The Breakfast Challenge
The Breakfast Challenge
What type of breakfast is best for you? Every body is biochemically individual, so there is no one right answer to this question.
Take the Challenge
The only way to find out is to test it out! Plan out your breakfasts for several days from the list that follows. The idea is to test out different food groups and combinations. You will test out almost every combination except for all fat.
For the advanced food tester you could test out different items within the same food group such as between red meat, poultry and fish for the animal protein or test out different combinations with dairy proteins. Please do not substitute beans for the meat/eggs because beans have a high amount of carbohydrates and do not accurately represent the protein group.
Plan to keep a food journal
You will need to keep track of the food you eat and how it makes you feel physically (energy level, headaches, rashes, stomach aches etc.) and emotionally (depression, anxiety, joy etc.) for the rest of the day (at 2 hour intervals).
For the duration of this test keep the rest of your diet for lunch and supper as close to the same and as close to “healthy” (no sodas, french fries, chips, sweets of any kind) as you can (the rest of your day will act as the scientific “control”). If possible do not have any caffeine, as that will skew the results as well. Eat your breakfast at approximately the same time each day and no later than within three hours of waking.
If you are hypoglycemic, diabetic, have food allergies, or other digestive disorder, please check with your doctor first before trying all these combinations.
Combinations to test:
1) No breakfast. Yes, that’s right, skip it. Do not eat anything for at least five hours after waking. (nothing) (water is acceptable)
2) All fresh fruit and nothing else (fruit only)
3) Large vegetable salad with dressing (vegetable and fat)
4) Plain wholegrain (white flour products do not count) bread or cereal product—no milk or butter (grains only)
5) Lean protein like hardboiled eggs or very lean turkey breast —no fat, no mayo, no butter (protein only)
6) Donuts or other high sugar item (If you’ve “graduated” from never eating this breakfast, good for you! Try a sweet muffin or pancakes and syrup—-something sugary just for the test.) (sugar)
7) Yogurt or milk smoothie ( dairy protein and fruit)
8)) Vegetable omelet or lean meat and vegetables—no butter, oil or fat (protein and vegetables)
9) Lean protein like hardboiled eggs or lean meat—no fat and plain wholegrain bread or cereal product—no milk or butter (protein and grains)
10) Some mixture of all three types of foods but no sugar: protein (eggs, meat, poultry, fish, bacon, sausage), fat (butter, coconut oil or fat from meat), wholegrain bread or cereal product—white flour products do not count (protein, fat and grains)
11) Some mixture of all three types of foods but no sugar, no grains: protein (eggs, meat, poultry, fish, bacon, sausage), fat (butter, coconut oil or fat from meat), and vegetables(protein, fat and vegetables)
There, you have now tried almost every combination there is for breakfast. Which one worked the best for you? Perhaps more than one combination seemed to work and there was a common element like protein or fat. Which one gave you the most energy? Which one kept you satisfied the longest? Which one made you feel the best emotionally?
If you found the coffee and donut breakfast to work best for you, I would kindly suggest that you may be addicted to sugar. You may need to fast from sugar for several days and re-take this test.