Breakfast Challenges

I grew up never eating breakfast. It wasn’t like we didn’t have food. We did. I vividly remember being in high school, mom wanting and encouraging us to eat before leaving but we always chose not to. I was never hungry at 7 AM. Maybe it’s because I was emulating my two older brothers. I just know, I struggle with eating breakfast.

Eating healthy is usually defined as eating three meals a day. Breakfast is supposed to be the “best meal of the day.” It revs up our body and our brain. It’s the food that starts your day. My brain knows all this but my heart and my schedule don’t always agree.

Challenges of eating a healthy breakfast

At this stage of life, there is only my husband and I at home. We both still work. We get up at around 5:30am. I am the one who gets our breakfast and lunches ready for the day because he has to leave earlier than I do. I can enjoy a cup of coffee with my iPad before I have to jump in the shower and get ready to commute to work. Since we do the grocery shopping together much of the time, we decide what will be quick and easy to get him out the door. Often it’s store bought bakery muffins or toast. I do not, cannot, have the muffins. For me, a muffin the size of your head that has 45 g of carb and almost 30g of fat does not fair well with my blood sugars (or my cholesterol) in two hours. It also usually sets me up for high sugars during the rest of the day. So then there’s toast. I don’t find I tolerate that well either. I have tried white, whole wheat and whole grain but still high sugars for the day. I know from testing I am highly insulin resistant in the morning.

Liquid breakfast

Because I have all this in my mind, I have found myself skipping breakfast altogether. And you know what? The results are the same. High sugars for the day. I tried other paths to see if I can get the numbers I need. I have had great success with liquid breakfast for a couple of reasons. They are fast and easy for me to do in the morning. Recall I said I can enjoy a coffee with my iPad? Yes well, that also leads to not getting out the door on time. What I mean by liquid breakfast are things like Glucerna or a homemade, precisely calculated, healthy smoothie. Products like that are not for everyone but they work for me. It’s a small portion so I’m not struggling to down it, the protein is high quality and my sugars at 2 hours are virtually the same. My homemade smoothies are the best and the result is the same, especially when I’m making them with Greek yogurt. I can also get out the door quickly and drink them on the commute and my sugars are good in 2 hours.

I consider my breakfast challenges a success for now but I will always struggle with it, I suspect.