Protein for Breakfast. Every day.

Its ability to keep you feeling fuller longer and eat less throughout the day, makes breakfast the most important meal of the day – if you’re giving two hoots about your diet that is. Sugary breakfasts like delicious granola, rich and warm chocolate croissant, or silken buttery-honey on toast…. IS BAD! ; ) It will give you a shot of energy then leave you hungry again much sooner – making you more susceptible to snacking – the devil for dieters! Protein helps you feel fuller for longer through releasing ghrelin, a hunger hormone that increases your feelings of satiety and fullness.

Consistently skipping breakfast or snaffling a sugary one can lead to insulin resistance – leading initially to weight-gain but then to more serious things like high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. Protein however, is a vital cog in your metabolism.

One of my main motivations to eating a lean protein breakfast though is my haunting sweet-tooth! (I’m healthy enough the majority of the time to not have to worry about the two reasons above) By not eating sugary breakfasts I don’t ignite those sweet cravings – giving me a real fighting chance against my love of flapjacks, cookies and Boost bars. It’s s neural thing.

So, plenty of reasons why you should opt for a lean protein breakfast. My regulars are: eggs, last night’s spaghetti bolognese (lean ground beef), my fella’s Irish Stew (which we dine on for weeks…), ham in a wholemeal pitta, Greek yogurt with nuts and blueberries, protein shake, protein pancakes, porridge made with water and flavoured whey isolate and dollop of Greek yogurt… My omelette de jour as depicted here is: