Paleo Diet Breakfast

• Food and Health,
• Nutrition,
• Paleo Diet

by Barry Cripps

Paleo Breakfast

One of the most asked questions when it comes to the Paleo diet, is “what should I eat for breakfast?!”. Due to social norms, this is a valid question that comes with several different answers, depending upon an individual’s goals.

If you’re going to eat Paleo Diet breakfast, the most obvious solution is the good old American cooked breakfast. Of course, this doesn’t include the usual toast, biscuits, pancakes, bagel or muffins, but what’s wrong with a simple plate of fried bacon and eggs? Or, how about Bacon, eggs and a sliced Avocado? The funny thing about American breakfast is that everyone thinks that it should be comprised of foods chosen from a very specific set of “acceptable” food items. If you can get over the idea that breakfast should be only eggs or bacon, the possible food choices really open up.

Let’s face it, whatever you eat for lunch or dinner, is just as acceptable to eat for breakfast, as it is to eat in the afternoon or evening. If you would eat a big grass-fed steak and some vegetables for dinner, why not go ahead and eat it for breakfast, and then eat your bacon and eggs for dinner? It really doesn’t matter when you eat, or what you eat. You’re the boss, and you make the rules.
What you should eat for Breakfast, and how many meals you should eat each day, are two examples of conventional American wisdom. We all know that conventional wisdom is often not based in any real science, and often doesn’t make a lot of common sense when you really scrutinize it.

“The grocery retailers would have you believe that breakfast cereals, oatmeal, bagels, fruit, and juice are the essentials to a “complete and balanced breakfast.”  Early morning business meetings further confirm that the traditional breakfast choices are muffins, croissants, bagels, and doughnuts washed down by sugared coffee and juice.  With all of these sweet treats available and ingrained in our society as “the norm”, the thought of a hunk of meat and veggies after rolling out of bed can be hard to swallow for the average person.  Breakfast is easily overlooked so quick options are preferred for many individuals.  Parents especially get hit with the responsibility of trying to feed their kids something nutritious before they run out of the door (hopefully not late) for school.  Parents beware, your kids will still do well on tests and your job will not suffer without the “brain food” provided from whole grains.  Sorry mini talking frosted wheat guy; there are better options out there.

A paleo breakfast is possible once you break out of old habits and suck it up a little.  Yes, some options may take a little longer to prepare, but good things are worth the wait.  A little planning ahead and cooking extra food is all it takes to conquer a nutritionally complete breakfast.” – Robb Wolf

If a person is trying to lose weight, or on a tight schedule, it might be a good idea to skip breakfast altogether. But wait, Breakfast is the most important meal of the day isn’t it? No it’s not. The whole idea that Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, comes from the big processed food manufacturers that produce all of the various cereals, oatmeal, and other boxed Breakfast items. They don’t care about your health, they care about their bottom line, and they don’t want you to skip breakfast. If you don’t eat breakfast, they lose money. When we are sleeping in our beds each night our bodies are in a fasted state. This is the origin of the word “Breakfast”; it is the time of day that we stop fasting, or “break” the “fast”. Has anyone ever specified what time of day it is necessary for everyone to break his or her fast? Is it 7am? 8am maybe? How about noon? The truth is that when you stop fasting, and eat a meal, that meal by default becomes “breakfast”, even if that meal happens to be at lunch, dinner or any other time of day.

“Breakfast (literally meaning “breaking the fast” of the night) is the first meal taken after rising from a night’s sleep, most often eaten in the early morning before undertaking the day’s work. Among English speakers, “breakfast” can be used to refer to this meal, or, less commonly, to refer to a meal composed of traditional breakfast foods (eggs, oatmeal, sausages, etc.) served at any time of day.” – Wikipedia

Furthermore, the idea that a person should eat 6 meals each day, because it magically raises metabolism, is another piece of bogus information. The truth is that the less time you spend with food in your stomach, the more opportunity you have to be burning the calories that reside in your existing fat stores.

“After you eat, insulin and fatty acids are elevated. You are in the fed state and there’s zero fat burning going on. Your body is relying completely on glucose oxidation during the hours following the meal.” – Leangains.com

If you’re interested in the subject of “intermittent fasting”, you can read more about it here. 1-2 meals per day is optimal for fat loss, with absolutely no snacking in between. Be careful though, because even though you’re choosing to eat less frequently, it doesn’t mean that you should eat less food. If you don’t eat enough, and subsequently drop your calories too far, you will end up low on energy. This can negatively affect a whole host of bodily functions, including your immune system.

Personally, I wake up at 5:30am, go to the gym at 6am in a fasted state, lift some “heavy things” with zero food in my belly, and eventually break my fast around 1pm. Intermittent fasting is not for people who do not have a firm handle on their blood sugar levels, because without being fat-adapted, fasting for long periods of time can be tough to endure. Hypoglycemia can make fasting uncomfortable.

So there you have it, the Paleo Diet Breakfast. Eat Breakfast if and when you want. When you eat Breakfast, eat whatever you like, and as long as it’s good Paleo fare, eat as much as you want, until your stomach tells you to stop. If you don’t want to eat, don’t eat, the world won’t implode, and your body won’t consume your muscles…but you might look even sexier in the mirror. To finish-up, here are some links to sites that have great Paleo Diet Breakfast meal ideas:
http://paleodietlifestyle.com/paleo-breakfast-ideas/
http://www.civilizedcavemancooking.com/p/recipes.html
http://everydaypaleo.com/category/food/breakfast/
http://wheatfreedairyfreebreakfastrecipes.blogspot.com/
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Barry Cripps is a Paleo-based Nutrition and Wellness Consultant, who operates out of Bowling Green, Kentucky.
For more information please visit: www.undergroundnutritionist.com