Im starting to pick up more hours at work and im switching to something that is a lot more physical so i am trying to eat good and get good energy before going to work, So my question is what is a good breakfast that will get me ready for the day? I need to go to the grocery store again so im looking for good suggestions for foods so i wont be hungry and tired 5 hours into my shift Lately iv been eating a lot of steamed frozen green beans and corn but i really don't know how good that is for energy at breakfast..? what else should i be including? Im assuming eggs are probably a good choice, how about toast? or hashbrowns? maybe an eggs sausage and cheese omelet?

hashbrowns and sausage are not "good energy"

toast is meh. (white toast is carb-fluff, multigrain is pretty good, but dry toast sucks and most toast toppings are heavy it fat and/or sugar)

eggs are good, of course. I am of the school of thought that some carbs in the morning are a good thing. Your body needs fast energy to start the day and you are comming out of a 8-14 hour fast.

My favorite breakfast thing is Kashi golean. its super crunchy, has complex carbs, lots of protein (for cereal), and most important of all it satisfies morning hunger and gets you going. I take a larger than serving size bowl, with almond milk, for about 180 calories. that bowl, plus a 1-whole-1white mini omelet (no cheese) and a cup of coffee is rockstar breakfast.

also try:

oatmeal- (if you dont like normal breakfast oatmeal, try making it with chicken stock and savory items like onions, mushrooms, and peppers

greek yogurt- dense in protein, smoother than normal yogurt. plain is good with granola and fruit, and the chobani brand fruit flavored cups are delicious (and available by the case at costco, to help offset their *somewhat* steep pricing)

I usually eat any combo of the above and it keeps me full and gives me lots of energy, and I maintain 10-12% BF.



Eggs over easy

Broccoli

Spinach

Plain, whole mile yogurt with berries

Bacon- nitrate free

Sausage- natural





We stay away from processed foods and the like and it's served us well.

oatmeal
eggs
turkey sausage
wheat toast

How do you cook your broccoli? i really dont like broccoli but i had some that someone put olive oil on and baked in the oven and it actually was really good. How are frozen green beans and corn as far as healthy weightless foods (not necessarily for breakfast)? I couple people have told me that corn and potatoes are both basically filler and dont have a ton of nutritional value but that kinda sounds like BS to me..? I eat a bowl of green beans corn and carrots basically for a snack when i get home or when i dont need to make a meal cause its probably a lot healthier than most snack foods

Thanks. I always thought carbs were a better source of energy compared to other foods, im sure it depends on the type of breads and carbs but the problem is i cant stand wheat or natural breads, White bread is the only bread that i can tolerate so i guess ill just skip the bread.  Ill have to check out the Kashi, im an extremely pick eater so i dont know what kinds they have but there may be one ill like...or at least be able to tolerate

That is the farthest thing from the truth.  Corn and potatoes are some of the most carb dense foods out there.  If you want to get fat, fill up on those.  

Lean protein and green leafy vegetables.    Add some blueberries, strawberries and maybe a little yogurt and you'll be fine.  I love eggs, I eat at least 6 a day.

Just to clarify: eggs have 0 carbs. I like 3 eggs scrambled and mix in a bit of shredded cheese for a tasty, quick, high protein meal anytime. I especially like eating this after a workout. You end up with 20+g of protein. Add a glass of chocolate milk and I have 30g of protein in a tasty meal. Who needs those expensive and crappy tasting protein mixes?



Always a good choice. If you use milk instead of the water, the oatmeal is richer and you get end up with ~13g of protein and about 40g carbs.

I'm surprised no one has said bagels! Get them in any flavor, super fast, and loaded with energy. What more can you ask for? Two raisin bagels have 18g protein and about 60 carbs.

I think they were saying that on the order of weight loss but whatever i like em so still eat em What specifically falls under lean protein? Eggs and turkey sausage type stuff?

1)  Veggie omelet or scramble and by veggie I don't mean potatoes and corn:

-tomatoes
-bell peppers
-onion
-garlic
-spinach
-kale
-carrots
-broccoli
-mushrooms
-
whole eggs or some combo or eggs and egg whites/eggbeaters.  I typically use 1-2 eggs and 2 eggs worth of eggbeaters

2)  Greek yogurt mix:

plain nonfat greek yogurt
fresh or frozen berries
chia seeds
almonds/walnuts/pistacchio or a TBSP of all natural almond/peanut butter
tsp of unsweetened cocoa powder (anti-oxidants)
scoop of protein powder if you think you need extra protein otherwise omit (include if you're using non-greek yogurt)

Oatmeal - kinda neutral there.  It's a grain, has fiber, but is not particularly nutrient-dense compared with the two options above.

So I'm a little confused in that I thought you where asking about what to eat for breakfast that would have good nutritional value but enough calories to stick with you while you work but some people seem to be answering the question like you where worried about getting fat?

If your work is truly physical in nature, eat like an old time farmer. Eggs, bacon(I've read that real bacon is actually better for you than any fake bacon, less additives), sausage, toast, hash browns, an omelet, bagel. Simple and complex carbs to get you going, fats to keep you going, and protein to rebuild anything you breakdown.

Now before anyone has a cow over this, you still need to use your head and not eat "too" much and eat "healthy" too. Its just that those terms can be up for debate sometimes. You eat too many calories, doesn't matter where they come from, you get fat. So still pay attention to how much your eating compared to what your doing. Eating healthy is good, duh, but your talking about getting more calories and there is no way an egg white omelet with tons of veggies will stick with you like a whole egg omelet with cheese, bacon, and ham. Go ahead and make it whole grain toast, get local farm raised bacon, but save the salad for lunch or dinner. Buy some apples and bananas , I eat one or the other almost every morning, and eat it while driving to work for a few extra calories and so you can still be eating healthy, .

I think you have a pretty good handle on eating healthy. So you just need to look at food that is more calorie dense for your breakfast. Vegetables and fruits have nutritional value but are pretty low on calories.  

Potatoes have 4 to 5 times the potassium of a banana. Turkey's are for holidays and sandwiches. Pigs were made to be turned into bacon and sausage, I watched a whole show on bacon once and . A bar that had a beer and bacon happy hour was the best!

Foods that provide sustainable energy (as opposed to a blood sugar spike and resultant insulin spike/blood sugar crash) are also foods that are good for maintaining a healthy weight.



Old time farmers ate bagels?  I guess if they were on a kibbutz.



If calorie dense is the goal, why not just eat sugar from the bowl and wash it down with olive oil or shortening?  Nutrient dense >> calorie dense

Really? All that I wrote about and you pick me saying eat bagels when talking about farmers to have a problem with? So go with biscuits, or scones, or cornbread, or pancakes. Bagels are just what happened to come out when I was trying to think of carb sources. And if it truly was a joke then fine but the other comments set the tone in such a way as to make it not one.

I don't think you'll get a sugar spike if your breakfast includes a bagel along with eggs, bacon, fruit, etc. I did not tell nicojh to eat 10 slices of wonder bread to get his calorie intake up, so I'm not sure what your getting at with the whole spike/crash thing.

The whole healthy food thing is up for debate in that it all depends. I get my vitamin D from eggs, fortified milk, and my vitamin pill. Eskimos ate blubber. Is blubber a healthy food? Not to me, but it kept the Eskimos warm and from getting rickets. Calorie intake on the other hand is just math. Now sugar isn't really all that calorie dense and adding olive oil seems like a pain, so if I was just joking around or being a smart ass, I would probably tell nicojh to just eat a couple of sticks of butter. But since what nicojh wanted is more energy, which means more calories, I thought I would give him some realistic options that would get him started and then he could go from there on his own. Eggs, cheese, bacon, peanut butter on toast, all have more calories than an equal amount of fruits or vegetables.  I'm not saying don't  eat fruits or vegetables, just that eating a big meal of them and expecting your energy to last through 4 or 5 hours of physical labor isn't going to happen.

Nicojh, start reading the labels. Learn the math to convert the serving sizes into comparable units as servings can be by the oz, or the cup, or the tablespoon. Fats are 9 calories per gram while protein and carbohydrates are both 4 calories to the gram. Go buy Nutrition for Dummies. I haven't read it but it would probably be a good place to start. Learn more on your own and you'll be ahead of the game.  

Same here with the Go-Lean.

126g cereal
1 banana
1 1/4 cup of skim milk, dilluted a bit with H2O.

About 525 calories.

What do you do for carbs?

I usually saute them in coconut oil or olive oil then cook the eggs right along with them. You heard right, potatoes and corn are filler. Green beans are just OK, but aren't really what you need (you're right though, better than most snack foods) you need green leafy veggies- broccoli, asparagus, brussel sprouts, lettuce (not ice berg) etc...



Good luck!





 

He has carbs in all the veggies he eats. No need for more than what he has there.



 

Hardly enough for a competitive cyclist IMHO.  Most of those vegetable have 5g or less per CUP.

I guess everyone is different, but I see a noticeable performance decrease with less carb intake.  I need roughly 50-70% of my caloric intake to be carbs,

Thanks for the info guys! Ill go see what damage i can cause at the grocery store now

Sure, on days he's doing hour + rides he may need more carbs (which should still come from whole foods like sweet potatoes, not pasta and bread) but normal day to day workouts less than an hour you really don't need as much as what most people think.



 

Bonz - I was joking about the bagel, but you built a strawman comparison (egg white veggie omelet versus ham/cheese omelet).  I guess I don't get the zeal for foods that are high in saturated fat and low in nutrient content (bacon/cheese/sausage).  I enjoy those things, but the idea that loading up on saturated fat and processed grains (bagel, cornbread, etc) is every bit as healthy  consuming foods with primarily unsaturated fat (eggs, cold water fish) or higher in nutrient content (vegetables) doesn't square with current science.  That science is unsettled though, and maybe bacon will yet be shown to be a super food.

TGC - a couple things about my diet:

-first, i'm not racing these days.  a broken collarbone last june that the navy decided wait until sept to bolt together kept me from resuming meaningful training until mid january
-when I was racing, i generally trained once/day in the afternoon.  my lunch and dinner would have higher carb content, though i still tried to keep my intake of processed stuff relatively low.  
-lunch was normally a fairly large salad with plenty of bell peppers and tomatoes and a cup or cup and a half of a bean stew that i would make over the weekend (1.5C of mixed dry beans, tomatoes, carrots, onions, 1/3 pound of sausage, and 1/3-1/2 cup of some grain (varied between brown rice, polenta, wild rice, or quinoa)
-snack of rasins/dates/prunes and almonds/walnuts/pistacchios
-dinner was a small meat/fish, grilled veggies, and, if i needed it, some kind of whole grain
-on weekends when sessions were longer, i'd often make some pasta or risotto

I walk out to the barn, and grab an egg from the chickens (organic fed, no medications). Picked up a microwave tray to make "egg mcmuffin" style eggs. Sometimes I'll throw in some green onions, or a little bacon or cheese. Put that on top of a whole grain english muffin, and I'm ready to go!.