Breakfast ideas for someone who can't do mornings

rankailie
rankailie Posts: 144
edited September 2024 in Food and Nutrition
This is my first post, I'll apologize that its not an introduction post. I'm actually doing fairly well with my diet change (lifestyle change I am not dieting per say) and I've great support in real life so I've been less motivated to join online communities :). But I've lost 13 lbs total in the past month and a half, 7 of those since I joined the site.

My diet change has been fairly simple, I've cut out as much processed food as humanly possible while holding a full time job. Whole fruits, whole veggies, brown rice, reducing/eliminating bread and only whole wheat when I do eat bread, smaller portions, reduced sodium and being better about my fiber intake.

I'm still struggling however with making sure I eat a good breakfast. I have DSPS (delayed sleep phase syndrome) with a 3 hour delay. Basically this means that my body clock is permanently jet lagged. I've made great strides in the past two years to really get myself into a sleeping routine that nets me at least 6-8 hours of rest a night (rest =/= sleep) so that I can get up by 8:15 with mostly no trouble for work.

I've done great learning to cope with it, and getting my life back from it, I can even go whole weekends now where I don't spent 12 -18 hours of my Saturday crash sleeping. Which trust me after years of losing my Saturdays every single week is a major success.

Because of this breakfast is a struggle. I wake up with literally enough time to get dressed, take my morning vitamins and run out the door to be at work by 9:30. Its not going to be feasible for me to get up any earlier then 8:15 with any regularity, even 8:15 is really pushing it.

In the past I've tried taking instant oatmeal to work, and I've tried just eating fruit, but it gets old really fast and its... well boring. Considering my other meals now are generally rounded and healthy a blah breakfast is just a bad start to the day.

So I need things I can easily make the night before or can just grab in the morning. I normally have fairly bad brain fog in the morning so making food or preparing anything then is entirely unfeasible. I also commute via subway to work, so whatever it is has to be something I can put into a leak proof container so I can eat it when I arrive at work.

Thanks for the help and suggestions and I do apologize for the tl;dr post.

Replies

  • Pangui
    Pangui Posts: 373 Member
    I like to keep my breakfast simple and I am not hungry enough to eat at home before work, so I have to stash something in my purse. I try to only eat enough to get me by until lunch. I just hate wasting calories on breakfast. My typical meals include a banana, whole wheat bread with almond butter or a smart dog, nuts, trail mix (without salt or sugar) or dry cereal. I guess I don't get worried about getting bored with breakfast. For me, it's just a way to tide me over to a nice lunch. I wouldn't try to limit carbs at all. Carbs are not bad for you, particularly whole grains, legumes and veggies. They are a great way to start the day.
  • pa_jorg
    pa_jorg Posts: 4,404 Member
    try this:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/289552-overnight-oatmeal-no-cooking-required
  • fitnessjch
    fitnessjch Posts: 449 Member
    Where do you live? I am in the UK, and I have Belvita breakfast biscuits, and then a fruit or piece of yoghurt.

    They are fab, yummy, filling, and not too high on calories!
  • Tree72
    Tree72 Posts: 942 Member
    Do you like yogurt? 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt, 1/2 cup cut-up fruit (berries, peaches, mango, etc.), a dash of spice or extract (cinnamon, ginger, lemon, almond, etc.) and then a separate baggie/container with 1/4 to 1/2 cup granola or cereal makes a nice yogurt parfait that's pretty well rounded with protein and fiber depending on your exact selections.

    Breakfast sandwiches or wraps work pretty well. I pack my bread or wrap separately from the other ingredients so that it's not soggy. Any combination of meat/cheese/egg works well depending on your preferences and nutritional needs. This one may not be something you want to do often since you are limiting breads, but there are some low-carb whole grain wraps out there when you want to add variety.

    I'm not a boiled egg fan myself, but a hard boiled egg, a wedge of reduced fat cheese, and a piece of fruit would pack easily.

    You could do the steel cut oats cooked in the crock-pot at some point during your weekend. Then just put them in containers to be re-heated each morning. There are lots of recipes for this out there. You'd have much more control of just what goes in than using anything packaged.

    Breakfast doesn't always have to be traditional breakfast foods either. You cold make yourself some fried rice with brown rice, an egg, and whatever combination of veggies you like.

    Hope you find things that work for you. Sounds like you are making fantastic progress so far.
  • rankailie
    rankailie Posts: 144
    I'm in the US.

    Yogurt is something I've tried, I've actually been working Fage 0% into my diet, so a parfait is something I can try and see how it survives a trip on the train to work.

    I'm also going to look into try the oatmeal in a crockpot, I love real oatmeal (not the instant stuff), but its generally pretty time consuming to make. I hadn't even though of it but it seems like there is a similar recipe I can use in my zojirushi for steel cut oats! I'll have to try this and see how it tastes reheated.

    I'm not actually avoiding carbs either, I do eat them I just try to avoid bread, even whole wheat its not quite as tasty or good for you as other carb options. Trust me I eat enough carrots that there is no way I could ever be on a real no-carb or extremely limited carb diet.

    As far as eggs go, I'm not sure how (besides hard boiling) to really travel with them. I'm not too sure about just putting scrambled eggs in a plastic container to take for a hour train ride, the yogurt is even a bit iffy, but I'm more leery about the idea of traveling with raw eggs. Do eggs reheat well? I've never actually tried doing it.
  • KatyRing
    KatyRing Posts: 84 Member
    Egg cups!

    Low carb and filled with protien. You van make them in advance.

    take a cup cake/muffin pan and put in foil liners.

    I don't know exactl measurments..butt..

    mix eggs, milk, and whatever else you like. For example I mix eggs, milk, onion and cooked chicken breast.

    Bake.. aand there ya go! easy on the go egg cups!
  • rankailie
    rankailie Posts: 144
    Egg cups!

    Low carb and filled with protien. You van make them in advance.

    take a cup cake/muffin pan and put in foil liners.

    I don't know exactl measurments..butt..

    mix eggs, milk, and whatever else you like. For example I mix eggs, milk, onion and cooked chicken breast.

    Bake.. aand there ya go! easy on the go egg cups!

    I had never heard of this before but this is absolutely brilliant!

    Thanks everyone that gives me at least three items I can rotate around for breakfast during the week. Yogurt with fruit and a tasty crunch like granola, steel cut oatmeal made ahead of time using my rice maker, and egg cups (of varying types) probably combined with fruit or something else.
  • breunor
    breunor Posts: 12
    Oatmeal is really fast to cook up actually, get the big canister of Quaker oats, some cinammon, and some type of fruit you enjoy, raisins work really well. Before bed, toss some of the oats into a bowl with some water or milk, microwave for 3 minutes, then stir in the cinammon and fruit and toss in the fridge in a sealed container. In the morning just heat it up and eat either at home or at work. It's just 5 minutes from scratch so this doesn't save much time, so I would just cook it in the morning. You can be putting on your shoes or doing something else as it cooks too, give it a few minutes after cooking to cool a little.

    Good luck with the sleeping issue, hopefully no TV or computer use after say 8pm would help. I know I find it harder to sleep if I'm watching a bright screen that gets my brain racing just before I try to sleep. Reading a book in a darker room with just a light behind me for the book works rather well.
  • Dnsnyder
    Dnsnyder Posts: 263 Member
    Low fat cottage cheese with fresh fruit is a good option and is high in protein. I almost always have a container of cottage cheese and fresh pineapple, which I dice up all at once and then just keep on hand for easy access. I often will have cottage cheese and pineapple for breakfast or a morning snack. Berries, like blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries also go well with cottage cheese, as do nectaries. You could pre assemble single servings in small tuperware containers so that all you have to do is grab and go.
  • calimari
    calimari Posts: 202 Member
    I'm one who does not think breakfast necessarily needs to be "breakfast foods". No reason why a sandwich can't make a good breakfast. Now, if you want to avoid the bread carbs, take a couple nice pieces of leaf lettuce & fill it w/ some turkey or chicken and a slice of cheese - a squirt of mustard. Roll it up and go.
  • awal2069
    awal2069 Posts: 101 Member
    Making protein shakes, or any breakfast meal to go the night before is always a good idea. That is what I have been trying to do the last few weeks myself. OR - Please don't bash me for this, Dunkin Donuts has an egg white and turkey sausage on flatbread that is really good too. I am kind of addicted to it several times a week. Good luck with everything!
  • rankailie
    rankailie Posts: 144
    Making protein shakes, or any breakfast meal to go the night before is always a good idea. That is what I have been trying to do the last few weeks myself. OR - Please don't bash me for this, Dunkin Donuts has an egg white and turkey sausage on flatbread that is really good too. I am kind of addicted to it several times a week. Good luck with everything!

    I generally do this at night actually. I have a late body schedule so mornings are out for exercise and I'm generally dead man walking until 11 or 12 and my day is generally full then until after 9. So I get my exercise in the evening, as my last "snack" for the day I generally make a smoothie of 1 cup frozen berries, .5 cups rice dream and 1/4th cup Fage 0%. I generally toss some psyllium and some protein powder into this and have it after exercising.
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