Breakfast foods often consist of carbohydrate-rich options like cereals, toast, and bagels, or high-fat choices like bacon and eggs.
While these can fit into a balanced diet, there’s one key nutrient you should prioritize: protein. Incorporating protein into your morning meal can deliver significant benefits, from moderating hunger to balancing your hormones.
Here’s why you should consider adding more protein to your breakfast.
1. Protein is Essential for Bodily Processes
- Protein is crucial for building and repairing tissues, including skin, hair, organs, blood hemoglobin, and muscles.
- Protein is vital for maintaining muscle mass, essential for a healthy metabolism, aging, and overall daily functions.
- A healthy suggestion: 10% to 35% of your daily calories should come from protein.
- Active individuals might benefit from consuming 1.2 to 1.7 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight.
- Those aiming to build muscle may need up to 2.2 grams per kilogram.
2. Protein Stabilizes Blood Sugar and Energy Levels
- Adding protein to your breakfast, along with healthy carbohydrates and fats, helps provide a steady, prolonged energy boost by regulating blood sugar.
- Unlike carbohydrates, protein doesn’t spike blood sugar levels, preventing the energy crashes that can follow high-carb breakfasts.
- Protein takes longer to digest, slowing the release of sugars into your bloodstream and maintaining consistent energy levels.
3. A High-Protein Breakfast Regulates Appetite
- Protein helps keep you feeling full for longer due to its slow digestive process. Breakfasts with around 35 grams of protein can keep you satisfied longer than lower-protein options.
- Protein influences hormones which help regulate hunger.
- Higher-protein breakfasts reduce evening snacking and improve overall diet quality, especially for those who tend to skip breakfast
4. Protein Helps Maintain Muscle
- Consuming protein throughout the day, including at breakfast, is crucial for maintaining muscle mass, which declines with age.
- Maintaining muscle mass is associated with healthier aging, reduced disease risk, and lower mortality rates.
- Eating protein at breakfast and lunch helps ensure better overall protein intake and absorption, supporting muscle maintenance.
5. Improved Heart Health
- Skipping breakfast is linked to increased cholesterol levels and increased blood pressure.
- Eating protein at breakfast is associated with reduced blood pressure and improved heart health.
- A balanced breakfast with protein can reduce risks of heart disease, stroke, and other cardiovascular conditions.
How to Get More Protein at Breakfast
- Eggs, ham, lean sausages, bacon with less fat, and other traditional breakfast foods are high in protein. Choose lean options like eggs, turkey bacon, and lean ham for a healthier choice.
- Greek yogurt, kefir, low-fat cottage cheese, and high-protein milk are excellent protein sources. They also provide calcium, magnesium, vitamin D, and probiotics.
- Add high-fiber like nuts and seeds to yogurt, high-protein cottage cheese, or smoothie bowls. Nut butter can also enhance oatmeal.
- Include high-protein grains like amaranth, quinoa, and oats. Adding a scoop of whey protein powder can further boost your breakfast.
- Consider adding cooked ground turkey, shredded chicken, or lean steak slices to breakfast sandwiches, scrambles, and omelets.
- Soft tofu scrambles, beans, plant-based yogurt, and legumes are great for plant-based protein.
Conclusion
Incorporating more protein into your breakfast can offer numerous health benefits, from stabilizing blood sugar levels to maintaining muscle mass and improving heart health.
By choosing protein-rich foods like eggs, dairy, nuts, seeds, and lean meats, you can start your day with a nutrient-dense meal that keeps you energized and satisfied.
