We all know it is important for bodybuilders to eat a good breakfast but we end up skipping it for one reason or another. So what is the best breakfast for a bodybuilder and how can we get out of the habit of skipping the first meal?

Why do we skip breakfast?

In my personal view I think there are four reasons why people skip breakfast. Of course there are other reasons but in my view these are the main ones.

1. Laziness
If we are honest we don’t eat breakfast because we are too lazy. It would be much easier to pretend we don’t have enough time and rush out the door to work as fast as we can. At least that way we can buy a midmorning snack from the local fast food joint!

We are also lazy because we don’t take the time to think ahead and plan our meals the day before. When we wake up and stumble into the kitchen we see that there isn’t much to choose from and opt to skip it.

2. Weather changes
Ok so this might sound a little strange but in my own experience I have noticed that the weather affects what I have for breakfast. If it is hot I want something cold like fruit salad or a smoothie but if the weather is cold I want something hot like eggs or a toasted sandwich. I think these weather changes throw us off a little and it takes time to change our habits from one season to the next.

3. Hunger
Sometimes I don’t eat breakfast because I simply am not hungry in the morning. It takes me a few hours to feel even the slightest bit hungry. I know that I SHOULD eat breakfast but I really don’t feel like it. So, I skip it.

4. Not sure what to have
The last reason I think is that a lot of people are unsure about what a good bodybuilding breakfast looks like. One one hand they want eggs for the protein but on the other hand are worried that the eggs will give them cholesterol problems. One one hand they want a high energy breakfast but on the other hand are worried about too many carbs.

One of the best ways to avoid skipping breakfast is to give yourself a few options and plan ahead so when you wake up they are ready to go.

What is the best bodybuilding breakfast?

Now I want to look at what the best bodybuilding breakfast looks like. When I say bodybuilding I am really talking about anyone who is doing a lot of intense weight training or sport and wants to eat for muscle growth, energy, strength and fat management.

Firstly, a good bodybuilding breakfast should not be too heavy. You do not want a fatty meal that weighs you down and makes you tired as soon as you eat it. It seems that foods with animal fats are the worst offenders here.

Secondly, you want to make sure your breakfast is giving you a good amount of protein after your long protein-gap (sleep).

Thirdly, your breakfast should have enough energy, nutrients and vitamins to help you get off to work or training as well as keep you healthy and well in the long term.

In short - your breakfast should contain a bit of everything that you would want from your diet overall. Here are some suggestions:

1. Protein shake
The more I think about it the more I think a homemade protein shake is the best option for a bodybuilder’s breakfast.

The reason for this is that you can customized the ingredients that you use in order to get all of the right vitamins and minerals. You can also eat a lot more when you blend it and this allows you to get more protein and nutrients in one sitting.

Try and include natural foods in your protein shake and make it as healthy as possible. In the link above I show you what I put in my protein shakes when I make them at home.

2. Fruit salad
Many people do not realize that fruit has a good amount of protein in it. However, the main reason for eating fruit for breakfast is that it is one of the best things you can do for your long term healthy and wellbeing.

In high school I decided that I was only going to eat fruit for breakfast and up until midday. I was surprised to see that a lot of extra fat I had melted off and I didn’t catch the local flu that was going around. I looked and felt a lot healthier. I also noticed that my exercise intensity was a lot better.

Eating a mixture of different fruits for breakfast is not everyone’s cup of tea but it really is worth trying. Fruits are a wonderful thing; cheap and natural as well as being extremely tasty and good for you. Bodybuilders might scoff at this thinking that they need their 8 egg whites and protein powder to stay big. If that really concerns you then have a whey shake with your fruit salad. Real Muscle is about healthy muscles, not just big ones.

Conclusion on bodybuilding breakfasts

Try to eat breakfast. I know it can be hard sometimes. Make it easy on yourself and prepare as much of it as you can in advance so that you don’t have to think too hard at 7am in the morning. Keep it healthy but keep it tasty.

I would like to share a little personal story of pain, agony and a lot of diarreah. The photo above is a Tandoori Hut in India that I used to go to when I was on holiday. It nearly killed me. However, in my near death experience I realized something very important - you are what you eat.

Why food will cause your early death

Now, my experience in India was one of food poisoning. I ate bad food and it had a severe effect on my body. I was dehydrated for many days and after about a week of sitting on the toilet I had lost close to ten kilograms of body weight.

However, food does not have to be poisoned to be deadly.

Think about what you eat everyday. Do you know what is in it? Do you know who made it? Do you know whether it is clean? Do you really know what effect the ingredients have on your body?

Good food gone bad

In today’s world of fast food and pre cooked meals you can be forgiven for thinking that some bad food is good for you. They sell it like that. People read “low fat” and they think it means it is good for them. What they fail to realize is that low fat foods are full of sugar, preservatives and other nasties that will make you sick.

And you eat them everyday.

So how can something you consume on a daily basis not have an effect on your health? Well, it does have an effect on your health and quite often you will develop diabetes, heart problems or even cancer from bad and unhealthy food.

The Buddha on food

The Buddha actually listed hundreds of ways that you can die from your food. These reasons ranged from choking to poisoning to developing bad habits. I think we need to look at the essence of what the Buddha was saying - we need to be careful what we eat and how we eat it.

Some guidelines for avoiding a food related death

Here are some simple rules to follow if you want to avoid getting killed by food:

- eat natural foods
- avoid man made foods
- avoid sugar
- avoid salt
- avoid friend foods
- avoid cooking too much (keep things fresh)

These simple rules will help you keep your body clean and your health on track.

I get pretty sick of the same old sugary protein shakes that you buy at the gym. Here are some ideas for an all natural protein shake that will help you pack on muscle and stay healthy.

A natural protein shake recipe

When you are bodybuilding it is pretty tempting to put muscle gain and fat loss ahead of your health. However, here at Real Muscle Online we are about staying healthy while achieving our goals and as such do not buy into a lot of the typical bodybuilding weight loss and mass gain crap.

When getting your daily protein it is important to do it smartly. Too much protein is not good for you. Too much protein from unhealthy sources is not good for you. Lets keep it clean.

Ingredients:

• Banana
• Free range eggs
• Raw milk
• Uncooked honey
• Whey protein if you want

As you can see the ingredients all have a common theme. They are natural. They are uncooked. You see when you cook a food you destroy a lot of the enzymes that make up the proteins and so on. This means they are less effective in your body. What good is a protein if it is unable to do its job?

Just blend all of these suckers together and drink straight after your workout. You probably wouldn’t want to have this shake everyday if you are using a lot of eggs but you could always reduce the amount you put in.

These natural ingredients are a lot more effective than the dead protein powders you buy on the shelf.