’t allow myself any of these for day to day eating.
However, I do happen to have it somewhat easy in that I’m seldom hungry for the first four or five hours of the day. I keep a couple bags of nuts in my desk drawer at work. Around 11am, I typically have an ounce of oven roasted almonds (love the ones from Aldi) and if I’m still hungry, a handful of pistachios around 1. Lunch is at 2:30.
Other ideas:
Cheese, cottage, nonfat, half a cup;
Cheese, other, one ounce.
Veggie strips, carrot, celery, bell pepper, dressing optional;
Sausage, smoked, 2 inch chunk;
Chicken wings, fried, saucing optional;
Turkey, breast, smoked most Sundays;
Avocado, half, salt pinch, hot sauce optional;
Fish, canned, tuna, sardines, sprats, onion optional;
Kimchi;
Ham, canned, cooking optional;
Cole slaw, easy dressing.
I usually do a low carb breakfast.
2 eggs and bacon or sausage
Or
A hamburger patty
With cottage cheese on the side or a slice of cheese on top
Or
Omelet with cheese and veggies
I eat Grape Nuts (actually Publix’s house brand version) mostly because I like them, and because they have a minimum of added ingredients, better than GN actually.
I do realize they aren’t low carb, but I find a 1/2 cup cereal + 1 cup or more milk + added goodies (flaxseed, nuts, and seasonal or dried fruit) nuked until oatmeal-ish is a very filling and warming meal. Same for oatmeal, but I usually cook real steel cut oats and not the prepackaged stuff.
I’m not trying to cut out carbs totally, just to be a bit more sensible about how/what I eat. Yogurt and cottage cheese I like too, they just don’t sound appealing on a cold morning
I adore eggs, I think I just need to get a little more creative with how I cook them and what I add. I also love sausage, well virtually any meat or fish, so I guess it’s time to broaden my horizons as to what constitutes breakfast.
I’m not crazy about smoothies, but I do like thick soups. Hmmm, soup for breakfast?
My basic problem really is that I’m essentially lazy and I don’t much enjoy cooking, but I love good, ‘real’ food…
There is also evidence that it is wheat not necessarily carbs that is the culprit. The effort to make a high-yield/low-cost flour has led to a grain high in gluten and ghrelin.
The above are all Japanese-style breakfasts (small plates with a lot of diversity) but there is no reason this can’t be done with any other cuisine; small bits, a lot of vegetables, limited sweet foods, a good relatively low GI starch to give energy through the morning combined with some healthy protein sources, and a cup of tea or coffee to start the day.
We’ve had the unfortunate notion of associating breakfast with sweets (syrup, honey, fruit juice, and of course, processed and sugared cereals) but there is no reason that even a relatively quick breakfast can’t be diverse, well balanced, and delicious by using foods that we normally associate with lunch or dinner, e.g. fish or chicken, soup, et cetera.
I make an all purpose mixture out of equal volumes of ground flax seed, wheat bran, unsweetened finely milled coconut, and protein powder. I take two cups of this mixture with 4 eggs, six tablespoons of coconut oil, and two teaspoons of baking powder and enough water to mix and I make half a dozen muffins.
One of these muffins with natural peanut butter or cream cheese is breakfast. A half cup of the mixture with some hot water makes something that I’m forced to call gruel, for lack of a better term. It’s better than it sounds, high in fiber and medium chain triglycerides and omega precursors. I also use it for pancakes.
Bran and linseed mash! What you don’t eat, your horse will enjoy!
Sorry it’s actually a good suggestion (I have a friend that makes pancakes with a similar base) it’s just too funny a horseperson eating bran mash for breakfast.
But OP, I just remembered another thing, you mix a couple eggs, and celery and diced scallion, and a can of tuna, and you bake them as little croquettes. They are good fresh or reheated. You can make a whole bunch and freeze them.
Whole milk, too, or cottage cheese if you like it. With chopped up apples or pears, something nice and crunchy. And if you have a mill, ground up flax seeds - they’re not very tasty, but they have a nice protein carb balance.
Nothing fills you up like fat, and a little goes a long way.
