Does it HAVE to be breakfast food?

[Sapphire Silk]

The trouble is I don't like a lot of traditional beakfast foods. I have to drown oatmeal in sugar to make it remotely palatable, cereal leaves me ravenously hungry an hour or two later, nor do I care for fried eggs, and while I like pancakes, I can't have them every day, nor do I have the time to make them every couple of days.

So just WHY do we have to eat only certain foods for breakfast? Is there really some health reason behind it, or is it strictly cultural?

It's both cultural and healthy.

Breakfast usually consists of lots of carbs and protein. Both give you a lot of energy to get through the day.

Fruits are a better carb choice than cereal for the reason you mention.

Eat what gets you through the day. If you don't like breakfast foods, don't eat them. Just make sure you're getting healthy foods with the right balance of carbs, proteins, vitamins and so on.

[dalesys]

I remember as a child, on different days, having artichokes with Hollandaise sauce and freshly baked straberry shorcake for breakfast.

[Eevie]

I'm not a fan of most traditional breakfast foods either. In fact, I will really only eat waffles and hashbrowns. Bacon has to be cooked to the right consistency and thickness for me to eat it. So often I'll just have some leftovers from the night before if we have any. Saturday mornings are usually when pizza is on the menu, as that's what we have almost every Friday night.

[Cecily]

Typical breakfast food is usually cultural. In Japan, I've eaten miso soup, rice, fish and cold egg omelet, along with some vegetables. In Spain, I had churos (VERY sweet fried dough) dipped in a chocolate sauce and dried ham. In France, the usual croissant and hot chocolate or café au lait.

As long as you eat something that is not making your stomach revolt, you're good in my book. When my kids were young, I had no problems sending them to school after a breakfast of leftover pizza or cold lasagna if that was what they wanted and it was available, as long as the food intake / variety was adequate over the week. Most times, they had waffles / toast / cereal... so yeah, traditionnal.

[AccountingDrone]

Bill Cosby pointed out that chocolate cake effectively was a decent breakfast, milk, butter, eggs, flour, sugar - just like waffles.

I had issues eating right after I got up as a kid, Carnation Breakfast drink mix was a godsend for me. It takes me at least an hour until I can manage anything solid. I just wish it wasn't all sugar and carb now, the glucerna swills are damned expensive.

[dalesys]

Bill Cosby pointed out that chocolate cake effectively was a decent breakfast, milk, butter, eggs, flour, sugar - just like waffles.

But not a healthy breakfast. It almost killed him. Something about the skin peeling off the face of a demon, I remember in my nightmares.

[Food Lady]

What mathnerd said. What is this doctor's deal? Is he getting kickbacks from IHOP?

[AccountingDrone]

Hm, instead of my normal oatmeal which I ran out of day before yesterday I had leftover shrimp scampi on spinach sauteed in a bit of butter, and leftover butternut squash soup.

My nutritionist informed me that as long as I kept my day roughly the same every day, I could eat pretty much any damned thing I cared to. What I normally have is oatmeal for breakfast [with cinnamon and a couple teaspoons of raisins as sweetening and for the iron] a midmorning snack, lunch is almost always chopped salad with hard boiled egg and garbanzo beans as the protein, a mid afternoon snack and dinner is 3-4 oz of protein, and 2 servings of veggies [typically when cooked half a cup is one serving] and then a small yoghurt right at bedtime so the protein keeps my liver amused over night. Boring, but easy to follow.

My snacks tend to be a couple tablespoons of hummus or salsa, celery sticks, carrot sticks, cauliflower florettes or about 100 calories of pita as bread of crisps. Sometimes I will have a deviled egg. [you know, both halves of a hard boiled egg with the yoke tarted up with a dab of mustard piped back in and a sprinkle of paprika as a shortcut version]

[Eisa]

It takes me at least an hour until I can manage anything solid. I just wish it wasn't all sugar and carb now, the glucerna swills are damned expensive.

I can't eat anything solid right after I wake up either, I end up feeling absolutely sick. Sometimes I can't even drink anything without feeling really nauseated.

[Caffienated_Caramel]

Husband did this for breakfast, especially when he was working out. He would get a wheat tortilla, spread peanut butter on it, add a peeled banana and roll it up. It was great for on days when he had to run out the door.

For me, I'm mostly a cereal girl but during my pregnancy with gestational diabetes, I would roll a mozarella string cheese stick in a slice of wheat bread and nuke it in the microwave for about ten seconds to slightly melt the cheese. Surprisingly, it was pretty good.

[AccountingDrone]

I can't eat anything solid right after I wake up either, I end up feeling absolutely sick. Sometimes I can't even drink anything without feeling really nauseated.

I wonder how many of us are actually out there. It can't be that uncommon.

Husband did this for breakfast, especially when he was working out. He would get a wheat tortilla, spread peanut butter on it, add a peeled banana and roll it up. It was great for on days when he had to run out the door.

For me, I'm mostly a cereal girl but during my pregnancy with gestational diabetes, I would roll a mozarella string cheese stick in a slice of wheat bread and nuke it in the microwave for about ten seconds to slightly melt the cheese. Surprisingly, it was pretty good.

Hm, Rob nukes 'toasted cheese sandwiches' for breakfast. I should ask him if he makes toast first or just has melty cheese in warm bread. I know if I ask him for one, he gets out the skillet and fries one up for each of us but if I don't he just seems to nuke it.

I like to nuke brie til it oozes and smear it on a good sourdough. If I am spending the carbs for bread, I want something other than generic wonderbread crap. I like a small roll, something like:

[sms001]

I wonder how many of us are actually out there. It can't be that uncommon.

I don't think it is. I've run into quite a few of you over the years. I certainly don't start snarfing the second I wake up, but am ready to break fast w/in an hour or so. But there are plenty for whom 2 - 3 hours seems necessary. That makes for a tough start for the day.

As for your brie on hard rolls, I had a long run where it was aged swiss on a fresh bagel every morning. Seemed to do the trick.

[mathnerd]

I can't eat anything solid right after I wake up either, I end up feeling absolutely sick. Sometimes I can't even drink anything without feeling really nauseated.

Way off topic, but can I tell you that you totally made my day with the correct use of the word nauseated instead of the incorrect but almost uniformly misused "nauseous". That's my biggest pet peeve with language. You are now my new favorite person.

And now back to your regularly schedule thread.

[sms001]

incorrect but almost uniformly misused "nauseous".

So what's "nauseous?" The cause of nausea? Where does "nauseating" fit in then?

And now back to your regularly schedule thread.

And here we go. Was looking through Mother Earth Living and they had a bunch of "quick and easy" breakfasts w/ a focus on healthy. The usual suspects; oatmeal w/ fruits, omelettes w/ veggies, etc. But what caught my eye on the savory side were a bunch of open faced sandwiches with rye bread. Seems cutting down on the gluten/wheat appeals to many. A couple of quickies are rye, pb, and fruit slices, and rye, cucumber and salmon. Think I'll give them a try.

[Flying Grype]

If the doc didn't like the idea of leftover Chinese takeout for breakfast, it's probably more because it's takeout food, and not very healthy.

Seriously, ask the guy for some clarification here, about specifically what kind of foods would be good for this. I think what he's expecting is that there are foods that, to you, "feel" like breakfast. One of the ways to trick your body clock into being awake at odd hours is to eat those foods when you wake up.

If you don't have foods that you think of as breakfast foods, it won't work, because it's all about the psychology of "it's breakfast time!"

And if you're not a breakfast eater, maybe he wants you to fix that. I'm rarely hungry first thing in the morning, but if I don't eat breakfast I tend to overeat at lunch. My breakfast could be something as simple as bread and butter, or a piece of fruit. Oh and coffee. A good, hot, fresh cup of coffee is my signal that it's morning. :P

Figure out what kind of food would be agreeable to your stomach when you wake up, even if it's just a little bit of something, and make a point of having it around and eating some first thing in your "morning".