I am here in beautiful Nicaragua celebrating my birthday in warm tropical waters, on the pristine and desolate beach, my happy place. So I am feeling, oh so grateful :).
But I wanted to take a quick second to share a useful nutrition tool I have been talking about with all my #bbb ladies. It also pairs nicely with Nick’s post last week about how to automate your breakfast to optimize productivity. If you didn’t catch it you can read it here.
Nick discusses how he simplifies his morning routine so he doesn’t have to use a lot of his mental energy in the morning to decide what he is going to eat. He wants to save that for more important decisions during the day. Expending energy on daily tasks that you could easily automate is one way to use your finite resource of willpower, also known as ego depletion. If you’re unfamiliar with the term ego depletion you can read all about it here.
Today I want to discuss another component of how to eat breakfast to optimize your productivity and also, set you up to feel energized and fueled for the day. It is a simple tool we use ourselves and also with our clients looking to shed some fat.
TOOL: Cut out carbohydrates from breakfast
This can be extremely powerful.
If you are someone who:
- Gets hungry 2 hours after you eat
- Feels ravenous right before lunch
- Needs a 10 AM snack
- Finds themselves always hungry
- Needs to snack on something all day long
Then this tool could really help you.
Also, if you are looking to shed fat this tool can be a total game changer.
Let’s look at some typical “healthy” morning breakfasts:
- Steel Cut Oatmeal with Bananas
- Yogurt with Granola and Strawberries
- Granola with Soy Milk
- Whole Grain Toast with Flax Seed and Butter
What do these 4 breakfasts have in common? – A ton of carbohydrates.
Now, I am not saying anything is wrong with eating carbohydrates or that they are bad. And if they work for you, they work for you:).
But if you find yourself in any of the above situations, or are looking to shed some fat, cutting the carbohydrates at breakfast can really be an effective tool for you that I think you should give a shot.
If you want to learn more about how this works in the body read below or you can skip to the hands on tips for awesome no carbs breakfasts :).
A Little Physiology
When you awake you are in a fasted state, because you were just sleeping. During your sleep you were using an alternative source of fuel other than glucose that allows you to be in a fat burning mode. (Hence why getting 8 hours of sleep is vital for fat loss). Your body will stay in that fat burning mode until you “break the fast” or eat breakfast as they say. But if you “break your fast” with only eating foods that contain fat and protein you will not take your body out of this fat burning mode.
It is when you eat carbohydrates, that breakdown in the body to glucose (sugar), that insulin is triggered. Insulin is a hormone that signals your body to uptake and store what you eat. Once that happens your body is taken out of it’s fat burning state and starts to use glucose as its fuel.
Also, once insulin is triggered it effects your blood sugar. Here’s how.
When you eat carbohydrates it breaks down to glucose (sugar) in your body and raises your blood sugar. The role of insulin is to regulate this and push sugar into your cells to be used as energy. Once the sugar has been shuttled out of your bloodstream and into your cells, your blood sugar falls, which makes you feel hungry again. You can manage this effect somewhat by choosing foods with a lower glycemic index, but for the purposes of this post it doesn’t matter because I want you to cut all carbohydrate intake.
Awesome No Carbohydrate Breakfasts
Scrambled eggs with bacon and avocado — perfect no carbohydrate breakfast.
1) Scrambled eggs with feta cheese
2) Fried eggs with avocado and bacon
3) Spinach and arugula salad with bacon bits and a hard boiled egg
4) Kale salad with deli turkey
5) Coffee with coconut oil and grass fed butter
So again, carbohydrates aren’t the enemy, but when you introduce them in the morning they do effect your metabolism. And if you do cut them out completely, it can have a dramatic effect on your energy, hunger, and yes, FAT LOSS.
So to test this method and see how it works for you, try eating only a protein source (chicken, meat, turkey, bacon) and a fat source (cheese, avocado, butter, olive oil, coconut oil), in the morning, and see how you feel.
Avoid eating fruit, granola, cereal, bread, muffins, and most yogurt (especially flavored).
Make sure you are getting 20-30 grams of protein with a “good” fat source and you will be fueled and ready to go for the day. Many of our clients report not even feeling hungry for lunch and in total control. And better yet, many of our clients report by using this tool they have been able to break through plateaus in their fat loss they had been struggling with for months.
Try it out and see how it works for you, and keep me posted on how it goes.
As always if you have any questions post them below.
Xo,
Julie
