WHEN it comes to planning meals,   most people struggle with breakfast ideas.   This is mainly because of time-constraints in the morning.  We want something quick and easy which often means opting for something convenient with low nutritional value. This may save you precious time in the morning,   but what you may not realise is you’ll probably pay for this for the rest of the day with out-of-control sugar cravings and energy dips.

Here’s some convenient but high protein breakfast ideas that will keep you full for longer and quell cravings.

1. Eggs – any kind of eggs. Scrambled, poached. Fried in a teaspoon coconut oil in a good non-stick pan. Instead of having toast, stick a giant mushroom in the oven for 10 minutes and serve it on that.

2. Omelette. – bit of a variation on a theme, but making an omelette is a great way to increase your veg intake and use up stuff that’s hanging around in your fridge too like mushrooms, peppers, courgettes onions.

CRACKING START: A nutrient-packed three egg omelette

3. Grilled bacon, tomatoes and poached eggs. If, like me, you don’t eat bacon, substitute pan-fried turkey steak instead to ramp up that protein intake.

4 Protein pancakes. Get yourself some whey protein powder if you aren’t intolerant to dairy products. (https://www.theproteinworks.com/whey-protein-360?140=1622&179=1616&gclid=COey4KjC9NMCFSO-7QodY7cFeA) Beat two or three eggs with a scoop of protein powder to make a batter, then ladle the batter into a good non-stick frying pan. You can add a little coconut or olive oil to just grease pan and fry for a minute or two each side, depending on thickness. Top with fresh berries and a couple of tablespoons of natural yoghurt. Absolutely delicious.

PIECE OF CAKE: Protein pancakes are quick, easy and tasty

5. Heck chicken sausages. High in protein, low in fat. Stick them under the grill for 10 minutes or so while you’re getting ready and they’re done. Again, you can serve them with eggs or tomatoes. If you make a double helping, you can add them to salad leaves for lunch.

 

BANGER ON! Heck chicken sausages on leftover cauliflower mash

6. Porridge with a twist, if you’re active and going to make good use of the carbs. The twist is, add a scoop of protein powder to your milk, water or almond milk you’re using to cook the porridge. You’ve just increased your protein intake by around 24g which will keep you feeling full a lot longer.

 

7. Leftovers from last night. Clever marketing has convinced us that the best choice for breakfast is a sugary “breakfast bar” or some horrid processed cardboard cereal which contains a ton of sugar and barely any nutrients. Either that or we eat toast which, again, gives us nothing with any real healthy benefit and probably causes our digestive systems to grind to a halt. In addition, you are likely to be starving hungry again within about half an hour of eating either or these two options which leads to snacking on rubbish or raiding the office biscuit tin.  Breakfast literally just means to break your fast, so nothing terrible is going to befall you if you just eat the same food for your first meal of the day as you had for your last. If you’re having chicken/salmon/steak etc, with rice or quinoa, cauliflower rice, sweet potato just make an extra portion and warm it up for breakfast.

Final word. I don’t believe you absolutely have to eat breakfast. Some people just don’t want to eat first thing in the morning. I have no problem with that, as long as it doesn’t cause you to get so hungry mid-morning that you do a Starbucks run for some sort of inflated-calorie double shot milli-vanilli mocholatte coffee and a 400 calorie muffin. Get to know yourself. I eat breakfast because if I don’t I can’t control my hunger later on. But that doesn’t mean that you should.