Oh What a Beautiful Morning, Oh What a Beautiful Day!

In terms of mood, mornings set the stage for how the rest of your day is going to go. Research has shown that eating within two hours of when you wake up helps increase your metabolism and helps you feel more energetic and less lethargic throughout the rest of the day. So what do you eat for breakfast to give your mood the best chance? Foods with protein and complex carbohydrates take longer for your body to digest, and so your blood sugar is less likely to plummet an hour or two after eating. I don't know about you, but when my blood sugar gets low and I get hungry, I become rather irritable and cranky. So, what are some foods with protein and complex carbohydrates that you can have for breakfast?


Protein:

• 1 egg has 6 grams of protein
• an 8oz glass of milk has 8 grams of protein
• 2 medium slices of bacon have about 6 grams of protein
• 6oz of yogurt has about 6 grams of protein (this would be your Yoplait or Dannon yogurt)
• 1/2 cup of plain Greek yogurt has about 11 grams of protein
• 1/2 cup of oatmeal has 5 grams of protein
• 1 slice of Canadian bacon has about 6 grams of protein
• 1 breakfast sausage patty has about 7 grams of protein
• 1 slice of cheddar cheese has about 5 grams of protein
  

Complex Carbohydrates:

• whole grain or multi-grain breads, bagels, English muffins, etc.
• most fruits (apples, oranges, bananas, plums, pears, grapefruit, cherries, peaches, kiwi, grapes, mangoes, apricots, pineapple, strawberries, blueberries, etc.); one exception is watermelon
• oatmeal
• healthy cereals (All-Bran, Shredded Wheat, Museli, Frosted Mini-Wheats, Special K, etc.)
• pretty much anything with a lot of fiber

So what are some ways to have a mood-boosting breakfast? Here are some of my favorite combinations:

• 1 egg fried or scrambled, bowl of cereal with skim milk, and a glass of fruit juice
• 2 slices of bacon cooked in the microwave, whole wheat bagel with cream cheese, and a banana
• breakfast sandwich--1 slice of Canadian bacon, 1 fried egg, and 1 slice of cheddar cheese on a toasted whole wheat English muffin
• fruit smoothie--1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt mixed in the blender with some apple juice and frozen strawberries and blueberries
• a bowl of oatmeal with fruit sliced on top and glass of milk
• a hard boiled egg and a 6oz container of yogurt
  

Since foods made with white flour and sugar are quickly digested by your body, limiting foods made with them at breakfast will help you avoid that mid-morning blood sugar drop. However, I personally love sugary breakfast cereals, like Fruit Loops and Cinnamon Toast Crunch, so on the mornings have these cereals I be sure to pair them with something with more protein, such as an egg.

And on those Saturday mornings when you want to made pancakes or waffles for breakfast, you can make them with whole wheat pastry flour instead of white flour. Whole wheat pastry flour is ground a little finer than regular whole wheat flour, so your baked goods won't have that gritty texture that often comes with using whole wheat flour.

Another thing to keep in mind is that just because something has a lot of protein, like bacon and sausage, does not mean it is healthy. These meats have a lot of fat and sodium, so as Cookie Monster would say, they are a sometimes-food. If you are just craving meat in the morning, Canadian bacon is a better option since it has less fat.