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Breakfast Is for Champions by Nancy Clark

When it comes to eating a high-energy sports diet, I firmly believe that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. You've heard that from your mother, teachers, health professionals, coaches, the media, ad infinitum. And now you'll hear it from me!
Don't Skip Breakfast

Of all the nutritional mistakes that you might make, skipping breakfast is the biggest.
Ginny, a collegiate rower, learned this the hard way: She fainted from low blood sugar after one of her morning workouts. After rowing for an hour, she felt very tired and hungry because she had no breakfast. When she got out of the boat, she fainted and ended up flat on the dock surrounded by her frightened teammates. She had blacked out because she had run out of fuel.

Ginny's story is a dramatic example of how skipping breakfast can sabotage your sports performance. A high-energy breakfast sets the stage for a high-energy day. Nevertheless, many sports-active people come up with familiar excuses for skipping the morning meal:

"I don't have time."
"I'm not hungry in the morning."
"I don't like breakfast foods."
"I'm on a diet."
"If I eat breakfast, I feel hungrier all day."

Excuses, excuses. If you skip breakfast, you're likely to concentrate less effectively in the late morning, work or study less efficiently (Pollitt 1995), feel irritable and short tempered, or fall short of energy for your afternoon workout. For every flimsy excuse to skip breakfast, there's an even better reason to eat it. Keep reading!

You Have Time for Breakfast

"I just don't have time to eat breakfast. I get up at 5:30, go to the swimming pool, train for an hour, then dash to school by 7:45," insisted Kayla, a high school competitive swimmer.

Obviously, Kayla's morning schedule didn't allow her to relax and enjoy a leisurely meal. However, she still needed the energy to tackle her high school classes. I reminded Kayla that breakfast doesn't have to be a sit-down, cooked meal. It can be a substantial snack after swim practice while riding to school. I advised her to plan and prepare a breakfast-to-go the night before. If she could make time to swim, she could make time to eat right for swimming.

Kayla discovered that her "duffel bag breakfast" was indeed worth the effort. Two peanut butter and banana sandwiches and two juice boxes satisfied her ravenous appetite and improved her ability to concentrate at school. No longer did she sit in class counting the minutes until lunch and listening to her stomach grumble. Rather, she was able to concentrate on her classwork and even improve her grades.

Jane, a runner and nurse, had the same excuse of no time for breakfast. She'd rise at 6:00 and be at the hospital by 6:45; she didn't want to eat breakfast at that early hour. However, by 10:00 she'd be ravenously devouring doughnuts-grease bombs that she didn't particularly like but that she ate anyway because they were in the nurses' station begging to be eaten!

I recommended that Jane eat some nutritious food between 8:00 and 9:00 to prevent the overwhelming hunger that contributed to her overeating and subsequent weight gain. Jane made the effort to do one of the following every day:

Bring a sandwich to work to eat within four hours of waking.
Buy a bagel, yogurt, and orange juice at the coffee shop.
Take an early break and enjoy a hot breakfast at the cafeteria.
Keep emergency food in her locker: crackers, peanuts, and dried fruits.

She soon became a breakfast advocate, feeling so much better when well-fueled rather than half starved.

No Morning Appetite?

If you are not hungry for breakfast, you probably ate too many calories the night before. I often counsel athletes who routinely devour a whole bag of chips while watching TV or raid the cookie jar at 2 A.M. These snacks can certainly curb a morning appetite, contribute to weight gain, and even result in inadequate diets if too many munchies replace wholesome meals.

Mark, a 35-year-old runner and computer programmer, wasn't hungry for breakfast for another reason: His morning workout killed his appetite. However, he did get hungry by 10:00 when his appetite came to life again. He'd try to hold off until lunchtime but he raided the candy machine three out of five workdays.

Creative, Quick-Fix Breakfasts

If you lack creative quick-fix breakfast ideas, these suggestions can help you make a fast break to becoming a regular breakfast eater.

Yogurt. Keep your refrigerator well stocked; add cereal for crunch.
Banana. Eat an extra-large one, and wash it down with a large glass of milk.
Blender drink. Whip together juice, fruit, and yogurt or dried milk.
Raisins and peanuts. Prepacked in small plastic bags, these are ready to get tucked in your pocket.
Bran muffin. Add jam for more carbohydrates.
Bagel. Spread it with low-fat cream cheese and drink a can of V-8 juice.
Graham crackers. These are a refreshing favorite with low-fat milk, and a skimming of peanut butter.
Pita bread. Stuff it with low-fat cheese, cottage cheese, sliced turkey, hummus, or other handy fillings.

I recommended that Mark take a bagel, yogurt, and banana to work. These portable foods are much more nutritious than candy, especially for breakfast! For morning exercisers like Mark, a wholesome breakfast of cereal, fruit, whole grain toast, bagels, or low-fat muffins promptly replaces the depleted glycogen stores and helps refuel the muscles for the next training session. Exercised muscles are hungriest for carbohydrates within the first two hours after a hard workout. The sooner you eat, the quicker you'll refuel. For more information on recovery foods, see chapter 11.

A recovery breakfast is particularly important if you do two workouts per day. Unfortunately, too many athletes who do double workouts say they're not hungry for breakfast after the first workout. They also skimp at lunchtime, afraid that a substantial meal might interfere with the afternoon session. They end up dragging themselves through a poor workout.

In this situation, I recommend having brunch or a substantial snack around 10:00 or 11:00. The food will be adequately digested in time to fuel the muscles that afternoon. Refreshing liquids, such as juices and smoothies, also can help refuel you as well as quench your thirst. You'll discover that you have more energy for the second workout.

What's So Great About Cereal?

I'm big on cereals because they are all these positive things:

Quick and easy. Athletes of all ages and cooking abilities can easily pour a bowl with no cooking or messy cleanup.
Convenient. By simply stocking the cupboard, gym bag, or desk drawer, breakfast will be ready for the morning rush. A handful of dry cereal is better than nothing.
Carbohydrate-rich. Your muscles need carbohydrates for energy. Cereal, milk, a banana, and juice create a super carbohydrate-rich meal.
Fiber-rich. When you select bran cereals, you reduce your risk of becoming constipated, an inconvenience that can certainly interfere with optimal sports performance, and you also consume a health-protective, anticancer food.
Iron-rich. By selecting fortified or enriched brands, you can easily boost your iron intake and reduce your risk of becoming anemic. Drinking orange juice or another source of vitamin C with the cereal may enhance the iron absorption from the cereal.
Calcium-rich. Cereal is rich in calcium when it's eaten with milk or yogurt. Women and girls, in particular, benefit from this calcium-booster that helps maintain strong bones and protects against osteoporosis.
Low in fat and cholesterol. Cereals are a heart-healthier choice than the standard breakfast alternatives of buttered toast, a bagel slathered with cream cheese, or bacon and eggs.
Versatile. Rather than getting bored by always eating the same brand, try mixing cereals to concoct endless flavors. I typically have 10 to 18 varieties in my cupboard. My friends laugh when they discover this impressive stockpile! I further vary the flavors by adding different mix-ins, such as banana, raisins, applesauce, cinnamon, maple syrup, or vanilla extract.

The Scoop on Cereals

Cereals, in general, are a breakfast for champions. However, some brands offer far more nutritional value than others. Here are a five tips to help you make wise choices.

1. Choose Iron-Enriched Cereals. Iron is particularly important for active people, because it is the part of the red blood cell that carries oxygen from your lungs to your muscles. If you are anemic (have iron-poor blood), you will feel tired and fatigue easily during exercise. Iron-rich breakfast cereal is a handy way to boost your iron intake, particularly if you eat little or no red meat (the best source of dietary iron). See table 3.1 for the brands enriched with iron to supplement the small amount naturally occurring in grains.

Because the iron in cereal is often poorly absorbed, you may enhance your body's ability to absorb iron by drinking orange juice or eating fruit rich in vitamin C along with the cereal (try oranges, grapefruit, cantaloupe, and strawberries). For more information on iron, see chapters 8 and 12.

2. Choose High-Fiber Bran Cereals. Bran cereals can provide far more fiber than most fruits and vegetables. High-fiber cereals include All-Bran, bran flakes, Fruit & Fibre, corn bran, raisin bran, oat bran, and any of the multitude of cereals with bran in the name (see table 3.1). You can also boost the fiber content of any cereal by simply sprinkling raw bran on it.

3. Choose Wholesome Cereals. By "wholesome cereals," I mean those not loaded with sugar. Some kids' cereals are 45 percent sugar. They fit better as a snack or dessert rather than as breakfast. Although sugar does fuel the muscles and is not the poison it is reputed to be, sugary cereals tend to pamper your sweet tooth rather than promote your health. To determine the calories of sugar per serving in a cereal, multiply grams of sugar (listed under Total Carbohydrate) by four calories per gram. For example, one cup of Cinnamon Life contains 14 grams of sugar (14 g sugar 3 4 calories per g = 56 calories). That means 30 percent of the 190 calories per serving are from sugar.

Charlene, a 32-year-old rollerblade enthusiast and accountant, avoided all cereals with sugar listed among the ingredients, even the lightly sweetened ones such as Total, Wheaties, or bran flakes. She restricted herself to sugar-free Puffed Wheat, corn flakes, and shredded wheat, cheating herself of both iron and fiber. She failed to recognize that sugar is a carbohydrate that fuels, not poisons, the muscles.

The small amount of sugar in cereal is relatively insignificant in comparison to the sugar Charlene ate in frozen yogurt, fat-free cookies, and jelly beans. The overall healthfulness of the cereal breakfast far outweighed those few nutritionally empty sugar calories. Given this perspective, she decided to relax her sugar rules to include more variety, especially brands with health-protective fiber and iron.

3. Choose Low-Fat Cereals. Fat is a bigger health threat than sugar because it's linked with weight gain, heart disease, and cancer. If you like the higher-fat cereals, such as granola or Cracklin' Oat Bran, use them for a topping sprinkled on a foundation of a lower-fat cereal.

4. Choose Low-Salt Varieties. If you are on a very strict low-sodium diet for medical reasons, you should eat cereals with a low-salt content. Almost any cereal is a lower sodium alternative to breakfast pastries, muffins, or biscuits. See table 3.2 and chapter 2 for more sodium information.

Excerpted from Nancy Clark's Sports Nutrition Guidebook, 2nd Edition, 1997, by Nancy Clark.