For many of our newest members and clients, breakfast comes in the unfortunate form of a cup of coffee or a bagel smothered in cream cheese late in the day.  If you’ve been a member of Venice Nutrition for awhile, then you know how important it is to eat a meal (or even a mini-meal…more on that later) one hour within waking to kick-start your metabolism after a long night of zzzz’s.   Furthermore, it’s critical to make sure that your breakfast has the right balance of protein, carbohydrate and fat.  A balanced breakfast will help to prevent cravings and over-eating later in the day, and help your body get into fat burning mode first thing in the morning.

If you are not a “breakfast eater”, tend to feel nauseous in the mornings or workout very early, eating a full, balanced breakfast can be a challenge.  Here a few fast and simple tips you can incorporate into your mornings to make sure you start your day off right.

1.  If you are not hungry or feel nauseous in the mornings, try a mini-meal.  Choose any meal in your plan and cut each ingredient in half or even a third equally.  This way, your meal still has the correct ratio of protein, carbohydrate and fat, but in a smaller and more suitable portion size.

2. Aim for fast and simple solutions.   Try experimenting with a few bites of a protein bar, a ½ protein smoothie (cut each ingredient in half equally) or even the Greek Yogurt Parfait (see your Recipe Tab for the complete recipe).   

3. If it’s easier, make a complete meal, eat only ½ or 1/3 and then eat the remainder at your next meal.

One of our members recently wrote into us for help regarding her snacking and giving into cravings at night. Read on to learn how we helped Stacey to get back on track.

"I have been eating well and following my plan, but I find myself snacking on things I shouldn’t at night. I do so well during the day and then night time comes around and I start reaching for cookies, icecream, whatever is around! I included what a typical day of eating looks like for me for your review. Please help!" - Stacey

Wake up - 6:30 am

Meal 1 - 9:00 am - protein smoothie with fruit, pro-complete protein powder and peanut butter

Meal 2 - 1:30 - Lunch at work- typically a turkey sandwich on wheat with lettuce, tomato, onion and fat free mustard

Meal 3 - 4:30 - ½ protein bar before the gym

Workout – 5:30-6:30

Meal 4 - 7:30-8:00 - Dinner with the family- Chicken or fish cooked in a little olive oil with veggies and brown rice or sweet potato

9:30 pm and on - ...whatever I can get my hands on!

11:00 pm - Bed!

Dear Stacey,

First off, congratulations on eating well and working your personal plan into your busy lifestyle. Between work, the gym and your family, we know it can be a challenge at times! After reviewing your typical day worth of meals , I have found a few reasons as to why you are extra hungry and craving sweets at night! The good news is, you already have a great game plan that works for you and the minor adjustments I would like for you to make will be very simple for you to do. Oh yeah… and I want you to eat more, not less!

Before we get into that- let’s talk a little bit about “cravings”. In my experience, there are two different types of cravings: Mental/Emotional and Physical. Let me give you an example. Mental/ Emotional cravings are like when you go out to eat and you’ve already had your dinner and you honestly don’t think you could eat another bite of food. But then the dessert cart rolls out and you see a beautiful piece of cheesecake, and think, “Why not?”. Physical cravings are different. This is when you are physically hungry, maybe tired or a little dizzy, and physically feel as though you need carbohydrates or sugar to get your energy back up. I think your struggling with physical cravings and here’s why.

First, I notice that you wake at 6:30 in the am, and don’t eat your first meal until 9:00 am. When you wake, your blood sugar is naturally low because you have been fasting all night, so it’s critical to fuel your metabolism with a balanced meal one hour within waking. So the first step for you is having your protein smoothie around 7:30 in the morning. Next step? Aim for a quick, balanced snack around 10-10:30 so your blood sugar doesn’t drop before lunch time and cause you to overeat. Something as simple as a string cheese and fruit or the other ½ of your protein bar would be perfect here. Next, your lunch sounds very healthy, and it sounds like your missing the fat in the meal. Remember, fat slows the rate of digestion and keeps you satisfied to your next meal. Without it, your blood sugar will drop and you will find yourself extra hungry at night. My recommendation is to add a few unsalted nuts with your lunch or even sliced avocado for heart healthy fat.

Next, though a ½ protein bar is balanced, you may find that you need something more substantial before the gym. A more filling snack like cottage cheese and fruit and nuts or even another ½ a sandwich will fuel you much better than the ½ protein bar. The key here is to experiment. If you find that you like the ½ bar here, go for it. You may find that just by making the adjustments you made earlier in the day, ½ bar works just fine.

Your dinner sounds fantastic- very balanced and high quality. The lesson here is what you do (or don’t do) early in the day, greatly affects how you feel (and what you eat!) later in the night. When your blood sugar is on a roller coaster, you will crave carbohydrates (sweet or savory depending on your taste buds) and feel like you “just can’t get enough”. By fixing your earlier meals, whether its by adding fat or adjusting the time schedule just a bit, you’ll find that you no longer physically crave the snacks late night. By the way, don’t forget to follow dinner with a balanced snack before bed- I like to do the greek yogurt parfait (see your Recipe tab) for a sweet treat to end the night. Good luck!

Valerie Cogswell

Head Chef and Nutrition Coach