Portable breakfast ideas

I was recently motivated to come up with some portable breakfast ideas. Based on recommendations by Dr Valter Longo and others, I’ve been aiming to keep my food intake within a 12 hour window every day. The main reason I’ve struggled to comply with this rule is that sometimes I get home pretty late (8pm or later) after working out.

The solution

To solve this, I’ve adjusted my breakfast time to ~8am, which means I now eat breakfast at work. This means my breakfast has to be: a) portable and b) not too weird (okay, maybe just a little).

The breakfast ideas

Below is the nutritional breakdown of several combos that work for me. Keep in mind that I eat low(er) carb in the morning and high(er) carb at night because that’s what works for my work/training schedule. Also, the nutrition information is taken from generic foods rather than specific products (except for the soups)

Breakfast	Energy (kJ)	Protein (g)	Fat (g)	Carbs (g)	Calcium (mg)
Yoghurt + peanut butter	2067	21.8	35.3	20.2	341.5
Yoghurt + peanut butter + collagen peptides	2251	32.8	35.3	20.2	341.5
3 boiled eggs + 1 tbsp avocado or olive oil mayonnaise + greens	1480	18.44	30.4	1.2	70.1
3 boiled eggs + 1 tbsp avocado or olive oil mayonnaise + kimchi	1469	18.1	30.4	1.3	63.1
1/2 avocado + 2 eggs + kimchi	1494	13.8	32.3	1.1	55.7
1/2 avocado + 2 eggs + 1 tsp fish roe	1504	14.2	32.5	0.4	51.2
1/2 avocado + small can of tuna in springwater	1307	19.8	25.2	0.4	19.0
1/2 avocado + small can of salmon in springwater	1533	20.6	30.9	0.4	205.3
1/2 avocado + can of sardines in springwater	1225	10.6	27.2	0.4	230.0
Macadamias + coffee (long black)	1822	5.8	44.4	3.0	37.2
Cup soup (Pho) + 1 boiled egg	395	8.5	5.4	3.6	18.3
Miso soup + 1 boiled egg	287	5.9	4.5	0.9	18.8

Notes

When buying foods that come with labels, always read the ingredients list at the minimum and the full nutritional panel if you’re more invested in managing your nutrient intake. More natural and less sugar is generally better. For example:

• Yoghurt: choose Greek or natural, with no sugar or thickeners. Rokeby Farms and YoPro are brands I tend to buy because they’re higher in protein.
• Peanut (or other nut butter): choose those made with nuts +/- salt, no sugar or oil. I like Mayver’s.
• Nuts: choose raw or dry roasted
• Canned fish: choose fish in brine, springwater or 100% extra virgin olive oil (evoo) if you can find it (I haven’t been able to find canned tuna in evoo lately – sardines are still available). When buying canned salmon, make sure it has the skin and bones because that’s where the vitamin D and calcium come from.
• Mayonnaise: make it at home with egg yolks, evoo, lemon juice and mustard or use a high quality product such as Primal Kitchen avocado oil mayonnaise. If you’re afraid of mayo, use plain evoo or some homemade pesto.

Beyond breakfast

Despite the old adage that “breakfast is the most important meal” and studies that show that people who skip breakfast are more likely to be overweight, it is possible that skipping breakfast (ala 16:8 diet) works for you.

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